MEDIUM-TAILED BRITISH BREEDS 8i 



Hebrides. Writing of these breeds Low ' observed 

 that— 



" These sheep presented different breeds, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the localities in which they 

 were reared ; but they may be described, in general, 

 as being of small size, and lank, agile form ; as 

 having short, slender horns ; and as having a soft 

 wool, fitted for the making of flannels, but not well 

 adapted for felting. They had the tails long, and 

 not short and flat like the sheep of northern 

 Europe ; so that they differed entirely in race from 

 those which, at a subsequent period, were intro- 

 duced into the remoter islands by the Scandinavian 

 pirates. They were of various colours, frequently 

 brown, and often this brown colour remained on the 

 face when the rest of the body had become white ; 

 on which account they sometimes received the name 

 of the dun-faced breed. They were exceedingly 

 wild, and hardly to be confined to common en- 

 closures. They were hardy in a remarkable degree, 

 subsisting on scanty fare, and bearing the rudest 

 treatment, and were remarkably exempt from those 

 diseases which frequently produce such ravages in 

 the modern races." 



Wales has likewise a soft-woolled breed of 

 sheep, which differs from the dun-faced stock by 

 having the face white, and the muzzle flesh- 

 coloured. So diminutive are these sheep that, 

 ^ Domesticated Animals of the British Islands, 2nd ed., p. 63. 



