96 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



of heather. Although esteemed locally, both for 

 their meat and their fleece, they have been largely 

 displaced, especially in the lowlands, by breeds 

 with more docile dispositions and superior capacity 

 for fattening early. 



As being intimately connected with the heath 

 type of sheep, it will be convenient to refer in this 

 place to a breed taking its name from the high-lying 

 district of Penistone, near Huddersfield, in the 

 West Riding of Yorkshire. These sheep are con- 

 fined to a very limited area, in which the pasture 

 consists of heath mingled with grass ; and, in 

 accordance with such rough diet, they themselves 

 are of a coarse and badly made type. Nevertheless, 

 they are well suited to their native district, and it is 

 doubtless for this reason that the breed has been 

 maintained. The Penistone is a white-faced and 

 white-legged breed, specially characterised by the 

 great superiority in size of the rams — which alone 

 carry horns — over the ewes, and the unusual length 

 and muscularity of the tail ; the last feature dis- 

 tinguishing these sheep from all other British breeds. 

 Considerable interest attaches to this excessive tail- 

 development, since it serves to confirm the opinion 

 that the length of the caudal appendage in all the 

 long-tailed breeds is due to domestication. The 

 wool of the Penistones is of a silky, and at the same 

 time a harsh and wiry, nature ; and their mutton is 

 noted for its juiciness and good flavour. 



