Mr. Lawson says, "It may be observed that the rams of different breeds
of sheep vary greatly in their forms, wools, and fleeces, and other
properties; but the following description, by that excellent
stock-farmer, Mr. Culley, deserves the attention of the breeder and
grazier. According to him, the head of the ram should be fine and small;
his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or
daring; his ears thin; his collar fall from his breast and shoulders,
but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join,
which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any
coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders full, which must, at the same
time, join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to
leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm or
fore thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean
fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse, hairy
wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well
forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper width; his girt or
chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow between the shoulders, that
part by some called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and
loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a
fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long and full, with
the mutton quite down to the hough, which should neither stand in nor
out; his twist, or junction of the inside of the thighs, deep, wide, and
full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his legs open and upright;
the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright,
soft wool.
"It is to be observed that the nearer any breed of sheep come up to the
above description, the nearer they approach towards excellence of
form."