VARIOUS BREEDS OF SHEEP IN GREAT BRITAIN. 705 
and gained from that food a superior weight; that being 
less restless than the Norfolk, they destroyed less by run- 
ning over it ; that the ewes produced a greater proportion 
of lambs ; that the casualties in lambing were less ; and 
that the produce of wool was heavier in quantity and higher 
in market value. These points, clearly demonstrated, told 
their tale, and now a pure bred Norfolk Down is but rarely 
met with. 
The cross breed between the Norfolk and the South Down 
is commonly met with in the Eastern Counties. They are 
lighter than the South Downs, with very dark faces and 
legs, and small curved horns. 
Shropshire Downs . — In our early records of sheep-farming 
Shropshire is described as possessing a peculiar and distinct 
variety of sheep, to which the name of “ Morfe Common ” 
sheep was given, from the locality to which the breed was 
principally confined. This is a tract of land on the borders 
of the Severn, near Bridgenorth, w r hich, originally of vast area, 
has of late been considerably diminished in extent under the 
influence of cultivation and the general improved condition 
of the country. In 1792, when the Bristol Wool Society 
procured as much information as possible regarding sheep in 
England, they reported as follows in reference to the Morfe 
Common breed : — cc On Morfe Common, near Bridgenorth, 
which contains about 600,000 acres, there are about 10,000 
sheep kept during the summer months, which produce wool 
of superior quality. They are considered a native breed — are 
black-faced or brown, or a spotted faced, horned sheep, little 
subject either to rot or scab — weighing, the wethers from 
11 lb. to 14 lb., and the ewes from 9 1b. to 11 lb. per 
quarter, after being fed with clover and turnips ; and clipping 
nearly 2 lb. per fleece, exclusive of the breeching, which may 
be taken at one seventh or one eighth part of the whole. The 
fine wool sells at 2 s. per lb., and the breeching at \s. per lb., 
making the produce of ^he fleece about 3<s. 2 d. It is sold to 
Yorkshire.” This appears to have been the original stock 
from which the present breed of Shropshire Dow r ns has 
sprung. As the country advanced, and the breeds became 
valuable for their carcases as well as for their wool, the Morfe 
Common sheep w r ere crossed wdth other breeds, but more 
particularly with the long-woolled Leicesters and Cotswolds, 
or the short-w T oolled South Downs. The admixture of such 
different blood has produced a corresponding variation in 
the characters of the present breed of Shropshire Downs, and 
has tended materially to sustain the hesitation which still 
exists to allows them a place as a distinct breed. Where, 
