190 
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 long and muscular, and the gene- 
ral 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 me- 
dium 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 pasture can be obtained ; and are not 
so nice in the choice of herbage as the South- 
downs, 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 15 pounds the quarter; but individuals 
are made to exceed this weight, when properly 
treated and sufficiently fed from an early age. 
The mutton is not so delicate as that of the 
sheep of Wales, or the Southdowns of England ; 
but it is more juicy, has more of the venison 
flavour, and is preferred to every other by those 
who are used to it. It is the mutton which is 
principally consumed in all the larger towns of 
Scotland ; and great numbers of the sheep, at 
the age of three years and upwards, are carried 
to the pastures of the south, to be fattened for 
the English markets. An important property of 
this breed is its adaptation to a country of heaths, 
in which respect it excels every other. It is this 
property, as much as its hardiness, that has ren- 
dered it so suitable to the heathy mountains 
where it is acclimated, and where it finds subsis- 
tence beyond the ordinary range of other sheep. 
It feeds on the loftiest mountains, up to the very 
verge where the heaths give place to the musci 
and other plants of the higher latitudes. Feed- 
ing inuch on the shoots of heath, these sheep 
find subsistence, in the times of snow and severe 
frosts, better than any other in this country. 
The mothers are hardy nurses, and are able to 
bring up their young, when they themselves 
have been exposed to severe privations. A great 
defect of this breed is the character of the fleece, 
which, besides being thin on the body, yields 
wool fit only for the manufacture of carpets and 
the coarser stuffs. Little general attention has 
been paid to the quality of the fleece, although 
it is susceptible of considerable improvement. 
SHEEP. 
A defect of the wool, very common in this 
breed, is the existence of what are termed kemps. 
These consist of hard and wiry filaments mixed 
with the pile. They are deficient in the felting 
property, and in the oily secretion which mois- 
tens the true wool. The removal of kemps is 
effected by superior food, and by breeding from 
parents free from the defect.” Some subvarie- 
ties of this breed deviate widely from the ordi- 
nary type; some are smaller and less hardy ; 
some are hornless, and want the black colour 
of the face and legs; and some are degenerated, 
and others improved. The best are those of 
Peebles-shire ; and among the next best are 
those of the most northerly parts of England. 
Some individuals have fine and short wool, and 
might easily be used for improving the fleece of 
entire flocks and subvarieties. 
The Herdwick sheep are derived from a dis- 
trict of Cumberland round the head of the rivers 
Esk and Duddon. “The few farms where they 
are bred,” says Bingley, “are called Herdwicks, 
that is, the district of the Herds, from the cir- 
cumstance of the sheep having, from time imme- 
morial, been there farmed out to herds at a certain 
sum per annum.” They are hornless, with speck- 
led faces and legs; and the wool is short. Those 
of the purest breed have only a few black spots 
on the face and legs. The fleece, which is thick 
and matted, seldom exceeds 24 pounds, and is 
among the coarsest of the short-woolled breeds. 
The Herdwick sheep are small, lively, and active, 
easily supporting themselves, even during the 
severest storms, by the quickness with which 
they scratch away the snow from the most 
scanty herbage. They are usually hornless ; 
but Mr. Culley seems to think that they have 
been crossed by the Heath rams, from the cir- 
cumstance of some of the males being furnished 
with horns, and from some ‘ kempy hairs’ being 
usually intermingled with the wool. 
The Cheviot sheep have existed from time im- 
memorial on the grass-clad trappean mountains of 
the mutual borders of England and Scotland, 
and particularly on the porphyritic range from 
which they derive their name; and they have 
thence spread over the southern highlands of 
Scotland, and over large tracts of the central 
and the northern highlands,—in some places 
supplanting the black-faced heath sheep, and in 
others competing with them for popular favour. 
But though so near akin to that race, both in 
locality of origin and in territory of diffusion, 
they materially differ from them at once in 
character, habit, and adaptation ; and while very 
profitably substituted for them on some pas- 
tures, have been just as unprofitably preferred to 
them on others. “The Cheviot sheep,” says 
Professor Low, “are destitute of horns in the 
male and female. Their faces and legs are white, 
exceptions merely occurring in the case of indi- 
viduals in which these parts are dun. The body 
is very closely covered with wool, which is short 
