SHORT-TAILED EUROPEAN BREEDS 73 



remainder of the body grey ; but uniformly reddish 

 brown or black individuals are by no means un- 

 common, while wholly white ones occasionally 

 occur. The reddish brown and black individuals 

 are somewhat smaller than the ordinary white ones. 



Formerly these short-tailed heath-sheep were 

 to be found on all the heathery districts of northern 

 Germany, but even in Fitzinger's time were being 

 rapidly replaced by superior breeds, and had 

 then almost completely disappeared from Mark 

 Brandenburg, in Prussia, where they were pre- 

 viously numerous. Among other districts where 

 the breed was formerly abundant, may be men- 

 tioned the low heath-districts of Hanover, between 

 the Ems and the Elbe, more especially the great 

 open tracts of Luneburg and Bremer ; the stretches 

 of heather-dotted sandy soil in the provinces of 

 Osnabriick, Meppen, Lingen, Hoya, and northern 

 Friesland were likewise noted for these sheep. 



Unlike the northern short-tailed breed, these 

 sheep are folded at night and during the hottest 

 hours of the day in summer, while in winter they are 

 only let out for a few hours on fine days. They 

 breed at the end of March or beginning of April, 

 and seldom produce more than one lamb at a birth. 

 The wool is of a coarse character, and best suited 

 to the manufacture of blankets and the like ; but 

 the so-called summer fleece, which is the product of 

 an autumnal shearing, is finer. Formerly, at any 



