THE SHEEP. 203 



flavoured mutton, and are brought in great numbers from the 

 mountains, to be fattened in the lower country. 



6. The Cheviot Breed, derived from a limited tract of 

 green hills in the north of England, and thence widely spread 

 over the mountainous districts of Scotland, and some parts 

 of England and Ireland. These sheep somewhat exceed in 

 weight the Black-faced Heath Breed : they are less robust, 

 and less suited to a country of heaths, but yet they are 

 amongst the hardiest of our Mountain Sheep. They are des- 

 titute of horns in both sexes, and bear wool of medium fine- 

 ness, fitted for preparation by the card, and employed in the 

 manufacture of the coarser woollen cloths. 



7. The Old Norfolk Breed, reared in the heathy parts of 

 the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge. They are 

 a strong and agile race of Sheep, armed with horns in both 

 sexes, bear a clothing of wool of medium length, and are 

 greatly valued for the excellence of their mutton. They pro- 

 duce admirable crosses with the more highly cultivated 

 breeds, and especially with the South Down, from which 

 cause they are rapidly diminishing in numbers in the pure 

 state. 



8. The Breeds of the Older Forests, Commons, and Chases. 

 These vary in their aspect, size, and properties, with the 

 localities in which they have been naturalized. They have 

 often dark or gray faces and limbs, have sometimes horns, 

 and are sometimes destitute of horns, and bear, for the most 

 part, a short felting wool. They have been continually 

 diminishing in numbers with the appropriation of commons 

 and the improvement of the country, so that few now remain 

 without a mixture of the more cultivated breeds. In the 

 West of England, however, are still to be found the Dart- 

 moor and Exmoor breeds in considerable numbers, the for- 

 mer occupying the high lands of Devonshire in the forest of 

 Dartmoor ; the latter, a rugged district of limited extent at 

 the sources of the river Exe in Somersetshire. They are 

 both very wild and hardy races of small Sheep, and differ 



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