18 
THE SHEEP. 
THE FOREST BREEDS OF ENGLAND. 
which seem to amalgamate less freely with the long-woolled breeds of Wales and the west of England, than even the long-woolled 
breeds of the plains. 
The Exmoor Sheep are yet smaller, more wild and more intractable than the Dartmoor. The district they inhabit, near the 
Bristol Channel, is of limited extent. Although their habitat is so near to that of the Dartmoors, they possess their own characters, 
and so may be termed a breed. The males have a large heard under the chin, from which cause they have the aspect of Goats; 
and they have much of the agility and strength of these animals. Like Goats they ascend precipices, and are with difficulty con¬ 
fined by ordinary walls and fences. They are very hold, attacking Sheep much larger than themselves. The females, as in the 
case of other wild breeds, are considerably smaller than the males ; from whom they receive the roughest treatment. The wool of 
these curious Sheep is long and silky, and their mutton is excellent. Like the Dartmoors they are disappearing in their pure 
state from the effects of crossing, and have even in some cases given entire place to the Cheviots, which have been introduced into 
the district, and are found in all respects superior to the native stock. 
A race of Sheep of allied characters to the Exmoor stretches westward along the Bristol Channel to the rich country on the 
Parret; and even on the Mendip hills, to the eastward, traces of the Exmoor form appear in the races of the country. On the 
great Forest of Mendip the Sheep were formerly distinguished by the fineness of their wool, but with the enclosure of the forest the 
ancient race ceased to exist in a state of purity. 
Of the various Forest Breeds of England, none is now likely to be cultivated in the pure state, because a long course of 
careful breeding would be required to communicate the suitable development of form, and because superior breeds have now been 
produced, which can either be made to cross the original ones, or be substituted for them. But it is to be regretted that earlier 
attention was not directed to some of these races, which possess fine wool, and which, by being acclimated in a lower country, 
would have increased in size and economical value. Some of the Forest Sheep of Staffordshire were at least equal to the original 
Southdowns, and had they been cultivated with the same care might have been extended to districts to which the Soutlidowns, bred 
in a country of chalk and fine herbage, are less adapted. 
