520 SHEEP ISLAND BREEDS 



spring. The tendency may have been induced by local 

 conditions favourable to a particular object being continued 

 through generations, and thus made accumulative. If sheep 

 are well fed (but not too fat), and only the young of those 

 bearing twins bred from, the flock after a time becomes 

 distinctly more prolific. 



POINTS APPLICABLE TO MOST BRITISH BREEDS 

 OF SHEEP 



(Exceptions in various breeds will be named when they occur) 



1. A graceful carriage and springy style of walking : 



2. A characteristic head with good depth and strength of 

 jaw , and breadth across the bridge of the nose, and full bright 



eyes, indicating both docility and courage : 



3. The neck thick towards the trunk, tapering to the 

 head, arching slightly, and not too short : 



4. The chest broad, deep, and projecting well over the 

 fore legs, and descending from the neck in a perpendicular 

 line: 



5. The back level and broad behind and before (except 

 in the Cheviots and the Lonks, which have sharp shoulder- 

 tops or withers), with a uniform covering of flesh, not boggy, 

 but to the touch firm and muscular ; under- and upper-lines 

 straight : 



6. The ribs well sprung, rounded and deep : 



7. The shoulders well laid and covered with firm flesh. 

 The regions immediately behind the shoulders filled up : 



8. The thighs and gigots and also the arms and the fore 

 flanks fleshed well down : 



9. The rump or part near the dock well developed, 

 though not too large, as is sometimes the case in Cotswolds, 

 Border Leicesters, and other heavy-fleshed breeds : 



10. The quarters long and not drooping behind, and the 

 spaces between them and the last ribs short : 



1 1. The legs straight and set well apart, not too long; the 

 bone clean and fine, and neither coarse nor deficient : the hocks 

 are much better slightly out than at all in or " cow-hocked " : 



1 2. The characteristic wool of the special breed covering 

 well the body, and particularly the belly ; also the scrotum 

 of the ram. 



