CHAP. i. EXMOOR AND DARTMOOR SHEEP. 471 



are now smaller than the Dartmoors. The Exmoors have white legs 

 and faces, and black nostrils, and are horned, the horns curling more 

 closely to the head than is the case with the Dorsets. The wool is 

 short, and the fleece is close and fine. The Exmoors are delicately 

 formed about the head and neck, but the carcass is narrow. They are 

 exceedingly hardy, and when fatted at two and a half or three years old, 

 arrive at 12 or 14 Ib. weight per quarter. 



For many years the Dartmoor has been crossed with the South 

 Devon sheep, with the result that the present type of the former is 

 altogether different from the old type. Mr. F. Ward, of Burnville, 

 Tavistock, informs us (February, 1892) that the Dartmoor sheep, as 

 kept by the moorland farmers, was an animal with a white face, horned, 

 and with long coarse wool. The wether sheep used to be kept on the 

 Moor nearly all the year round, and were grown for the profit got out 



Fig. !04. Dartmoor Sheep. 



of the wool ; they were bad to feed and of a wild nature. There is 

 another class of the Dartmoor kept by the farmers who only use the 

 Moor for running their sheep in summer. This type has a face mottled 

 with black spots on a white ground, the legs being similarly marked. 

 These sheep have curly fleeces of much finer quality than those of the 

 old Dartmoor ; they are quick to fatten when matured, but not as lambs. 

 The ewes are good mothers, and, when crossed with any sheep of a 

 pure breed possessing quality whether Down, Leicester, or Merino, 

 they produce lambs which fatten readily ; so quickly, indeed, that there 

 is a ready sale for the draft ewes for crossing purposes. 



As regards the native Dartmoors of to-day, Mr. Ward adds, "I do 

 not think they have ever been crossed with Leicesters or other breeds, 

 for we find that if the sheep are crossed they do not live on the hills 

 and other exposed situations." An exception is made, however, in the 

 case of the South Devons bred near the Moor, on the south side, these 

 being a finer description of improved Dartmoors. The Dartmoors seen 



