CHAPTER LX 



THE BLACK-FACED HIGHLAND 



The native home of Black-faced Highland sheep is the more 

 elevated sections of Scotland, especially in the counties of Perth 

 and Dumbarton in what is known as the Highlands, not far re- 

 moved from the city of Glasgow. The higher altitudes here reach 

 nearly four thousand feet, and on these rough, bleak, heather- 

 topped summits the Black-faced Highland is found in his element. 

 This is a region that is sparsely settled, the winters are severe and 

 cold, snow is abundant, and these sheep exist at times under very 

 rigorous conditions, such as require the hardiest of constitutions. 



The origin of the Black-faced Highland sheep is veiled in 

 obscurity. Theories have been advanced, but whence the breed 

 originated, says Scott, 1 has not been revealed in any of the his- 

 torical records. It has been claimed that the breed is native to 

 the country, that it was introduced into Ettrick Forest in 1503 

 by James IV of Scotland, that " dun-faced " sheep were imported 

 into Scotland from Denmark or Norway at a very early period, 

 and that they came from the ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked 

 on the coast of Scotland in 1588. Scott believes there is no doubt 

 but that this is the oldest breed known in Great Britain. The in- 

 troduction of these sheep into the Highlands is definitely known to 

 have taken place close to 1750, and they were taken to the West 

 Highlands about 1762 by a Mr. Campbell, who at one time lived 

 in Ayrshire. Early in the nineteenth century the Cheviot grew 

 greatly in popularity in the Highlands, but about 1 860 the snows 

 were unusually severe, and these sheep suffered severely on the 

 higher elevations, while the Black-faced sheep proved more hardy 

 and thereafter supplanted the Cheviots on the more exposed 

 uplands. This is the case at the present time the Cheviots 

 occupying the grass-covered hills of the Border country rather 

 than the rougher, heather-coated Highlands farther north. 



1 John Scott, Black-faced Sheep. Edinburgh, 1888. 

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