444 Breeds of Sheep best adapted to different Localities. 



per quarter, and are the finest mutton produced in England, assi- 

 milating in flavour closely to venison ; they also, Avhen at the 

 fattest, possess a larger portion of lean meat than any other sheep ; 

 and, when the legs are cured in the same way that pigs' hams are, 

 make a most exquisitely-flavoured grill. The ewes are frequently 

 sold to graziers in the vales, and are put to Leicester and South- 

 down rams ; and, if put on good fair land, will fatten a lamb as 

 large as themselves, being excellent mothers and possessing an 

 abundant flow of milk. No hay is given to Herdwicks during 

 the winter; they support themselves in the deepest snow by 

 scratching down to the herbage, and if any part is blown bare 

 they are certain to discover it. The lambs are dropped about the 

 12th of May, and are well covered with wool when dropped; 

 sometimes the lambs are taken to the lower grounds the first 

 winter. The ewes are not put to the ram until they are two years 

 and a half or three years and a half old. There is another breed 

 of sheep which are taken to the mountains in the north of 

 England in April and May, and are brought to the lower grounds 

 in November to winter. These are sometimes but improperly 

 called Herdwicks ; they are a mixed breed, being crossed with 

 the heath or black-faced sheep, and the white-faced sheep of the 

 low country, called '* mugs :"* they are larger, and have more wool 

 than the Herdwicks, and have not the propensity of fattening 

 on the hills, equal to the latter. There is a striking peculiarity in 

 connexion with the Herdwick sheep, viz. that when once domes- 

 ticated, as it may be termed, to any particular portion of mountain 

 land, the shepherd is always certain to fmd them on their proper 

 locality, unlike the black-faced sheep, who are desperate wan- 

 derers. This valuable quality in mountain sheep has, however, 

 this disadvantage, that the ewes, if removed from the place 

 where they were reared, will be invariably found to return to 

 their native locality at the lambing season. This renders it 

 almost impossible to procure a flock of Herdwicks except by 

 purchasing lambs, at which- early stage of their growth this fixed 

 attachment to the place of their birth may be presumed to be not 

 so strong, f 



The sheep of North and South Wales need not be mentioned, 

 as they are every way inferior to the black-faced heath sheep, 

 and greatly so to the Herdwicks ; neither is the flavour of the 

 mutton, size of the carcase, nor value of fleece, equal to the 

 latter. 



* This diversified cross is often termed mugs also. The term "mug" amongst the 

 mountains alluded to is very generally, but ignorantly and improperly, applied to all 

 large, white-faced sheep. 



t This remark applies with full force as to the Principality, notwithstanding the pre- 

 ceding note in whicli the writer expresses his belief that the Herdwicks were originally 

 derived from a Welsh stock. 



