

THE CHEVIOT BREED. 93 



The Black-faced Heath Breed, after having displaced the 

 former races of a large tract of country, has itself, in the 

 natural course of improvement, been giving way to another 

 mountain breed of different characters. This is the breed 

 of the Cheviot mountains, likewise derived from a high and 

 stormy country, but reared under circumstances more favour- 

 able with respect to the supplies of food, possessing fine and 

 not coarse wool, and cultivated with greater attention on the 

 breeding farms. But the hardier Heath Breed is still the 

 more suitable to a great extent of country, where the preva- 

 lent herbage is heath, and still therefore merits the careful 

 attention of a numerous class of breeders. 



IX. THE CHEVIOT BREED. 



The Cheviot Breed of Sheep is derived from a district of por- 

 phyry, situated in the north of Northumberland, and extend- 

 ing into Scotland, forming the mountains termed Cheviot. 

 These mountains are in contact with the rugged country of 

 heath, which has been seen to be the habitat of the Black- 

 faced Breed ; But the true Cheviot district is limited in extent, 

 and differs greatly in its character from the heathy wastes 

 adjoining. It is composed of a range of beautiful mountains 

 tending to the conical, and mostly covered with grasses, ferns, 

 wild thyme, and other plants distinctive of trap, often to the 

 very summit. They are frequently in contact at their bases, 

 or separated from one another by narrow valleys. While 

 they pass on one side into the district of heaths, they are 

 connected on the other with a rich cultivated country. Their 

 highest summit is 2658 feet above the level of the sea, and 

 they are frequently capped with snow long after it has dis- 

 appeared from the lower grounds. 



This district has produced, from time immemorial, a race 

 of Sheep entirely distinct in its characters from the Wild 



