382 THE BREEDS OF LIV E-STOCK 
which extends from the angle of the jaw almost to the 
brisket. This breed is considered to be valuable in warm 
climates for its mutton. 
472. Black-face Highland sheep. By John A. Craig. 
—This mountain breed of sheep is most commonly 
called “ Black-Face,” although in the effort to be more 
specific it is frequently re- 
ferred to as the “Scotch 
Black-Face”’ or the Black- 
Face Highland. It is of me- 
dium size, with a bold, 
commanding appearance, 
added to somewhat by the 
fact that both the ewes and 
the rams have horns. The 
face is mottled or speckled, 
the fleece long in fiber and 
somewhat coarse. The chief point of merit is its thrifti- 
ness under conditions that would result in the extinction 
of almost any other breed of sheep. The mature sheep 
of this breed are very hardy and easily sustained. They 
subsist largely on heather and on the roughest kind of 
land, and withstand extreme exposure during severe 
storms. The newly born lambs share in this strength of 
constitution, and they are singularly equipped to undergo 
exposure by having a short, tight fleece cover them from 
heel to ear as soon as born. 
The Black-Face may justly claim to be one of the 
oldest breeds of Great Britain; and being so, their early 
history is little known. It is commonly thought that they 
are the original stock of the country. The very earliest 
mention of these sheep is by a writer, Hector Boethius, 
born in 1470, who says that until the introduction of the 
