76 THE SHEEP. 



an example of one, which may be regarded as the type of 

 several others, and whose characters lead us to conclude 

 that it has remained for ages in its present state. 



The Kerry Breed of Sheep, notwithstanding of neglect and 

 insufficient food, exceeds in size the breeds of Wales, of the 

 Wicklow Mountains, and of many of the Old Forests of Eng- 

 land. The horns are generally small and crooked, and some- 

 times wanting in the female, although some of the allied 

 varieties of other parts have the horns large and spiral. The 

 wool is coarse, and hairy on the haunches, and to a certain 

 degree along the ridge on the back, but on the sides it is very 

 short and fine. The white colour of the fleece prevails, but 

 there is a constant tendency to the development of the darker 

 shades ; and the whole Sheep would become black and brown, 

 were it not for the choice by breeders of those which are 

 white These Sheep are in a remarkable degree wild and 

 restless in their habits. In shape, eye, neck, position of the 

 head, and general aspect, they approach to the Antelope or 

 Deer tribes more than any other Sheep of this country. They 

 fatten so slowly, that, even after they have arrived at matu- 

 rity of age, they require a long time to become fully fat. 

 They have, however, a great disposition to accumulate fat 

 internally, and they are fit for the butcher when their ex- 

 ternal appearance would indicate that they were still lean. 

 Their mutton is juicy and of good flavour, which causes them 

 to be greatly valued for domestic consumption. This is their 

 really valuable property, but it is not of itself sufficient to 

 render them deserving of extended cultivation. 



Although Ireland, from the mildness of its winter and mois- 

 ture of the climate, is in a peculiar degree suited to the produc- 

 tion of the grasses and other herbaceous plants fitted for the 

 food of Sheep, yet a great part of the country is covered with 

 peat, either collected in vast beds in the plains, or rising into 

 eminences, or spread in thinner strata over the hills. Like 

 all the countries of ancient Europe, Ireland was once covered 

 with great forests, which neglect, and the prodigal waste of 



