MEDIUM-TAILED BRITISH BREEDS loi 



of Scotland to the mountains of Wales, and which 

 was probably in possession of the earliest Celtic 

 inhabitants of the British Islands. From its dimi- 

 nutive size, its patience of scanty food, and the 

 lightness of its fleece, we may conclude that it was 

 the native of countries of a low degree of fertility, 

 probably of districts of forests, which, until cleared 

 of their wood, are always unproductive with respect 

 to the nutritious grasses." 



The modern Ryeland, as it survived here and 

 there in Low's time, retained the diminutive pro- 

 portions of the ancestral stock, and was of compact 

 form and gentle disposition, with horns lacking in 

 both sexes. The whole fleece was white, with the 

 wool extending forwards on the head to form a 

 frontal tuft. Ryeland wool was formerly regarded 

 as the finest produced in the British Islands ; Leo- 

 minster being the centre for its distribution, from 

 which it derived the name of Lemster wool or 

 Lemster ore. With the introduction of merino wool 

 it gradually, however, fell into neglect. Attempts 

 were indeed made to increase the stature of the 

 breed and improve the quality of wool ; but these, 

 as might have been expected from the wide differ- 

 ence between the two breeds, proved complete 

 failures. 



Among the local strains of the Ryeland breed 

 were the old sheep of the Forest of Dean ; but 

 these have nowadays become considerably modi- 



