SHORT-TAILED EUROPEAN BREEDS 59 



one of the most mouflon-like, of these short-tailed 

 domesticated sheep is a native of the island of 

 Soa, or Soay, in the St. Kilda group of the Outer 

 Hebrides. These small and half-wild Soa sheep 

 belong to a group of breeds, or sub-breeds, which 

 are widely distributed over Northern Europe, and 

 may be collectively designated loaghtan, or lughdoan 

 sheep. Properly speaking this term, which is 

 Manx, and means mouse-coloured, belongs only 

 to the small brown sheep of the Isle of Man ; but 

 it is a convenient one to apply collectively to the 

 whole group. In this wider sense of the term, 

 loaghtan sheep are common to Soa and other 

 islands in the Outer Hebrides, the Isle of Man, 

 Iceland, the Faroes, and the Shetlands, although 

 they are not found pure in the Orkneys. All these 

 sheep display a marked tendency to develop extra 

 horns, the number of these appendages in the rams 

 varying from two, three, or four, to as many as five 

 or six. Although loaghtan sheep are typically 

 cigar-brown in colour, the fleece may be white, 

 grey, dark-brown, black, or piebald. The ewes may 

 either carry small horns or be polled. As a rule, 

 the tail includes twelve or thirteen vertebrae. 



In the Soa breed, which appears to be a pure 

 type, the rams (pi. ii. fig. 2) stand only about 

 24 inches at the shoulder ; and are so small that 

 a quarter of mutton weighs only from 5 to 6 

 lbs. The under-parts are lighter than the back. 



