80 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



THE WENSLEYDALE. 



The Wensleydale breed is the produce of a cross of the 

 Leicester on a Yorkshire breed somewhat similar to the 

 Lincoln. By continued selection it has become a standard 

 breed having special peculiarities, the chief of which is a 

 bluish tinge in the skin and of the face and ears, sometimes 

 extending all over the body, and being more marked on the 

 bare and hairy parts. It is mostly used for its lambs, which 

 are marketed when a year old and the mutton of which is 

 of excellent quality. It is used mostly for crossing with the 

 black-faced breeds, the peculiar tinge of the skin being 

 thought to throw lambs more like the rams, and being 1 larger 

 and of excellent fattening disposition they are found more 



WENSLEYDALE RAM, TEN YEARS OLD. 



profitable than the smaller pure, black-faces. It is valued 

 for its fleece which has a peculiar curl, called pirls, these 

 being really t\vists of a corkscrew shape, and which in manu- 

 facturing tend to felt in the goods, giving a very firm and 

 tough cloth used for the hardest wear. The fleece is rather 

 open, long in staple, and wastes but little as compared with 

 the fleece of other sheep in the scouring. This peculiarity of 

 the fleece is extended over the whole of the body, including 

 the head and between the eyes and round the ears; the belly 

 is well covered, as well as the scrotum and down the legs, 

 with downy wool. There is a conspicuous absence of hair 

 in the fleece, which is considered as an objectionable feature 

 by the breeders. 



The head is of good size, indicating a strong constitution, 

 and is carried high on a strong neck, giving the sheep a 



