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West, and by the Carter Fell into Scotland, where it occupies the 

 great range of Greywacke Hills stretching from St. Abb's Head 

 on the East to the Irish Channel, through the upper part of 

 Lanarkshire into Argyllshire, and all through the Highlands of 

 Scotland, from the Grampians to the Pentland Firth. It has 

 spread to all the Hebrides, and even to the Islands of Orkney and 

 Shetland." The Heath breed described by Low in 1842 and 

 by Youatt in 1837 is now represented by several breeds with 

 distinctive characteristics developed by selection and differences of 

 environment. 



THE SCOTCH BLACKFACE. 



Origin of the Blackface. Youatt favoured the tradition which 

 assigns a foreign origin to the Blackface breed, and which sug- 

 gests that it was taken to a royal farm in the forest of Ettrick by 

 James IV. Low expressed the more probable view that it found 

 its way into Scotland from the mountains of the North of 

 England. It has been (he added) for an unknown period, in all 

 the high lands of the counties of Dumfries, Berwick, Roxburgh, 

 Selkirk, Peebles, Lanark, and adjoining districts. Its introduction 

 into Argyllshire and the Central and Northern Highlands, has been 

 of very recent origin, about the middle of the Eighteenth Century, 

 when sheep began to supersede black cattle. 



Characteristics of the Breed. Ay ton, in 1824, said of them : 

 " This breed of sheep is the boldest, the hardiest, and the most active 

 and industrious of all the sheep species. They are so round of their 

 bodies, so compact in their figures, and short-coupled, that they are 

 often denominated the Short Sheep " (in contradistinction to the 

 " Long " or Cheviot Sheep). 



The following are the modern points of the breed : The face aud 

 legs are black or mottled (distinctly clean, and free from dun or 

 brown), smooth, and glossy. Dark faces are in favour with breeders 

 of cross-lambs, which bring higher prices when dark. Wool should 

 not appear among the hair, although a slight tassel on the forehead 

 and fringes on the cheeks and legs may have to be dressed off well- 

 bred sheep for showing. The nose is strong, broad, and prominent, 

 and the nostrils are wide and black. The horns of the ram are 

 large, coming out level from the crown and taking one or more 

 spiral turns according to age. The short ears are hidden by the 

 horns of the ram. The tail is not docked, being naturally short 

 reaching only to the hocks, 



Value as a Meat Producer. The mutton at all ages is of the 

 very highest quality and is always in great demand in the leading 

 markets. Preference used to be given to the mature mutton of 

 three to five-year-old wethers, weighing 15 to 16 Ib. per quarter, 

 but at the present time old mutton is not so ranch in demand, and 

 the majority of wether lambs are now fattened off in their first 

 autumn or winter. Although lambs direct from their mothers, 

 weighing 25 to 30 Ib. of dressed meat, are the tenderest and 

 sweetest, the highest-priced mutton in the market is that produced 

 by Blackface' wether lambs weighing about 36 Ib., that have been 

 fattened on good foggage or aftermath after weaning. 



The Blackface Sheep is wild and active, and, to thrive well 

 natural pasture, must have a good range; nevertheless, it bears 



G 



