DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP. 603 



almost every county, which formerly liad their distinct and 

 recognizable breeds, the J\Ierino blood has, to a certain ex- 

 tent, been introduced. In our description of the ram, page 

 589, we have detailed the points which are now generally 

 admitted to be the best in the form of sheep. So many 

 crosses have taken place of late years, that there is hardly 

 a breed which possesses characters by which they can be 

 distinguished, if we except those which feed on the moun- 

 tainous tracts of Wales and Scotland, which are for the 

 most part small animals, and many of the flocks with black 

 faces, and both males and females provided with horns. 

 These sheep are remarkable for their fine, close grained, 

 muscular fibre. Nearly allied to these are those of the 

 Westmoreland, Yorkshire, and Northumberland mountain 

 sheep, with white faces. Those which are now most pro- 

 pagated are long woolled, and also such as is of a fine tex- 

 ture. These were first successfully improved in the follow- 

 ing counties, viz., Cumberland, Dorset, Hereford, Norfolk, and 

 Sussex ; and these may be considered as the parent stocks 

 of all our modern improved varieties. To attempt a specific 

 description of these is now almost impossible, as the distin- 

 guishing characteristics of each are mere shades of difference. 



