SUPPLEMENT. 759 



hills. Originally the carcase weight of Cheviots exceeded seldom 12 to 15 pounds per 

 quarter, but now from 18 to 22 pounds per quarter is frequently obtained. A useful cross 

 for lowland grazing is that of Leicester rams with Cheviot ewes. 



The Mountain Sheep. — The mountain sheep of Great Britain are the black-faces of the 

 Scotch Highlands, found in Lanark, Ayr, Dumfries, Peebleshire, Roxburghshire, and 

 Sterlingshire. They are extremely active and hardy, capable of enduring cold and 

 hunger, and thrive on scanty food, having frequently to scratch through the snow to 

 get it. They are good mothers. 



They have a shaggy fur and coarse open wool of middle length, or rather long, in- 

 clined to curl, but is hempy, and only fitjfor the coarsest description of manufactures, 

 such as carpets, &c. The face and legs are black. The males have) large spiral horns, 

 and the females also are mostly possessed of horns, but smaller. The face is long, 

 the muzzle free from wool, the ears long, and the eyes quick and lively. 



The Rerdwick. — The Herd wick breed is said to surpass even the black-faces in hard- 

 ihood. They are propagated in the fells of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and a small 

 portion of Lancashire. 



These sheep are very active, and it is difiSleult to retain them within any inclosnre. 

 They will return from almost incredible distances if removed from their native runs. 

 The fleece is thick and matted together. The wool is rather shorter in staple and 

 finer in quality than that of the black-faces. 



The Lanks. — ^This breed originated in the hill ranges of Lancashire and Yorkshire, but 

 have extended themselves to the peaks of Derbyshire on the one side, and through the 

 mountain ranges of the North of England, even to Scotland, on the other. Their faces 

 are picturesque, being streaked black and white, as are also the legs. Their horns are 

 curled and of a yellowish tinge. They often graze almost equally well with the Cheviots. 

 Three-year-old wethers from the Fell, fed on good grass land, weigh about 18 pounds per 

 quarter. 



The ExmooT. — The Exmoor is a mountain race, native to West Somerset and North 

 Devon, and belongs to the elevated range, running from Minehead to South Molton, and 

 to the Forest of Exmoor. The wethers run on the hills for three or four years, yielding 

 fleeces which average from 4 to 5 pounds each. The ordinary Exmoors will then fatten 

 to about 15 pounds per quarter; but highly improved flocks are now found in which 

 early maturity has been induced, so that at eighteen months the wethers fatten to 18 

 pounds per quarter, but these do not of course run on the mountains. 



Of all mountain sheep the Exmoors are the most shapely, really forming models with 

 their round barrel-like forms. They are short, thick, compact, and have short legs, 

 horns curling downward and outward, white faces, legs, and fleeces, which are rather long, 

 the wool coming well up to the cheeks. An excellent cross for lowland feeding is that 

 of the Leicesters with the Exmoors. 



Welsh Mountaineers. — This is a diminutive breed found quite generally in the elevated 

 ranges. They are a small-homed breed, wild and active, and frequent the highest parts 

 of the mountains, thriving on scanty food, and feeding on alpine aromatic herbs, which, 

 no doubt, are the sources of the fine flavor of Welsh mutton, which is highly prized. 

 Their faces are usually white, but sometimes speckled or gray.' Even at four years old 

 the fat wethers seldom yield a carcass of more than 40 pounds; and if a leg of mutton 

 weighs over 4J pounds it is deemed of doubtful purity. 



A cross with the Cheviots has done well on some of the less elevated tracts of Wales. . 

 There is a variety of Welsh sheep called the " Radnorshire," which has lately been im- 

 proved. They are prolific and excellent nurses. They are hardy and capable of endur- 

 ing mountain storms, while the mutton is fine flavored. This breed is confined very 

 much to the county giving its name, and even there has been much crossed with the 

 Shropshire. 



The Wicklow and the Kerry. — ^Theseare the mountain breeds of Ireland; the former re- 

 sembles the Dorset in a remarkable propensity for early fecundity, but are much smaller 

 in size, bearing afSnity in this respect to Welsh sheep. The breeding flocks are on the 

 Wicklow Mountains, but farmers in the neighborhood of Dublin buy draft ewes for the 

 production of early fat lambs. The Kerrys, on the other hand, are found in the west of 

 Ireland. Sheep of this breed are larger in size than the Wicklows, but very coarse- 

 boned and unthrifty, taking a long time to mature. 



ITie Shetland.— These sheep are natives of the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Most of 

 them are polled, but some of them have small horns resembling the goat. They are of 

 small size, weighing when fettened only fpm 7 to 10 pounds per quarter. 



BEEEDS OF SHEEP AT THE PARIS SHOW. 



As regards the exhibition of sheep at the Paris show, 1883-'84, which, among others, 

 included a prize group of Sonthdowns bred in the Nievre, I transmit herewith (inclosnre 

 No. 5) a note from H. Kaius Jackson on the different breeds, with his critique upon the 

 same. 



