MEDIUM-TAILED BRITISH BREEDS 99 



flesh-coloured, as in the merino. This strain, 

 which is a bigger and lankier sheep, producing larger 

 lambs, is accordingly known as the pink-nosed 

 Somerset. There should be a patch of wool on the 

 summit of the forehead ; and the wool of the body 

 grows down nearly to the knees and hocks. In 

 size the Dorset ranges from medium to large 

 among the medium- woolled breeds ; mature rams 

 averaging from 225 lbs., and ewes 167 lbs., although 

 considerably heavier weights are on record. 



Dr. Fitzinger,^ with his fondness for assigning 

 definite origins to the various breeds of sheep on 

 wholly insufficient evidence, if not on no evidence 

 at all, affirmed that the Dorset is the result of a 

 cross between the old Wiltshire breed and the 

 merino. The only marked merino-character seems, 

 however, to be the pink nostrils of the Somerset- 

 shire ; and in the large amount of milk yielded by 

 the ewes, and the good nursing qualities displayed 

 by the latter, the Dorset stands miles away from the 

 merino. 



The one great characteristic of the Dorset is its 

 early lambing, which is much more pronounced 

 than in any other British breeds ; Dorset lambs 

 being, as a rule, the only ones which can be pro- 

 duced for the Christmas market. As a mutton- 

 sheep, the Dorset can be assigned only a secondary 

 position. Specially characteristic of Dorsetshire 



» Op. cit, p. 786. 



