84 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



white hair covering the face, extending over the ears and be- 

 hind the head; rudimentary horns, which are sometimes 

 loose and mere appendages of the skin, a prominent Roman 

 nose, black nostrils and bright full black eyes. The wool is 

 moderately long, straight and free from kemp (or the short 

 coarse hairs which go by this name), and covers well all 

 parts of the body, the belly, breast, and legs down to the 

 hocks. The tail is naturally long and rough, protecting the 

 udders of the ewes, and not objectionable when the sheep 

 are kept on pasture and not fed on turnips, rape, or other 

 laxative food. Thd shoulders are high. The ewes are ex- 

 cellent milkers and good mothers, losing few r lambs, even 

 when unattended by the shepherd. They are docile and not 

 given to straying, even in the late season when sheep, by 

 long inherited disposition to wander, are most inclined to 

 stray. 



It is the custom with the Cheviot shepherds to cross the 

 ewes with Leicester, Lincoln, or Weiisleydale rams; the 

 produce are know r n as Leicester or half-bred lambs, and are 

 popular in the markets at twelve months old when they w'll 

 weigh sixteen to eighteen pounds to the quarter. The flesh 

 of these half-breds is not so fat and is better considered by 

 the butchers than that of the pure Leicester. 



This breed is kept in the States of New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Indiana, Iowa and North Carolina, and in these 

 widely different and distant localities all do well. 



The fleece weighs five to seven pounds in the ewes, and 

 a half more in the rams. The ewes imported by the author 

 weighed 170 Ibs, and the ram, two years old, 270 Ibs. 



THE BLACK-FACED HIGHLAND. 



This breed is smaller than the Cheviot, and thrives well 

 on scant pastures, or the rough herbage of mountains). It 

 is originally a forest sheep, having been kept in Ettrick For- 

 est from long time back. It is now the principal sheep of the 

 Scottish Highlands, where it is kept in large flocks, both for 

 its mutton and its fleece. The mutton is of the finest quality, 

 exceeded in this respect by but one other slieep the small 

 Welsh mountain breed which furnishes meat of such fine 

 texture and flavor as to be kept for sale mostly in the fancy 

 grocery shops of London and other of the largest English 



