76 SHEEP I BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



well sprung, with a full flank ; legs and feet straight and 

 black, with fine and flat bone ; woolled to knees and hocks, 

 clean below ; fore legs set well apart ; hind legs well filled 

 with mutton ; belly well covered with wool ; fleece moderately 

 short, close fine fibre without tendency to mat or felt together, 

 and not shading off into dark wool or hair ; the skin is fine, 

 soft and pink. 



In examining Suffolk sheep the observer is struck with the 

 blackness of the face and the general absence of wool upon 

 the head or between the ears, which is so characteristic of 

 Hampshire Down sheep. This is the principal characteristic 

 difference in appearance between the two breeds. The diffe- 

 rence between the modern Suffolk and the hardy and small 

 horned Norfolk and Suffolk sheep, of which they are the lineal 

 descendants, is another instance of the wonderful progress 

 which has. been made during the present century in the 

 improvement of our live stock. 



THE DORSET HORN. 



The horned sheep of Dorsetshire form a singularly well- 

 marked race. In all the other Down sheep we find short 

 wool associated with brown faces and legs, but in the Dorset 

 we see a survival of a white-faced, horned, and short-woolled 

 race, which has been for a very long period associated with 

 the chalk hills of the county. Description of the old Wilt- 

 shire croocks in some respects favour the idea that the 

 present Dorset sheep are similar to those extinct Wiltshires, 

 which disappeared early in the present century, owing to the 

 westward progress of the Southdowns. The Dorset breeders 

 appear to have settled upon the process of selection rather 

 than of crossing. They possess a sheep with special charac- 

 teristics, and they wisely stick to them. Crossing was no 

 doubt attempted, both with Devonshire Knots and the 

 Leicesters ; but William Youatt informs us that the attempt 

 .was not successful, and the breed has been handed down as 

 truly representative of the old stock. 



