THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED 
PLATE VII. 
EWE, Three Years’ Old, Bred by Mr Thomas Robertson, Broomlea, County of Peebles. 
From the high lands of Derbyshire on the south, to the confines of Scotland on the north, extends a chain of rugged heathy 
mountains, whose summit ridge separates the waters of the Tyne, the Tees, the Swale, the Wharfe, and other rivers which flow 
to the eastward, from those of the Kibble, the Lowther, the Lune, and others which flow westward. The elevation of this tract 
is from 1200 to 3000 feet, the highest summits being Cross Fell, near the sources of the South Tyne and Tees, on the eastern 
part of Cumberland; Skinner Fell, on the confines of Yorkshire and Westmoreland; Wharnside and others in the westerly part 
of Yorkshire. This central chain is separated from the yet higher mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland on the west, by 
the beautiful vales of Kendal and Eden. The tract is destitute of boldness and grandeur, and, towards the east, passes into the 
tame moors of Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire. This dreary tract is generally covered with coarse heaths, mixed 
with sedges, rushes, and the less nutritious grasses, and, from being exposed to the winds of both the eastern and western seas, 
possesses a cold climate. It has given rise to a race of Sheep now very widely diffused. This race has been termed the Black¬ 
faced Heath Breed, a name which, though it does not distinguish it from some of the Forest Breeds, may be retained, as indi¬ 
cating its peculiar habitat in a country of heaths. 
The Black-faced Heath Breed is chiefly found in the more northerly division of the chain of mountains referred to, beginning 
in the heathy lands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. It extends across the vales of Kendal and Eden to the higher mountains of 
Cumberland and Westmoreland on the west, and by the Carter Fell into Scotland, where it occupies the great range of greywacke 
hills stretching from St Abb’s Head on the east to the Irish Channel on the west. It stretches through the upper part of Lanark¬ 
shire into Argyleshire, and all through the Highlands of Scotland from the Grampians to the Pentland Firth. It has spread to 
all the Hebrides, and even to the islands of Orkney and Zetland. 
This breed may be supposed to have found its way into Scotland by the mountains of the north of England. It has 
been settled for a period unknown in all the high lands of the counties of Roxburgh, Dumfries, Selkirk, Peebles, Lanark, 
and the adjoining districts. Tradition asserts that it was introduced into Etterick Forest by one of the Kings of Scotland, 
but it is rather to be believed that it found its way into the Border counties by the natural route of the mountains. Its introduc¬ 
tion into Argyleshire, and the Central and North Highlands, has been of very recent origin, having taken place about the middle 
of last century, when Sheep began to supersede the herds of cattle which then abounded in the Highlands. By degrees, it dis¬ 
placed the ancient races of the country, of which only scattered remnants now remain. 
The Black-faced Heath Breed possesses characters which distinguish it from every other in the British Islands. It is of the 
smaller races of Sheep with respect to the weight at which it arrives, but is larger and more robust than the Zetland, the Welsh, 
and the ancient Soft-woolled Sheep which it displaced. It somewhat resembles the Wallachian, and as the latter has an affinity 
with the Persian, it might be conjectured that it is derived from the East. But it is more natural to. assume that its peculiar 
characters have been communicated to it by the effects of food and climate, in the rough heathy district from which it is derived. 
The male and the female have horns, very large and spirally twisted in the male, but sometimes disappearing in the female. The 
limbs are lengthy and muscular, and the general form is robust, but the shoulders are not so low as in the Welsh breeds, nor are 
the posterior limbs so long. The face and legs are black, and there is a tendency to this colour in the fleece ; but there is no 
tendency to the brown or russet colour, which distinguishes the older fine-woolled races. The fur is shaggy and the wool coarse, in 
which respect it differs from that of all the other mountain breeds of the country. It is of medium length, and weighs about three 
pounds the fleece when washed. These Sheep are very hardy, and capable of subsisting on the coarsest heaths. They do not, 
however, like the Sheep of Wales, prefer the summits of mountains, but feed wherever pasturage can be obtained; and are not so 
nice in the choice of herbage as the Southdowns, Merinos, and other races derived from countries yielding the finer grasses. 
Although wild and independent in their habits, they are not so restless as the mountain Sheep of Wales and other parts, but can 
be induced to remain in enclosures when sufficient food is supplied to them. The ordinary weight of the wethers when killed 
at the age of about four years, is fifteen pounds the quarter, but individuals are made to exceed this weight when properly 
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