26 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Professor Ewart has pointed out that " in the skeleton, 

 horns, and throat fringe, the Soay ram (Plate I. and Plate III., 

 Fig. 2) agrees with the Moufflon," and says that it may " be 

 regarded as a variety of Ovis orientalis adapted originally for 

 a moorland life." x 



I am indebted to Mr Eagle Clarke (who has twice 

 remained at St Kilda for some weeks without being able 

 to land on Soay) for the following notes, these being 

 answers to questions I gave him in writing, which were 

 answered by Donald Ferguson, who for twenty years has 

 been ground officer of St Kilda, and succeeded his father 

 in that office. His son Neil, who is postmaster and speaks 

 English well, acted as interpreter from the Gaelic. 



The original breed of St Kilda sheep may or may not 

 have been the same as those now on Soay, but whether any 

 of them were four-horned or not, there have been no four- 

 horned sheep on the islands in Ferguson's time. 



Four Black-faced rams were introduced into St Kilda by 

 Sir John Macleod, who built the houses now inhabited by the 

 islanders, and many others of this breed were sent afterwards 

 at various times. Whether this was the first introduction of 

 fresh blood or not is not stated. 



At the time of this introduction the St Kilda sheep were 

 smaller, and had shorter wool and were white in colour, with 

 a few black ones among them. 



"The Soay sheep are the old breed of St Kilda. In the 

 old days the Laird claimed every seventh ewe lamb and every 

 second ram, and these were placed on Soay, which was the 

 Laird's preserve, as it is to this day. A few rams of the race 

 which preceded the introduction of the Black-faced rams were 

 once introduced into Soay, but they did no good." This is the 

 only introduction of new blood to Soay that Ferguson knows of. 



The Soay sheep are now not so large as they once were, 

 and are gradually becoming smaller. This, Ferguson thinks, 

 is due to the fact that there are so many rams which cannot 

 be kept down because of their wildness. 



As the result of the introduction of the rams alluded to, 

 a number of white sheep appeared for a time, but their 



1 A Romafi Fro?itier Post and its People ; p. 373 ; Glasgow, 191 1. 



