184 THE SHEEP. 



known period, to have existed in numbers throughout the 

 country. They consisted partly of Short-woolled breeds, to 

 which reference has been already made, and partly of a Long- 

 woolled race, which extended with pretty uniform characters 

 over the greater part of the level country. This latter race was 

 of large size, and of a form peculiarly coarse and unthrifty. 

 They are described by Mr Culley as they were seen by him at 

 the fair of Ballinasloe, in the latter part of last century, 

 thus : " I am sorry to say I never saw such ill-formed 

 ugly sheep as these : the worst breeds we have in Great 

 Britain are much superior. One would almost imagine 

 that the sheep-breeders in Ireland have taken as much 

 pains to breed plain awkward sheep, as many of the people 

 in England have to breed handsome ones. I know nothing 

 to recommend them except their size, which might please 

 some old-fashioned breeders, who can get no kind of stock 

 large enough. But I will endeavour to describe them, 

 and leave my readers to judge for themselves. These 

 sheep are supported by long, thick, crooked, and gray legs ; 

 their heads long and ugly, with large flagging ears, gray faces, 

 and eyes sunk, necks long, and set on below the shoulders ; 

 breasts narrow and short, hollow before and behind the 

 shoulders ; flat- sided, with high narrow herring backs ; hind 

 quarters drooping, and tail set low. In short, they are al- 

 most in every respect contrary to what I apprehend a well- 

 formed sheep should be." * Of the fidelity of this description 

 no doubt can be entertained, although the change that has 

 since taken place is so great as to leave little likeness of the 

 former picture. There yet remain, indeed, some of the dis- 

 tinctive characters of the older family, the large heads, the 

 flat sides., the narrow breasts ; but all that excessive ugliness 

 of form which placed the Irish below the worst breeds of 

 England, may be said to have disappeared. This has been 

 the result of crossing with the New Leicester Breed, which 

 began about the time Mr Culley wrote, and has been con- 



* Culley on Live Stock. 



