6 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



Southern Africa have been observed to differ from one anothei, 

 as is shown by the facility with which the natives discrimi- 

 nate them. In our own country the Booth and Bates 

 tribes among Shorthorns, the varieties of Devon cattle, and 

 (although now merged in a common type) the Wilts and 

 Hants sheep, are evidence that when animals of even the 

 same race are bred for a long period in different hands, the 

 original type alters considerably. 



We have now indicated the means by which the numerous 

 breeds, not ouly of sheep but of other domestic animals, have 

 been produced, and we turn to the important topi'j of the 



VARIOUS BREEDS OF SHEEP. 



Before describing the breeds seriatim, it will be useful to 

 take a general survey of the fleecy inhabitants of these islands. 

 Commencing with the far north, we find the hills of the High- 

 lands and islands of Scotland tenanted by Black-faced sheep, 

 where these have not given way to the more majestic deni- 

 zens of deer forests. The Black-faced sheep flourish wherever 

 heather grows, and their picturesque appearance agrees well 

 with the land of the mountain and the flood. The lower slopes 

 of the hills are tenanted by Cheviots, and these two races 

 share the greater part of Scotland between them. In the 

 Lowlands we find Cheviots, Border Leicesters, and crosses of 

 Cheviot and Leicester occupying most of the arable farms. 

 In the arable portions of Cumberland and Northumberland 

 a similar description of sheep is kept, the ewe flocks being 

 generally half or three parts Leicester put to Leicester tups, 

 the remaining blood being Cheviot. On the hills of Cumber- 

 land and Westmoreland the hardy little Herdwick is the 

 favourite ; while on the extensive moors stretching from the 

 Cheviots to Allen Heads, and onwards through South North- 

 umberland, Durham, Yorkshire, and to the Peak district of 

 Derbyshire, the Black-raced breed again predominates. The 

 hills of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire are tenanted by 



