88 SHEEP 



tracts. Here among the scarped limestone crags and ravines, with 

 rocks coloured red and yellow, the russet -hued sheep are almost 

 invisible to European eyes, although easily detected by the keen vision 

 of the Arab hunters. They are usually found in small family parties, 

 consisting of an old ram and ewe, with the progeny of various ages and 

 sizes. Their powers of speed and leaping are considerable ; and vv^hen 

 on flat ground they start off in a series of long bounds. Thuja scrub 

 and coarse dry grass form the chief vegetation of these arid tracts, 

 where, according to Arab report, the arui drink only once every four or 

 five days. In confinement, old male arui, like lions, develop a much 

 more profuse growth of long hair than their wild relatives ; and such 

 captive specimens cannot therefore be taken as typical representatives 

 of the species. Despite the difference in the climate from that of its 

 native barrens, the arui flourishes and breeds freely in European 

 menageries. The species is not to be regarded as the ancestor of any 

 of the breeds of domesticated sheep. 



As regards its southern range, the late Dr. J. Anderson pointed out 

 that the arui occurred in the mountains of Egypt, and I have informa- 

 tion that in the Egyptian Sudan it extends nearly as far south as 

 Khartum. This information I owe to Mr. A. L. Butler, head of the 

 Game Preservation Department in the Sudan. The Nubian ibex has 

 been generally supposed to range much farther south than the Barbary 

 sheep, but this appears to be a mistaken idea. The sheep is, however, 

 a much rarer animal, and also one much more difficult to find than the 

 ibex, which probably accounts for previous lack of information with 

 regard to its range. According to Mr. Butler's information, Ovis lervia 

 occurs on a hill exactly fifty miles north of Khartum, that is to say, 

 only just on the Mediterranean side of the sixteenth degree of north 

 latitude. Although this seems to be its most southerly point, the 

 species occurs in many of the other hills north of Khartum. From 

 this southern range it might be urged that the arui, like the Nubian 

 ibex, is entitled to be regarded as a member of the Ethiopian or true 

 African fauna. This, however, I think is not the case. Both are 

 members of essentially Holarctic (Euro-Asiatic) groups, and their 

 occurrence in the heart of the Ethiopian region appears to be merely 

 due to the accident of their being mountain animals, coupled with the 

 southward trend of the mountain ranges of the Nile area. In such 

 elevated districts both the sheep and the ibex find a congenial climate 

 and suitable food, and there is consequently nothing to check but, on 

 the contrary, everything to favour a large southern extension of their 

 range in this part of Africa. 



