26o SHEEP. 



idea of their being a diftindl breed, they 

 are found, on the Northern fkirts of Dart- 

 more, about Okehampton, of a dimi- 

 nutive fize : not much larger than the 

 heath Sheep of Norfolk. Yet, in uni- 

 formity of wool, in difparity of head, and in 

 their general appearance, their fize apart, 

 they perfectly accord with the larger variety 

 of what may well be confidered as the 



ANTIENT BREED OF THE COUNTRY. 



It is obfervable, that, in the different 

 varieties of this breed, there are many indi- 

 viduals v/hich bear fo ftron? a refemblance 

 to the prefent breed of Dorfetihire, as to 

 kave little doubt of their having a natural 

 alliance. And it appears to me mofl pro- 

 bable, that the horned Sheep of Dorfetihire, 

 5cc. have been originally drawn from the 

 antient breed of the Weflern mountains j 

 bv breeding from a felection of the horned 

 individuals. While a polled or hornlefs 

 breed, now feen in the South Hams, may 

 well feem, from their reiemblance, to have 

 been raifed, by a fimilar feleftion, from the 

 hornlefs individuals of the fame antient 

 ftock. The encreafe ofcarcafe and wool, 



whicia^ 



