386 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ III, IV.

He concludes this ram to have been homozygous and soft hair to be a domi-
nant character.

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He concludes that this ram was heterozygous. Four other rams investigated
proved to be heterozygous; with soft-haired ewes they gave a total of 31 soft-
haired, 5 doubtful, and 5 stiff-haired offspring.

From these and other data, Wriedt concludes that the character for soft hair
is based upon a simple Mendelian dominant factor.

Head furnishings.—Among many breeds of sheep there is developed, as a breed
characteristic, a lock of wool on the poll extending forward on to the forehead.
This is referred to by breeders variously as a ' forelock ', forehead lock', ' muff '.
It is to be seen to its maximum development in the English Lincoln Longwool,
English Leicester, Oxford, Cotswold, Devon Longwool, and Wensleydale, and is
to be differentiated from an extension of the wool of the neck on to the face as is
seen in the Shropshire, Hampshire, and Southdown. Many breeds, such as
Suffolk, Cheviot, Border Leicester, and Derbyshire Gritstone, have bare heads
quite devoid of wool, with a clean line of demarcation between the wool-bearing
skin of the neck and the hairbearing skin of the head and face.

In other breeds, in particular, the dark-faced horned British Mountain breeds—
Scottish Blackface Mountain, Swaledale, Rough Fell, and Lonk—there are animals
to be met with which have bare heads and others which have considerable amounts
of wool in this situation, though in high-class flocks animals are usually bred with
clean heads free from wool.

The presence of much wool on the face, and especially round the eyes, is a
disadvantage in countries where vegetable burrs are common, where there is much
risk of blown sand getting into the eyes and silting in the wool around them, or
where severe snowstorms are common. In Scotland, particularly on the mountain
grazings where the Blackface ewes may have to withstand very severe snowstorm
and blizzards, a heavy head furnishing (' muff ') is not infrequently the cause of
much loss. Snow gathers in the wool, partially melts, then frequently freezes and
forms a stiff cap over forehead and eyes which blinds the animals and not infre-
quently results in loss through falling over steep rocks, into streams or bogs.