78 



IMPHOVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. 



Mr Culley imagines, that the dun-faced sheep were 

 the earliest tenants of the Scottish hills, but so far as 

 my researches extend, that supposition is entirely con- 

 tradicted. Chalmers remarks, that the black-faced 

 animals superseded the goats, which were at one time 

 a source of subsistence to the farmers, and it is exceed- 

 ingly probable, that as the old white-faced began to 

 change their appearance, and became gradually able to 

 withstand the rigours of a mountain fare, and winter 

 under a dun skin, and short rough wool, so would they 

 recommend themselves as the best of all stock to the 

 hard-driven agriculturalist. 



(72.) Increase of the Number of the Horns. — As 

 much wonder is sure to be excited by the fact, that 

 bony prominences are subjected with as great certainty 

 to the modelling hand of climate as softer parts, I give 

 the following from a recent work, entitled, " Gardens 

 and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated" 

 premising, however, that, in my opinion, temperature 

 has a vast deal more to do with alterations in the horns 

 than domestication or cultivation. " One of the most 

 curious modifications produced by cultivation in the 

 domesticated sheep consists in the augmentation of the 

 number of its horns ; two, three, or even four supplemen- 

 tary appendages of this description being occasionally 

 produced in addition to the normal number. Under these , 

 circumstances the additional horns usually occupy thej 

 upper and fore part of the head, and are of a more 

 slender shape, and take a more upright direction thai 

 the others, thus approaching in character to those of 

 the goats, while the true horns retain more or less of 

 the spiral curve that distinguishes those of the sheep^ 



