56 BRITISH SHEEP AND SHEPHERDING. 



ears are hidden by the horns of the ram. The tail is not docked, 

 being naturally short reaching only to the hocks. 



A more detailed description of the management of the breed 

 is given in a later section, " The Management of a Hill Flock." 



LONK. 



^ As in all other parts of England before the country was well 



opened up, and until, from a century to a century-and-a-half 



ago, sheep owners set out to improve their sheep, there were many 



local breeds in the northern counties, from Derbyshire upwards ; 



many had characteristics in common, accordingly as they were 



indigenous to the richer lowland pastures, or the sparser grazings 



of the hills and woodlands. In the hilly districts, the geological 



formations, the elevations, and climate, had considerable influence 



in the moulding of the features, so that while some approached 



somewhat nearly to one type, others moved very considerably 



from it. They, however, partook of the old heath type, whether 



they were black-faced, white-faced, horned, or hornless. With 



greater care in sheep management there was more selection, and 



gradually the inferior were pushed aside, until comparatively 



few were left as representative breeds. Among the more important 



is the Lonk, a native of the wet hill districts of East Lancashire, 



West and South-west Yorkshire, and North-west Derbyshire. 



It is of the type of the Black-face, but is longer in the leg, and 



longer and bigger in the body and head. It is horned and has 



a black face with clear white markings ; it has a closer, heavier, 



and finer fleece than the Scotch sheep, but is not quite so hardy. 



These are features which would be expected from its environment, 



and from the better class of herbage that it is indigenous to. It 



is evidently indigenous to the country it affects, its name being a 



curtailment of the old provincial pronunciation of Lancashire 



Lonkashire. It is one of the breeds which more distinctly 



links up the lowland heath breeds with the heath breeds which 



have long worked their way to the higher and colder hills, and 



have acquired more truly mountain habits and characteristics, 



as shown in the black -faced sheep of Westmorland, Cumberland, 



and the Scotch hills. When the Lonk breed was first recognised 



as such to distinguish it from allied or neighbouring breeds is not clear, 



and there is nothing but quite modern reference to it by that 



title. Coming from relatively good pasturage, the sheep has 



many valuable characteristics, and in crossing it mates well with 



such high-class mutton and wool breeds as the Wensleydale, 



Leicester, Hampshire and Oxford. It is one of the most recent 



breeds to aspire to a flock book that phase having been reached 



in 1905. 



