As a lowland sheep, and destined to live on good pasture, the New Leicester is without a rival-in fact he has improved, if he has not given the principal value to, all the other long-woolled sheep.

The head should be hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle, and projecting horizontally forwards. The eyes prominent, but with a quiet expression. The ears thin, rather long, and directed backwards. The neck full and broad at its base where it proceeds from the chest, but gradually tapering towards the head, and being particularly fine at the junction of the head and neck; the neck seeming to project straight from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible deviation, one continued horizontal line from the rump to the poll. The breast broad and full; the shoulders also broad and round, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the back, particularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situation of these bones. The arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee. The bones of the legs small, standing wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool. The chest and barrel at once deep and round; the ribs forming a considerable arch from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is in good condition, to make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth. The barrel ribbed well home, no irregularity of line on the back or the belly, but, on the sides, the carcass very gradually diminishing in width towards the rump. The quar ters long and full, and, as with the fore-legs, the muscles extending down to the hock; the thighs also wide and full. The legs of a moderate length, the pelt also moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably

This account combines the main excellences both of Bakewell's own breed and Culley's variety or improvement of it. It is precisely the form for a

sheep provided with plenty of good food and without any great distance to travel or exertion to make in gathering it.

The principal recommendations of this breed are its beauty and its fulness of form, comprising, in the same apparent dimensions, greater weight than any other sheep; an early maturity, and a propensity to fatten equalled by no other breed; a diminution in the proportion of offal, and the return of most money for the quantity of food consumed *.

The sheep whose portrait is represented in the previous cut belonged to his Grace the Duke of Bedford.

The next is the hill sheep, adapted to more elevated situations and shorter feed on the natural and permanent pastures; able also to travel, without detriment, a considerable distance to the fold and to the down. There can be no hesitation in fixing on the South-Down as the model here.

The following is the substance of the description of this sheep by Mr. Ellman, who, if he may not be considered, like Mr. Bakewell with regard to the Leicesters, as founder of the breed, yet contributed more than any other man to its present improvement and value.

The head small and hornless; the face speckled or grey, and neither too long nor too short. The lips thin, and the space between the nose and the eyes narrow. The under jaw, or chap, 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 orbits 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 outward 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, presenting a circular form like a barrel.

The belly as straight as the back.

The legs neither too long nor too short. The fore-legs straight from the breast to the foot; not bending inward 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 behind, being particularly full; the bones fine, yet having no appearance of weakness, and of a speckled or dark colour.

The belly well defended with wool, and the wool coming down before and behind to the knee, and to the hock; the wool short, close, curled, and fine, and free from spiry projecting fibres.

The South-Down is adapted to almost any situation in the midland part of England; it has a patience of occasional short keep, and an endurance of hard stocking, equal to any other sheep; an early maturity, scarcely

* Culley on Live Stock, and Marshall's Midland Counties.

inferior to that of the Leicesters, and the flesh finely grained, and of peculiarly good flavour*.

The inhabitant of a still more elevated region and a colder clime, occa

sionally exposed to the severest storms, yet enduring them and thriving, will complete the list of models; and among the British sheep, the Cheviot most deserves to be selected.

A description of them by a writer in the Farmer's Magazine, who had studied and known them well, is selected as a faithful representation of what they were, or what a good Cheviot should be, even before this breed had received the last improvement from the Leicesters :

"The head polled, bare and clean, with jaw bone of a good length. Ears not too short. Countenance of not too dark a colour. (Repeated crossings with the Leicester have now made both the face and the legs white.) Neck full, round and not too long; well covered with wool, and without any beard or coarse wool beneath. Shoulders deep, full, and wide-set above. Chest full and open. Chine long, but not too long; straight, broad, and wide across the fillets. Hams round and plump. Body in general round and full, and not too deep or flat in the ribs or flanks. Legs clean, of a proportionable length, and well clad with wool to the knee-joints and hocks. Fleece fine, close, short, and thick set; of a medium length of pile, without hairs at the bottom, and not curled on the shoulders, and with as little coarse wool as possible on the hips, tail, and belly. A sheep possessing these properties in an eminent degree may be considered as the most perfect model of the Cheviot breed."*

These sheep, notwithstanding the strong prejudice that was entertained against them, have established themselves in every part of the South Highlands, almost to the exclusion of the native horned and short breed; and when their wool is become a little finer in the pile and somewhat shorter in the staple, in order to make it at the same time more portable by the animal and fitter for the cloth manufacturer; when the pelt is a little thicker, better to ensure, if need be, the hardihood of the breed, and the wool is a little more equal in point of quality on every part of the sheep, the Cheviot will extend itself also through the Northern Highlands, and there, too, the value of the sheep-farm and the comfort of the peasant will be more than doubled. The native black-faced breed-the short sheep-with which the Cheviot is still contending far in the north, and which he is gradually displacing, might, perhaps, deserve a place in the catalogue of models; but, valuable as he is, he must gradually give way, and in a manner disappear.

THE FAT-TAILED SHEEP.

Several breeds of sheep, that seem to be derived from a variety of the primitive race, are found in the countries which the patriarchs traversed. In Syria, the chief residence of the early shepherds, a sheep is cultivated, of which Dr. Russell, in his History of Aleppo, gives the following account: "The dead weight of one of these sheep will amount to 50lbs. or 60lbs. of which the tail makes up 15lbs. or 16lbs.; but some of the largest that have been fattened with care weigh 150lbs., the tail alone composing onethird of the whole weight. This broad, flattish tail is mostly covered with long wool, and, becoming very small at the extremity, turns up. It is entirely composed of a substance between marrow and fat, serving very often in the kitchen instead of butter, and cut into small pieces, makes an ingredient in various dishes. When the animal is young, it is little inferior to

marrow."

This race of sheep is found scattered over almost as large an extent of country as the fat rumps. They differ in the comparative accumulation of fat, compared with the general weight of the animal, and in the situation of the fat. In some, as in the sheep of Syria, it accumulates about the

* Farmer's Mag. 1810, p. 143.

upper part of the tail, and may very readily be considered as a variety of the Steatopyga already described. This strange collection of adipose matter has only shifted its situation a very little way, viz., from the posterior part of the haunch-the very rump-to the superior part of the tail. This variety might have been at first accidental, and perpetuated either by accident or design. Others have two large lobes of fat at the sides of the tail, reaching as low as the hocks. This is an extension of the first deviation. In a third variety, the masses of fat not only extend to, but chiefly occupy, the inferior part of the tail, which is naked and almost flesh-coloured. This further deviation presents nothing more remarkable than is found in other breeds. Sheep of one or the other of these varieties extend over Syria, Egypt, Southern Africa, Russia, India, and China *.

Dr. Russell thus continues his account of the Syrian sheep::-" Animals of this extraordinary size (150lbs.) are, however, very rare, and kept up in yards, so as to be in little danger of hurting their tails as they walk about: but in the fields, in order to prevent injury from the bushes, the shepherds in several places of Syria fix a thin piece of board to the under part, which is not, like the rest, covered with wool, and to this board are sometimes added small wheels; whence, with a little exaggeration, we have the story of the oriental sheep being under the necessity of having carts to carry their tails. But the necessity of carriages for the tails of the African sheep, mentioned by Herodotus, Rudolphus, and others, is real. The tail of that animal when fat actually trails, not being tucked up like those of the Syrian sheep."

The following cut contains the delineation of a rather unusual variety of the fat-tailed sheep that formed part of the collection in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The profusion of long wool and hair, extending from the lower part of the neck to the brisket, gives it a singular, and not unpleasant, appearance.