120 THE SHEEP. 



XII. THE OLD WILTSHIRE BREED. 



The Old Wiltshire was a race of Sheep which extended 

 over the greater part of the county of Wilts. They were 

 the largest of the fine-woolled Sheep of England. Their 

 heads were clumsy, and the outline of the face remarkably 

 arched. They had horns in the male and female : their legs 

 and faces were white ; their wool was very fine, weighing 

 about two and a half pounds the fleece : their mutton was of 

 tolerable quality, and the wethers, although they fattened 

 slowly, arrived at a good size. 



This breed was long regarded as well adapted to the situa- 

 tions in which it was reared : its wool was in great request, 

 and large numbers of the fattened Sheep were driven to the 

 London markets. The breed may be said to be now nearly 

 extinct in the pure state, scattered remnants of it only ex- 

 isting. It has been entirely superseded by the South Down 

 breed, which has either been directly substituted for it, or 

 been made to cross it, until its distinctive characters have 

 been lost. The vexation was very great of the older farmers 

 of Wilts on marking the progress of the Southdowns, and 

 the gradual disappearance of the race which they had been 

 taught to regard as the best in the kingdom. Some of them 

 declared that there would not be a pile of grass in the county 

 if these little black-faced Southdowns were allowed to take 

 the place of the fine tall Wiltshire. 



The figure of the Old Wiltshire affords an exemplification 

 of almost every external character which the breeder wishes 

 to avoid. The large coarse head, the flat sides, and the 

 length and thickness of the limbs, are very remarkable ; and, 

 by comparing these points with the conformation of the 

 beautiful race which is now reared in the same district, we 

 have an instructive lesson on the proper form of Sheep, and 

 on the changes which the care of the breeder can effect. 

 The Old Wiltshire breed, however, had become adapted, in a 



