74 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



rate, large quantities of the wool of these sheep 

 were imported into England, under the name of 

 " Estridge wool," and it was likewise exported to 

 France as laine cTAtiiruche. 



The old Danish breed of short-tailed sheep is 

 believed by Dr. Fitzinger ^ to have been the result 

 of a cross between the northern short-tailed breed 

 and the German heath-sheep. In size it is inter- 

 mediate between the two ; and while the rams are 

 nearly always horned, the ewes are frequently so, 

 an additional pair of horns being often developed 

 in the former. As in the northern breed, the very 

 short tail is clothed only with short hair. The 

 fleece consists of goat-like long hairs and an 

 undergrowth of fine and short wool. In colour 

 the face and limbs are either uniformly black or 

 yellowish brown flecked with black, while the body 

 is reddish brown, generally with black under-parts. 

 The breed is, or was, spread over the greater part 

 of Denmark, but is specially partial to high sandy 

 plains. Although formerly very abundant, it had 

 more or less completely disappeared as a pure 

 breed, owing to the introduction of foreign sheep, 

 from most of its haunts so long ago as Fitzinger's 

 time ; and at the present day is probably still 

 scarcer, even if it still survives. 



Near akin is the Holstein heath-sheep, or Geest- 

 schaf, as it is locally called, from Geestland, an 



• Op. cit., p. 213. 



