68 SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



Clare Sewell Read, apparently in search of a name in 1854, 

 suggested the appellation of " Down-Cotswolds." In 1859 

 they seem to have become fairly recognised as Oxfordshire 

 Downs, and appeared under this designation at Battersea, as 

 already noted. There appears to have been a good deal of 

 intermingling of blood before Oxfordshire Down breeders 

 settled into a line of their own. Mr. Druce early found that 

 " good qualities can be better secured by employing the cross- 

 bred animals on both sides than by using the first cross." 

 Mr. C. S. Read tells us that "the (flock) owner formerly 

 divided his flock into three parts, putting a half-bred ram to 

 the ewes that were about right a Cotswold to the small ones, 

 and a Down to the coarser sheep." Gradually the breed 

 emerged from this tentative condition, and probably, at least 

 from the date at which Mr. Read wrote (1854), * ne breed has 

 been kept distinct from either parent strain, and has been 

 bred exclusively inter se. 



As might have been expected, the flocks of various breeders 

 indicated in their fleece and faces a preponderance either of 

 the Long or the Short Woolled parentage, and to a certain 

 extent this difference still exists, although it is disappearing 

 fast. The speckled face which used at one time to distinguish 

 the Oxfordshire sheep has given way to a uniform brown, 

 although a splash of lighter grey is sometimes to be discerned. 

 The finely cut profile and thinner nose, and the long fore- 

 lock, together with the long and thin ear, are evidently 

 vestiges of the Cotswold parent. So also is the looser coat 

 that is to be seen on the Oxfordshire Downs. The dark face 

 and the comparatively close fleece are derived from the Down, 

 and the degree of character and uniformity which has been 

 attained must be put down to careful selection for a period 

 of about forty years. They were called " the glory of the 

 county the most profitable sheep to the producer, the 

 butcher, and the consumer," in 1854, an d after a whole 

 generation of men have passed away they still hold their 

 position. 



