325 



ICELAND SHEEP. 



The Iceland Sheep is not so large as the ordinary 

 English Sheep. It resembles more the Shetland in 

 colour, size, and texture of the wool. The predominant 

 colours are black, white, brown, and mottled. Grey 

 (blue), black-spotted, dark brown, dark brown-spotted, 

 and brown animals with black bellies are not uncommon. 

 The wool is not quite so fine as in the Shetland Sheep, 

 but it is long and beautifully curled, and the under- 

 wool is dense. The skins are not of much value, being 

 chiefly used for low-priced wrappers. A year or so ago 

 they were used for muffs and boas, and many were 

 dyed fancy colours ; the skins then realized much higher 

 prices. The yearly collection of skins ranges from 

 16,000 to 77,000, and the usual value is from 2s. 6d. to 

 5s. a skin, but when the demand is abnormal the price 

 is much higher. The skins are generally imported 

 salted, and shipped in bundles of two skins. A few are 

 also imported dry. The Sheep are slaughtered in 

 October, and the skins arrive in November, December, and 

 January. About 20,000 live Iceland sheep are imported 

 into this country annually. In Iceland there are about 

 500,000 to 600,000 Sheep. The horns of this breed are 

 conspicuous by their number, six being not uncommon ; 

 eight, however, are very rare. 



The Sheep are not shorn in Iceland, and the wool is 

 said to be pulled off the animals, when it is just 

 becoming loose in the late spring. 



Mr. D. F. G. Macdonald informs us in his work, 

 " Cattle, Sheep and Deer," p. 532 : " For milk, as well 

 as for their warm fleece, these patient and hardy 



