MUTTON BREEDS 51 



of their greater hardiness and ability to resist para- 

 sites. The modern Shropshire is so wonderfully 

 wooled over the head and legs it is suspected that 

 there is a slight infusion of Merino blood in the 

 breed as it is today. The diminishing stature would 

 possibly point in that direction. 



HAMPSHIRES. 



The study of how this great breed was originated 

 is a most interesting one, though rather too long 

 and complicated to be entered fully into here. The 

 Hampshire is the result of skillful mingling of the 

 bloods of an old white-faced horned race, called the 

 Wiltshire, the Southdown, the Sussex and probably 

 the Cotswold breeds. During many years men 

 worked gradually toward an ideal, making skillful 

 matings and discarding the inferior offspring as 

 well as those which went toward the wrong type. 

 The result was astonishing, for the Hampshire 

 breeds now remarkably true to type and that type 

 quite unlike any of the ancestry involved in its cre- 

 ation. 



The Hampshire is the largest and heaviest of the 

 Down breeds, and is only excelled by the Lincoln in 

 weight and occasionally by the Cotswold, among the 

 long-wooled races. It has dark brown or black 

 points, with bold countenance, and a large ear, set 

 on rather low and standing well out to the side. The 

 bone is large, limbs especially strong and well set 

 on ; fleece fine and white. It presents a very striking 

 appearance, the rams having bold Eoman counte- 



