The young branches of heath, and in lower situations, the shoots of furze, often serve as food for sheep, when the supply of grass fails. Sheep delight in short grass and peculiar herbage of hill pastures and bare downs; and the mutton produced in such pastures, and by the breeds most suitable to them, is of superior quality to that of the large fat sheep fed on richer soils. The latter are also more liable to many diseases, particularly where the ground is at all moist. Aromatic and bitter herbs are particularly relished sheep.
The breeds of sheep are very numerous, and very different.—The BLACK-FACED SIIEEP of the Highlands of Scotland and of the north of England is perhaps as near the original type as any existing breed. Both male and female have horns; those of the ram large, with two or more spiral twists, those of the ewe. much smaller, and little twisted. The face and legs are not always black. 11Iany are speckled, and sonic prin cipally white. The black-faced sheep is robust, very active, and hardy; enduring the rigors of a severe winter when sheep of most of the breeds common irr Britain would perish. It survives on little food, and shifts admirably for itself in a snow-storm. The small quantity, and even inferior quality,'of food with which a black-faced sheep will tide over a snow-storm is most surprising. As an instance of the tenacity of life in black-faced sheep, under certain circumstances, they have been known to be buried five weeks under a snow-wreath and come out alive. It has a bright, quick eye, with an expression very different from that softness which is seen iu many of the breeds pre ferred for lower grounds and better pastures. The wool is long and coarse, mid the weight of the fleece from 3 to 4 pounds; but tile mutton is of the finest quality; and on this account, and its hardiness, this breed is preferred to any other in many mountainous districts and on rough elevated moors.—The WELSH SHEEP is mach smaller than the black-faced; both sexes horned; the color various; the mutton highly esteemed; the fleece seldom weighs 2 pounds.—A very little larger breed with big bushy tail, hornless, or with short and little twisted horns, has long existed in the Shetland and Orkney islands; its wool affording the material for the manufacture of Shetland hose. The Shetland and Orkney sheep are very hardy, and in winter feed much on seaweed.— Smaller than either of these, and, indeed, remarkably diminutive, is the hornless BRE TON SHEEP —The FOREST SHEEP of England, SO called froin being pastured in the royal forests, has now in most places been supplanted by other breeds. They are still to be seen on the barren grounds between toe British and Bristol channels; and the mutton is in much request in the London market. The original forest sheep was geuer ally small, with face and legs russet brown or gray, wild, restless, and difficult to fatten, but producing wool of fine quality.—The DCP-ZET STIEEP is One of the Lest of the old English upland breeds. Both sexes have small horns. The wool and mutton are of medium quality; but the ewes arc remarkable for their fecundity, and the abundance of their milk: and this breed is valued as affording a supply of early lamb for the London ma•ket.—The HYELAND SHEEP long existed in Herefordshire and some neighboring counties of England. It is small, short limbed, white, hornless; produces excellent mutton; and before the introduction of merino wool, its wool was preferred _to every other kind for the manufacture of the finest broadcloths.—The CHEVIOT SHEEP has existed from time immemorial on the Cheviot hills, and is now very widely diffused over a considerable part of England and almost all parts of Scotland, being hardy and well adapfed for high grounds, although it is inferior in hardiness to the black-faced. Chev iots, however. rather excel the black-faced both in size and in the value of the fleece; but require a richer pasture. Ewes are hornless, and the rams almost so. The general fig ure is longer than that of the blziek-faced sheep. They are narrow in shape, with slender
forelparters and long pricked ears. The color is white, the filed and legs occasionally mottled with gray, but generally quite white. The fleece weighs from 3 to 5 pounds. Great attention has for many years been devoted to the improvement of this breed.—The LEICESTER SHEEP is another of the most valuable breeds. This breed, as it now exists, is it result of the skill and care of Mr. Bakewell, who, soon after the middle of last cen tury, began to make experiments for the improvement of the old Leicester sheep—a large, coarse-honed sheep, not easily fattened, and with coarse long wool, of which, however, the fleece weighed from 8 to 10 pounds. The new Leicester sheep has wool moderately long, of better quality, the average weight of the fleece being about 7 or 8 pounds, and is easily rendered very fat. It is naturally very broad on the back, with finely arched ribs. The color is white. Both sexes are hornless. The Leicester sheep is now common in all but the mountainous parts of Britain, and other breeds have been improved by crossing with it, particularly various breeds of long-wooled sheep, which have long existed in different parts of England, as those of Lincolnshire, Romney Marsh, etc.—A famous long-wooled breed is that called the COTSWOLD or GLOUCESTER, the wool of was in great esteem in the 14Ih and 15th centuries, bearing a higher price than any other wool. In 1464 Edward IV. sent a present of Cotswold rams to Henry Castile; and in 1468 a similar present was sent to John of Aragon. The Cots wold breed, however, as it at present exists, has been modified by crossing with the Leicester. and produces shorter wool and better mutton than in former times.—The Sourn DOWN SHEEP has recently been improved with the utmost care. The color IS generally white, and the face and legs are generally dun, black, or speckled. Both sexes arc hornless. The wool -is short, very close, and curled. The south down derives its origin and name from the chalky downs of the south of England; but is now met with throughout England and the south of Scotland. The Shropshire sheep are large, with thick wool something like the south down. They are hornless, and black or dun in the face and legs. They come early to maturity, but are suited only for titter climates and good keep. The Oxford down is a heavy, somewhat soft sheep, without horns, and capable of rapid and great development under good treatment. it is not suited to very cold and exposed situations.
The Ice;LAND SHEEP is remarkable for very frequently having three, four, or five horns. They are good butchers' animals, being deep and thick in the carcass, though rather short in the quarter. The same peculiarity, or monstrosity, as it may be deemed, is exhibited by the sheep of some of the most northeriparts of Russia. The n. of Africa possesses a breed of sheep with legs of great length, pendulous ears, and much arched face; the wool short and curled, except on the neck and shoulders, which have a kind of mane. India has also a hornless breed, with pendulous ears, short tail, and very line much-curled wool. The BROAD-TAILED or FAT-TAILED SLEEP is found in many parts of Asia, as in Syria, India, and China, also in Barbary, and is now very abundant in the colony of the cape of Good Hope. It is rather of small size, with soft and short wool. Its chief characteristic is the enormous development of the tail, by the accumulation of a mass of fat on each side, so great that the tail has been known to weigh 70 or 80 lbs. The tail is highly esteemed 21ti a delicacy, and to protect it from being injured by drag ging on the ground, the shepherd sometimes attaches a board to it, or even a small car riage with wheels. The fat of the tail is often used instead of butter. It is less solid than other fat. The FAT-RUMPED SHEEP of southern Tartary has a similar accumula tion of fat on the rump, falling down in two great masses behind, and often entirely concealing the short tail. 11