BREED OF THE HIGHER WELSH MOUNTAINS. 
PLATE II. 
1. EWE, from the high range of Glamorgan, north of Neath. 
2. EAM, of the same race in a state of improvement, bred by the Right Hon. Lord Adare, Dunraven 
Castle, Glamorganshire. 
3. EWE, of the same descent, improved, bred by Lord Adare. 
The Sheep of Wales, inhabiting a country partly of mountains and partly of valleys and plains, may be expected to present 
great diversities of character. Accordingly, we find a variety of breeds, from the wilder races of the higher mountains to the 
larger Sheep of the lower country. The latter classes of Sheep, however, are not truly Welsh. They are the Leicester, Cotswold, 
and other Sheep of the English plains, either pure or mixed with the races of the mountains. It is the Mountain Sheep alone that 
we are to regard as the genuine Sheep of Wales, the descendants, it may be believed, of the ancient Sheep of South Britain. 
Of the Mountain Sheep of Wales there are numerous minor varieties, but generally they may be divided into two distinct 
groups, which may be regarded as the types to which all the others have more or less affinity. A great part of the mountains of 
Wales, it is to be observed, is absolute common, in which animals of every kind may be mingled together; and however distinct 
the original races may have been, it is not to be supposed that they can have remained without intermixture during the many 
ages in which Wales has existed nearly in its present state. Notwithstanding, however, of this amalgamation, there may be traced 
the characters of two very distinct groups ; the first, the wilder Sheep of the higher mountains ; the second, a race generally in¬ 
habiting a lower range of pasturage, and possessed of very particular characters. The first may be termed the Sheep of the higher 
mountains, as indicating their habitat; the second, the Soft-woolled Sheep of Wales, as denoting the character of the fleece. 
The Sheep of the higher mountains are of small size, scarcely capable of feeding to above 5 lb. the quarter, and have horns 
both in the male and female, slightly curved and stretching backwards in the manner of the goat; their tail is of ordinary length ; 
they have a ridge of coarse hair passing along the spine to the tail, surrounding the neck and reaching to the dewlap ; the wool on 
the sides is of medium fineness, on the haunches it is coarse and wiry. The colour of the fleece is black, grey, or brown. 
This remarkable race has the wool and aspect of the Sheep, but its habits rather resemble those of the Goat. It seeks 
the summits of mountains ; it vaults, rather than runs, and feeds on the dry aromatic plants of mountains in preference to the 
herbage of the lower valleys. Like all the native Sheep of elevated regions, the fleece of these wild little Sheep is a mixture of 
hair and wool, so that their bodies may be better protected from the inclemency of the weather. They are almost as difficult to be 
approached in their native haunts as the deer or the antelope. Some say that they station sentinels on the higher ground, who 
give notice to the scattered flock of the approach of danger by a kind of shrill bleat resembling a falsetto tone. As in the case of 
the Antelope, no sooner is one alarmed, than all the others bound off together, gazing behind them as they run in the manner of the 
Musrnon and Argali. The rams attack the ewes at the period of bringing forth their young,—a singular instinct existing, it has 
been seen, in the wild races of the Zetland and Orkney Islands, and given, it may be believed, to prevent the multiplication of 
their numbers beyond the means of subsistence. 
It may appear remarkable that this race should preserve itself distinct from the others with which the commons and 
mountains of the country are stocked. It is to be observed, however, that this is in accordance with tlie habits of all Sheep possessing 
a peculiar character and temperament. Thus, the naturalized Merino Sheep never amalgamate thoroughly with the races with which 
they are mingled in the same pastures ; they collect in separate flocks upon the higher grounds, and crowd together when alarmed; 
in like manner, if any of the breeds of Forest Sheep are mingled with those of the lower country, they congregate together, and 
pursue their own range of pasturage. New, from whatever causes the wild Sheep of Wales assumed their existing character, 
they have acquired the habits proper to their situation,. They keep by choice to their natural habitat, and herd together; and 
hence it is that the original characters of the race have not merged in those of other varieties. 
This race of Sheep, though with some change of character, is found all over the most elevated parts of Wales, from the 
inland mountains of Glamorganshire to those of Merioneth and Caernarvon. They are numerous in Caernarvon, and when seen 
by the traveller have more the aspect of dogs and foxes than of Sheep, 
C* 
