556 SHEEP MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



not more than five ewe lambs in one season. Nevertheless 

 the sheep gradually found their way to the adjoining 

 mountains. They were called " Herdwick " from the custom 

 of farming out a flock to a herdsman, who retained a number 

 of them in lieu of wages." 



Another account by the Rev. T. Elwood l says the sheep 

 came from a Norwegian vessel, and that " they were taken 

 possession of by the lord of the manor, and on their increase 

 being found hardy and suitable for the mountains, were let out 

 in 'herds' or flocks with the farms." He supports the 

 theory of the Herdwicks coming with early Norse settlers by 

 references to many Norse words, names of places and country 

 customs still existing in the Fell districts of Cumberland, 

 Westmorland, and North Lancashire, and to the evidences of 

 Norse relations with the coast of Ireland, the Faroe Isles, 

 Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides. 



Any attempt to cross the breed with the object of improv- 

 ing it as a mountain sheep has been unsuccessful. 



The colour of the head and legs of the lamb when 

 dropped should be black, or more correctly very dark blue, 

 and a shade of grey through it, but free from any tinge of 

 brown or speckle ; the body white, or preferably grey ; white 

 tips to the ears ; and a fringe of white hair round the hoofs. 

 The white extends from the starting-points indicated and 

 forms rings which gradually develop round the muzzle and 

 limbs, till at four years of age the face and legs are left either 

 white, like the hoofs, or steel-grey in colour. 



Points of a ram. 2 Horns may be present or absent 

 (although they do not appear on the ewe), smooth, and not 

 too thick, coming out of the head well apart and well back. 

 The ears, white or nearly so, should be sharp or pointed, and 

 set well up as an indication of hardiness ; the head a good 

 size, broad in the forehead, nose well arched and broad ; a 

 deep cheek-bone ; eyes bright ; the face a light " rag " (grey 

 or white) in full-grown sheep, with plenty of white bristles 

 on the back of the head, and a "toppen," not too large, 



1 Paper on the Mountain Sheep by the Rev. T. Elwood, M.A., rector 

 of Torver, Coniston, in Part I. of the Transactions of the Cumberland 

 and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archceological Soc., 1898. 



2 With acknowledgments to John Newby, Aulthurstside, Broughton- 

 in-Furness. 



