1922. ScHARFF. — Some Notes on the Irish Sheep. 75 



It seems as if the short -woolled, which was a small 

 breed of sheep, was confined to the mountains, and it 

 probably is the older of the two races. Of the long- woolled 

 breed we know even less than we do of the other. Youatt 

 tells us that it was a large sheep whose head was completely 

 covered with wool. The wool extended on the legs to the 

 very feet, and it had large flagging ears. This breed was 

 generally distributed over the plain of Ireland. We know 

 nothing about the length of the tail in either of these breeds 

 and it is a character of some importance. 



Giraldus Cambrensis who visited Ireland in the 12th 

 century describes^ the Irish monks as being lightly clad in 

 woollen garments, barbarously shaped, and for the most 

 part black, because the sheep of the country are black. 

 The term " black " should not be taken too literally. In 

 every large flock of white sheep a few dark ones are born 

 even now-a-days. But these are not black. The colour 

 should be described as a shade of brown. And it is quite 

 likely that long ago sheep were almost all brown. The 

 dark colour no doubt was eliminated by selection when it 

 was found desirable to dye wool in various bright colours. 



I am not acquainted with any older references to the 

 sheep in Ireland than those alluded to, but it is quite certain 

 that domesticated sheep lived in this country long before 

 the 12th century. All the older remains of the sheep found 

 in Irish caves belong to a small race with slender, delicate 

 limbs which were somewhat goat-like in character. Mr. 

 Blyth^ speaks of the former occurrence in Ireland of two 

 races of sheep one of which was polycerate {i.e. many- 

 horned), while the other seemed not to differ from the old 

 Scottish Highland breed. He expressed the opinion that 

 these races were much older in Ireland than the goat. 

 Now as regards the fact that some of the sheep skulls 

 found in the raths and crannogs of Ireland were four- 

 horned (or what Bl3rth calls polycerate) this is by no means 



* Giraldus Cambrensis. — " The Topography of Ireland " (revised and 

 edited by Th. Wright), 1881. 



'^ Blyth, E. — " On the animal inhabitants of ancient Ireland." 

 Proc. R. I fish Acad., vol, viii., 1861-64. 



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