Dorset Horn Sheep. 



67 



the breed is William Ellis, who, in his Shepherds' Guide, 

 published in 1749, described the Dorsetshire sheep as having 

 white faces, white and short legs, broad loins, and fine curled 

 wool ; he also records that they were good mothers, being 

 especially careful of their young. 



The first known coloured illustrations of Dorset Horn 

 Sheep appeared in a work on the Domestic Animals of the 

 British Islands, by Prof. David Lowe, F.R.S.E., published in 

 1841. These sheep belonged to Mr. Michael Miller, of Plush, 

 near Dorchester, who possessed the last pure flock of the original 

 Dorset Horn Sheep in tlie kingdom. These illustrations are 

 now in the possession of the present writer. 



These sheep, which from time immemorial had been 

 naturalised in the county of Dorset, possessed small horns. 



FiQ. L'.— Dorset Horn Ewes. 



common to both male and female ; they had white faces and 

 legs, their wool being very fine, and weighing about four 

 pounds to the fleece. Their limbs were somewhat long, shoul- 

 ders low, loins broad and deep, whilst their lips and nostrils 

 were black with a tendency to assume a fleshy colour ; they 

 were very hardy, docile, suitable to the practice of folding, and 

 capable of subsisting on scanty pastures ; they were, too, vei-y 

 remarkable for their fecundity. Specimens of the breed 



D 2 



