202 THE SHEEP. 



tinct, or confined to the remoter islands and islets of the 

 Hebrides. 



3. The Sheep of Wales, which may be divided into two 

 classes ; 1. The Sheep of the Higher Mountains, horned, of 

 diminutive size, usually of a dark colour, and bearing soft 

 wool, largely intermixed with hairs ; 2. The Hornless Soft- 

 woolled Sheep, likewise of small size, bearing wool of a soft 

 texture, fitted for the manufacture of hose and flannels, but 

 deficient in the property of felting. To the typical forms of 

 these races all the Mountain Sheep of Wales are more or 

 less allied. They are valued for the delicacy of their mut- 

 ton, and are carried in numbers to the lower country, for the 

 purpose of being fattened. They are hardy, but impatient of 

 restraint, when removed from their native pastures. Allied 

 in their characters to the Mountain Breeds of Wales are the 

 Sheep of the Wicklow Mountains, now disappearing in the 

 pure state, from the effects of crossing. 



4. The Kerry and other Sheep of the high lands of Ire- 

 land, wild, slow in arriving at maturity, and producing a 

 fleece of medium softness, but irregular, and mixed with 

 hairs. 



5. The Black-faced Heath Breed, inhabiting the central 

 chain of heathy mountains and moors which extend from 

 Derbyshire northward. These sheep have long been carried 

 to the mountains of Scotland, and now extend all northward 

 through the northern Highlands to the Pentland Firth. They 

 are armed with horns, and are the hardiest and boldest of 

 all the races of British Sheep. They have dark-coloured 

 faces and limbs, and bear shaggy fleeces of coarse wool. 

 Their characters change when they are naturalized in the less 

 rugged mountains and moors. In the lower heaths of York- 

 shire, they approximate, through the coarse and unthrifty 

 breed of Penistone, to the larger sheep of the plains : in other 

 cases they pass into the finer-woolled sheep of the Commons, 

 lower Heaths, and Forests. They produce a juicy and well- 



