ded upon it, and his success was so
eminent, that the loss of a ewe or lamb under his charge was matter
of surprise. Of these two shepherds--the attentive and the
skilful--it would appear that the skilful is the safer, and of course
the more valuable, though it must be owned, that it is better to
_prevent_ evils by skilful attention, than to _cure_ them by
attentive skill; yet it is only by the union of both these qualities
that a perfect shepherd can be formed."--(Vol. ii. p. 600.)

Perhaps some of our readers are acquainted with _Price on Sheep_, a book
in which the treatment of the Leicester sheep is especially described.
After commenting upon what this author says of the losses experienced in
lambing-time by the southern breeders, Mr Stephens pays the following
deserved compliment to the intelligent shepherds of Scotland:--

"I would not have noticed these egregious blunders, said by Mr Price
to be committed by shepherds in a low country like Romney Marsh, in
Kent, so prominently, had not Mr Youatt adopted the sentiments of Mr
Price in the very particulars quoted above, in his excellent treatise
on the history and diseases of sheep. Were a shepherd of a Leicester
flock in Scotland made aware that he was suspected of such ignorance
of the nature of sheep, he would be quite ashamed; and so would
shepherds even of the hill country, who cannot have so intimate a
knowledge of every individual of their flock, usually occupying a
wide range of mountain land, as their brethren of the profession
tending flocks within much more limited bounds."--(Vol. ii. p. 602.)

Among the more immediate symptoms of lambing, there are two which have
struck us as very interesting. We have put them in italics in the
following quotation:--

"The more immediate symptoms of lambing are when the ewe stretches
herself frequently; separating herself from her companions;
exhibiting restlessness by not remaining in one place for any length
of time; lying down and rising up again, as if dissatisfied with the
place; pawing the ground with a forefoot; _bleating as if in quest of
a lamb; and appearing fond of the lambs of other ewes_."--(Vol. ii.
p. 603.)

In regard to _pet_ lambs--such as are brought up by hand because their
mothers have died, and it has been impossible to mother then upon other
ewes--the following observation