532 SHEEP MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



farmers in changing their stock to that breed, and from great 

 risk in bad lambing seasons. The spring of 1812 was a bad 

 one, and with some Cheviots there was a loss of 40 to 50 per 

 cent, of lambs, and the difference against the Cheviot as 

 compared with the Blackface is put down at 1 5 to 20 per cent, 

 of less lambs." 



Lowe's graphic description of the home of the Highland 

 Blackface sheep, under the name of the " Blackfaced Heath 

 Breed," is worthy of reproduction and close study. He 

 says : " From the high lands of Derbyshire on the south, to 

 the confines of Scotland on the north, extends a chain of 

 rugged heathy mountains, whose summit ridge separates 

 the waters of the Tyne, the Tees, the Swale, the Wharfe, 

 and other rivers which flow to the eastward, from those of 

 the Ribble, the Lowther, the Lune, and others which flow 

 westward. The elevation of the tract is from 1 200 to 3000 

 feet, the highest summits being Cross Fell, near the sources 

 of the South Tyne and Tees, on the eastern part of 

 Cumberland ; Skinner Fell, on the confines of Yorkshire 

 and Westmorland ; Wharnside and others in the westerly 

 part of Yorkshire. This central chain is separated from 

 the yet higher mountains of Cumberland and Westmorland 

 on the west, by the beautiful vales of Kendal and Eden. 

 The tract is destitute of boldness and grandeur, and, towards 

 the east, passes into the tame moors of Northumberland, 

 Durham, and Yorkshire. This dreary tract is generally 

 covered with coarse heaths, mixed with sedges, rushes, and 

 the less nutritious grasses, 1 and, from being exposed to the 

 winds of both the eastern and western seas, possesses a cold 

 climate. It has given rise to a race of sheep now very 

 widely diffused. This race has been termed the Blackface 

 Heath breed, a name which, though it does not distinguish 

 it from some of the Forest breeds, may be retained, as 

 indicating its peculiar habitat in a country of heaths. It is 

 chiefly found in the more northerly division of the chain 

 of mountains referred to, beginning in the heathy lands of 

 Yorkshire and Lancashire. It extends across the vales of 



1 See an article on "The Natural and Artificial Food of Scotch Hill 

 Sheep," by the Author and Professor Kinch, in the Highland Society's 

 Transactions ) vol. xvi. 



