FAROE ISLANDS SHEEP 525 



The Faroe Islands 1 sheep (Plate CXLII.) are a small 

 short-tailed breed, supposed to have been formed probably two 

 hundred and fifty years ago after a severe storm had killed 

 out most of the aboriginal breed. This was accomplished 

 by blending the short-tailed Iceland sheep with a Norwegian 

 breed, and no doubt a remnant of the native breed, a small, 

 brown, fine-woolled sheep resembling the Four-horned breed 

 of the Western Islands. It ran wild on one of the islands till 

 a few years ago, when the last specimens were killed to make 

 room for the common domesticated sheep. A few Blackface 

 Scotch mountain sheep were also taken to the Southern 

 Islands. Cheviots have from time to time been introduced 

 into the Islands, but little trace of them is seen, as, if their 

 cross-descendants survive, they soon lose their characteristic 

 features. A pure Cheviot, or one with a slight admixture of 

 native blood, is not suited to the climate, as the wool becomes 

 saturated with the constant rains and cannot dry as quickly 

 as that of the native sheep, and the animal gets chilled. 



This domesticated breed, especially of the northern fjelds, 

 is very hardy and of many colours, both of wool and hair 

 (for example : white all over ; steel grey ; jet black ; dark 

 murret or brown like the majority of the so-called black 

 sheep of our British flocks ; light murret, a rose or reddish- 

 dun resembling that of the extinct Tanfaced sheep), with 

 black fore-shoulders, neck and face, and with a white ring 

 round the muzzle and eyes, and a white spot on the forehead. 

 Some white sheep have a ring of black round the muzzle 

 and on the tips of the ears, and others grey spots on the 

 face and legs. Like Herdwick sheep the rams have heavy 

 horns, while the ewes are hornless, and all tend to become 

 lighter in colour as they advance in age. The wool is not 

 shorn but pulled about midsummer, the sheep being collected 

 in a " raett " or fold and tied by the legs (Plate CXLIL). The 

 fleece shows a perfect combination of the double coat so 

 characteristic of the Shetland breed long straight hair being 

 seen on the surface, and short, downy, soft wool arranged 

 like a bed of the finest moss underneath, through which the 

 long hair grows and projects, so that it overlaps and thatches 



1 Faroe signifies the sheep islands, and they possess over 100,000 

 sheep. There are seventeen inhabited islands, out of a group of twenty- 

 two belonging to Denmark, lying between Shetland and Iceland. 



