86 THE SHEEP. 







rough heathy district from which it is derived. The male and 

 the female have horns, very large and spirally twisted in the 

 male, but sometimes disappearing in the female. The limbs 

 are long and muscular, and the general form is robust ; but 

 the shoulders are not so low as in the Welsh breeds, nor are 

 the posterior limbs so long. The face and legs are black, 

 and there is a tendency to this colour in the fleece ; but there 

 is no tendency to the brown or russet colour, which distin- 

 guishes the older fine-woolled races. The fur is shaggy and 

 the wool coarse, in which respect it differs from that of all 

 the other mountain breeds of the country. It is of medium 

 length, and weighs about three pounds the fleece when washed. 

 These Sheep are very hardy, and capable of subsisting on the 

 coarsest heaths. They do not, however, like the Sheep of 

 Wales, prefer the summits of mountains, but feed wherever 

 pasture can be obtained ; and are not so nice in the choice 

 of herbage as the Southdown s, Merinos, and other races de- 

 rived from countries yielding the finer grasses. Although 

 wild and independent in their habits, they are not so restless 

 as the mountain Sheep of Wales and other parts, but can be 

 induced to remain in enclosures, when sufficient food is sup- 

 plied to them. The ordinary weight of the wethers, when 

 killed at the age of about four years, is fifteen pounds the 

 quarter ; but individuals are made to exceed this weight, 

 when properly treated and sufficiently fed from an early age. 

 The mutton is not so delicate as that of the Sheep of Wales, 

 or the Southdowns of England, but it is more juicy, has more 

 of the venison flavour, and is preferred to every other by 

 those who are used to it. It is the mutton which is princi- 

 pally consumed in all the larger towns of Scotland ; and great 

 numbers of the Sheep, at the age of three years and up* 

 wards, are carried to the pastures of the south, to be fattened 

 for the English markets. 



An important property of this breed is its adaptation to a 

 country of heaths, in which respect it excels every other. It 



