364 ^fountain Breeds of Sheep. 



day. Gradually, however, the Above Derwent men, by taking 

 pains and not sparing their hay in winter, went up to their rivals' 

 heads, and in the county tongue they '■'' fiavenoiv fjiot to bewaiste?'J' 

 There are sometimes as many as forty Fell Dales exhibitors, 

 and some of the largest will bring a hundred sheep with them. 



Of their origin we have no very clear account, but there is a 

 local belief that the progenitors of the race escaped from a 

 Spanish ship, which was wrecked near Morecambe Bay. At all 

 events they picked their country well, and have established their 

 name so surely from a perfectly wonderful endurance of short 

 commons, that some of the flocks number between seven and 

 eight hundred ewes. Elackfaces have been tried, but the ewes 

 more especially failed, in consequence of the climate and the 

 scanty nature of the grass ; and there is the s-ame tale to tell of 

 the Cheviots. In fact, it has been found impossible to farm 

 against the Herd wicks, which have been impioved in some hands 

 into " a thick, foody fcheep," with points which a few years ago 

 might have been looked for in vain. At the Royal Agricultural 

 meeting at Carlisle they had a local class to themselves, and all 

 the prizes went into Westmoreland ; whereas at Newcastle in '64, 

 the Messrs. Brown and Mr. Edward Nelson represented the two 

 parent counties and shared the prize-list between them. 



The latter of these bleeders, whose Herdwick prizes number 

 between two and three hundred, and furnish, in fact, a triple card 

 and rosette cornice to every beam in his Battermere parlour, lets 

 about 150 tups each season, at from 2 to 5 guineas. More can 

 be obtained for such tups as "Joe" and "Thousand a Year." 

 The latter was sold for 30/., but 12 guineas is considered a great 

 price. 



Each fell preserves the same ear-mark for generations, and the 

 farmer takes to the flock with his farm, and leaves it at a fresh 

 valuation (which very much depends upon whether he has given 

 them hay or not) to his successor. All the marks are registered 

 in a quarto Shepherds' Guide. The star, and the raven which 

 typifies 



" Kavencrag black as the storm," 



are' among its symbols ; red pops on the crown and tail head 

 have their conventional significance, and so have strokes over the 

 fillets ; while the ears are cut or keybitted till very little of the 

 original is left. 



So marked, they wander away in the mist and snow over the 

 fells (where there is often nothing but "the water deal" to show 

 the boundaries of the different farms), and live there half the 

 year. Still they do not stray very far from their own haunts, and 

 by way of saving trouble and enabling the ewes to make for the 



