OLD NORFOLK AND HERDWICK BREEDS 555 



age is the most common cause of death. When ready for 

 the butcher, the Norfolk sheep carries a large proportion of 

 lean, and no breed can show the same proportion of red 

 meat to fat at the end of the saddle cut. The breed gained 

 ist prize in the carcase competition at Smithfield Christmas 

 Show in 1900, and 2nd in 1901. Garrett Taylor, Trowse 

 House, Norwich, writes on June 30, 1906 : " One of the draw- 

 backs to the Norfolk Horned sheep is, they can jump like 

 goats, and are very difficult to keep within bounds, very wild, 

 and very slow meat-producers ; but when once fat, the flesh is 

 most excellent and of a very rich flavour " ; and little wonder, 

 for, as explained at page 613, it was one of the original 

 parents of the Suffolk breed. They possess very much the 

 same qualities as the Down. 



The Herdwick breed is the hardiest of all British 

 mountain sheep. It is found in greatest numbers through 

 the Fell districts of North Lancashire, Cumberland, and 

 Westmorland. A few flocks have been taken to Wales and 

 other parts, and there is a distinct tendency towards the 

 increase in the total numbers of the breed. It is recorded 

 that about the time of the Spanish Armada, "forty small 

 sheep managed to save themselves from the wreck of a 

 Spanish vessel stranded on the sandy coast of Drigg, and 

 were claimed as flotsam and jetsam by the then lord of the 

 manor." Youatt's statement (shortened) is more circum- 

 stantial but quite different, viz., that 



" In the beginning of the eighteenth century a ship was 

 stranded on the coast of Cumberland, that had on board 

 some Scotch sheep which seem to be now unknown. They 

 were purchased by some farmers at WasdaleheaH, Gosforth. 

 They were small and active, and evinced a peculiar sagacity 

 in foreseeing the approach of a snowstorm, for, a little before 

 its coming, they clustered together on the most exposed side 

 of the mountain, where the violence of the wind prevented 

 the snow from lodging. They were continually moving 

 about, and by their ceaseless activity they scraped away the 

 snow, however deeply the herbage might be buried. With 

 such a degree of interest, and almost of superstition, were 

 they regarded, that the owners formed an association to keep 

 them to themselves. Each agreed never to sell a ram and 



