[Illustration: Cattle and Sheep of the Scottish Highlands]
The sheep is a mountain animal, not a native of the level plains like the horse and the ox. The wild sheep do not live on level ground but among the lofty hills and are often found in very high places. We have one species in our own country, the Big-horn or Rocky Mountain Sheep, which can climb over the roughest cliffs and plunge down steep places without hurting itself. There are other species in Asia and Africa, with the same habits.
From this we know why tame sheep are so fond of hill climbing and why they do so well in such rough regions as the Highlands of Scotland. Young lambs are very fond of climbing every little hill they see. When feeding, sheep like mountain sides better than they do plains. Here they nibble away at the short, fine grasses, which they like better than any other food.
You may have read of troubles and fights between the shepherds and cowboys of our western plains. This comes from the close nibbling of the sheep, which cuts the grass down to its roots and leaves no food for the cattle. On this account the cattlemen hate the sheep-men and in some cases kill large flocks of sheep. The sheep are said to do harm also on the mountain sides, clipping the grass so close with their sharp teeth that the rains carry away the soil, and leave none for the trees to take root in.
There are a number of countries in which sheep are kept in mighty flocks. These are the United States, Europe, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. There are numbers of them also in Asia and Africa and here there are several queer kinds, which would seem very strange to us. The oddest of these is the fat-tailed sheep. The tail of this animal grows to a very great size and has been known to weigh 70 or 80 pounds. It is a big bunch of fat of which the people of those countries are very fond. In some cases, to keep it from being hurt by dragging on the ground, little wagons are used and the sheep go about dragging their tail behind them in a sort of baby carriage.
There is another kind with a huge hump of fat on its hind-quarters and hardly any tail at all. On the other hand the Circassian sheep has a tail so long that it trails behind on the grass and is covered with fine, long wool. There is a kind of sheep in Africa with very long legs and hanging ears, and in several places they have odd kinds of horns. Those of the sheep of Wallachia make a complete turn and then rise up from the head to a great length. The Iceland sheep and some of those of Russia has three, four, and even five horns.