_ mixed breeds in Britain. 
and sufficiently fine for the making of certain 
cloths. The two shear-wethers, when fat, may 
weigh, on a medium, from 16 to 18 pounds the 
quarter, though with great differences, depen- 
-dent onthe natural productiveness of the pastures, 
and the method of treatment when young. The 
ewes are usually reckoned to weigh from 12 to 
14 pounds the quarter, though with such differ- 
ences as depend on the nature of the soil and 
pastures, and the method of treatment. The 
mutton of these sheep is very good, though in- 
ferior in delicacy to that of the Southdown and 
Welsh sheep, and in flavour to that of the black- 
faced heath breed. Their natural form is, like 
that of all mountain breeds, with a light fore- 
quarter ; but this character is removed by the 
effects of breeding; and the modern Cheviots 
are of good form. The body is somewhat longer 
than is usually the case with the heath breed, 
which has given rise to the popular distinction, 
in districts where both breeds are cultivated, of 
long and short sheep. They are larger in the 
lower countries, where a supply of turnips can 
be given: they are lighter in the more elevated 
tracts, where artificial food is scanty or want- 
ing. The breeders adopt the kind of animal 
which is suited to the pastures, preferring a short- 
legged larger sheep for the lower farms, and one 
of lighter and more agile form for the more up- 
land and colder. The Cheviot sheep are of quiet 
habits, possessing, indeed, the independence of a 
mountain race, but having none of the indocility 
which distinguishes some other races. They are 
exceedingly hardy, their close covering of fine 
wool enabling them to resist the extremes of 
cold. They feed more on the grasses, and less 
on the shoots of heath, than the black-faced 
breed ; and hence they are less adapted to a 
country of entire heath, and require a larger 
range of pastures to support an equal number of 
animals,” 
The Southdown sheep are indigenous in the 
downs of Sussex, or at least have existed there 
from a period antecedent to William the Con- 
queror, and are one of the purest and most un- 
They rank first among 
the short-woolled sheep, as the new Leicester do 
among the long-woolled sheep ; and, are in pre- 
eminent request for all sorts of situations to which 
they are suited in England, and are also culti- 
vated by many noblemen and other extensive 
landed proprietors both for the quality of their 
mutton and for their fine appearance in parks. 
They are most at home on such tracts as the 
South downs of England, whence they derive their 
name; and they have, to a considerable extent, 
- supplanted the native races of Wiltshire, South 
Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Norfolk, and many other 
districts ; and they have also been much used 
for modifying the native breeds by crossing in 
North Hampshire, Berkshire, Somersetshire, 
Cambridgeshire, and other counties; but they 
are not hardy enough to take the place of the 
7 
191 
black-faced heath sheep or the Cheviot sheep or 
the small Welsh sheep or other mountain breeds 
on the lofty and bleak uplands of the colder parts 
of the kingdom. Yet, till toward the end of 
last century, they were little known beyond their 
native walks in the South downs, and were 
marked by the undesirable characteristics of a 
thin chine, a low fore-end, and a rising back- 
bone ; and they were first improved and brought 
into general notice by the late Mr. John Ellman 
of Glynde in Sussex, who commenced a course of 
skilful, perspicacious, and most successful expe- 
rimenting upon them about the year 1780, and 
conducted it, with slow and steady effect, during 
the long period of more than fifty years. Mr. 
Ellman’s own account of an improved South 
down sheep, except that no spot or speckling on 
the face can now be endured by good breeders, is 
still the best description which can be given of the 
breed :—“ The head smalland hornless ; the face 
speckled or grey, and neither too long nor too 
short ; the lips thin, and the space between the 
nose and eyes narrow; the under jaw or chop 
fine and thin; the ears tolerably wide, and well 
covered with wool, and the forehead also, and 
the whole space between the ears, well protected 
by it, as a defence against the fly; the eye full 
and bright, but not prominent; the orbit of the 
eye (the eye-cap or bone) not too projecting, that 
it may not form a fatal obstacle in lambing; 
the neck of a medium length, thin towards the 
head, but enlarging towards the shoulders, where 
it should be broad and high, and straight in its 
whole course above and below ; the breast should 
be wide, deep, and projecting forwards between 
the fore-legs, indicating a good constitution and 
a disposition to thrive. Corresponding with this 
the shoulders should be on a level with the back, 
and not too wide above ; they should bow out- 
wards from the top to the breast, indicating a 
springing rib beneath and leaving room for it ; 
the ribs coming out horizontally from the spine 
and extending far backward, and the last rib 
projecting more than the others; the back flat 
from the shoulders to the setting on of the tail ; 
the loin broad and flat; the rump long and 
broad ; and the tail set on high and nearly on a 
level with the spine; the hips wide; the space 
between them and the last rib on either side as 
narrow as possible, and the ribs, generally pre- 
senting a circular form like a barrel; the belly 
as straight as the back; the legs neither too 
long nor too short ; the forelegs straight from 
the breast to the foot, not bending in at the knee, 
and standing far apart both before and behind ; 
the hocks having a direction rather outward, 
and the twist, or the meeting of the thighs be- 
hind being particularly full, the bones fine, yet 
having no appearance of weakness, and the legs 
of a dark colour ; the belly well defended with 
wool, and the wool coming down before and be- 
hind to the knee and to the hock; the wool 
short, close, curled, and fine, and free from spiry 
