MEDIUM-TAILED BRITISH BREEDS 109 



well covered with fine wool ; the hairy areas, 

 together with the ears and legs, being nowadays 

 dark or blackish brown, although formerly greyish 

 brown. In build the Shropshire is a broad-backed, 

 wide-chested sheep, with a body so deep as to 

 make the legs appear relatively short. For the 

 purposes of the butcher these sheep stand high, 

 their mutton ranking in quality next to that of 

 Southdowns. They are also good wool-producers, 

 although the average weight of the unwashed fleece 

 does not probably exceed 8 lbs. 



In disposition and tractability Shropshires 

 occupy a high position ; this temperament being 

 accompanied by unusual fertility on the part of 

 the ewes, which frequently produce triplets, and 

 occasionally give birth to four or even five lambs 

 at a time. This fecundity is extremely remarkable 

 in a species with only two teats, and in which the 

 maximum number of offspring at a birth should 

 accordingly be two. It is a striking instance of 

 abnormal redundancy due to domestication. 



The modern Shropshire has been evolved from 

 the old black-faced and horned breeds of the 

 Mendips, Cannock Chase, and other parts of Shrop- 

 shire, which existed in a more or less pure state in 

 the first decade of the nineteenth century, by cross- 

 ing them with Southdowns, Leicesters, and Cots- 

 wolds ; the two latter breeds being used to produce 

 bodily size and development of fleece. It was not 



