202 THE VALLEY OF THE TEME 



Breed Society, and classes at the Royal Show. Their 

 mixed origin is, however, still to be seen in the face 

 colour, which should be spotted with black, the spots 

 extending to the legs ; yet however pure the breeding 

 a certain proportion of the lambs are always thrown, 

 some with pure white and others with entirely black 

 faces. In fact, there is some evidence, from counts 

 that have been made of the proportion of spotted, 

 white, and black faces, that in the Kerry Hill sheep we 

 are dealing with a perpetual hybrid form which, like 

 the Blue Andalusian fowl, cannot be fixed to breed 

 true. The Blue Andalusian is, of course, one of the 

 stock cases of Mendelian breeders. When two blue 

 Andalusians are mated, however long and exact their 

 pedigree may have been, the chickens always contain 

 a certain percentage of all blacks and splashed whites 

 which are thrown out by the fanciers, though when 

 black is mated with white the Blue Andalusian is again 

 produced. Probably the spotted-faced Kerry Hill is 

 like the Blue Andalusian, a true hybrid form which 

 contains the elements of both the parent forms and 

 must continue to split. But whatever the success of 

 the breeders' efforts to fix races of the forest sheep, 

 collectively they form very valuable stock which are 

 bred under comparatively rough conditions on the up- 

 lands, and are sold in great fairs at Knighton, Craven 

 Arms, and other markets on the outskirts of the forest. 

 The ewes are taken into the low countries and crossed 

 with a Shropshire or Down ram to produce lambs 

 which grow rapidly and can be sold fat in the early 

 summer because of the large quantity of milk the 

 ewes always possess. To the low country farmers 

 perhaps the greatest defect of these Kerry Hill and 

 Clun Forest sheep is their activity, something ex- 

 ceptional in the way of fences being required to keep 



