34 BRITISH SHEEP AND SHEPHERDING. 



of point judging. The more important are as follows : " The 

 head and the face (which should not be too long) should be 

 completely covered with fine white wool ; the face and legs a 

 nice soft black in colour ; the ears also dark and small or medium, 

 fleece very dense, fine, and of medium length ; the body and 

 legs covered with an even quality of wool coarse wool about 

 the thighs, or light and thin wool on the shoulder points being 

 a great fault, as also are patches of black or grey wool. The skin 

 is pink, and free from blue or dark spots, the body square, on short, 

 straight, stout legs, with good bone." 



THE HAMPSHIRE DOWN. 



The Hampshire Down is the sheep of the Western chalk heaths 

 or downs. It is a true Down, and has spread from its indigenous 

 chalks to those further afield, and keeps its character well in them. 

 It is one of the composite breeds, in which the Down characteristics 

 were derived from the Southdown. In its composition the native 

 Wiltshire white -faced horned heath breed may be regarded as 

 the indigenous stock, and the bold Roman nose remains as absolute 

 evidence of its presence. The Berkshire heath breed, the Berk- 

 shire Nott, or Knot, or hornless sheep with a black or only 

 slightly spotted face, associated with that county, considerably 

 entered into the race, and is probably the source of the black face 

 and leg colouring, though it is known that the Southdown, on going 

 to some districts, has a tendency to get darker in the face. As 

 its geological position indicates, doubtless the more eastern 

 position of the breed was more influenced by the Nott than was the 

 western ; and in support of this the breed, as found in Dorset, 

 are much lighter in the face. The Cotswold also was brought in as 

 an early cross, and through him a touch of the Leicester. With 

 all this intermixture the Down characteristics have been evolved, 

 and, in the opinion of many, the handsomest of all the Downs. 



The Hampshire Down has the features of early maturity well 

 developed, and it is doubtful if any breed of Down characteristics 

 will, in open field treatment, come to the butcher at heavy weights 

 so quickly without showing an undue tendency to fat. It is, 

 however, a breed that tends to the appreciation of good living, 

 and over large numbers no breed is so well provided with suitable 

 food to bring it along. The wide system of catch cropping which 

 Eliman evolved to suit his requirements when improving his 

 Southdowns has been adopted, and to some extent elaborated, 

 by the farmers on the Western Downs, with the result that they 

 are able to wean their lambs very early in the year ; in fact, January 

 is the great lambing month with a large proportion of the flocks. 



