134 ^^iTie of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



io| inches in girth. In those ewes in which they are developed, the 

 horns are very smalL 



In adult rams the horns, which are of fair size in proportion to the 

 bulk of the head and body, show the normal ovine twist, the right one 

 forming a right spiral. They are relatively stout and marked with bold 

 transverse wrinkles, the front surface being distinctly defined from the 

 outer side, and the inner front angle very sharp, although the corresponding 

 outer one is rounded off. When fully developed, the close spiral 

 forms about one complete circle, the tips of the horns curving forwards 

 and outwards so as to be placed nearly under the eyes. 



The hair is close, thick, and somewhat stiff, forming in the rams, when 

 in winter coat, a distinct fringe or ruff on the throat, and having at base a 

 woolly under-fur in both sexes. During the latter part of summer and the 

 commencement of winter the general colour of the coat of the old rams is 

 rufous brown or foxy red, passing into chocolate-brown on the head and 

 face. In contrast with this is the black found on the sides of the neck, 

 the throat, and chest, as well as a band on the flanks, a streak down the 

 withers, the outer and front surfaces of the fore-legs above the knees, and 

 the front and outer sides of the hind-limbs above the hocks. Externally 

 the ears are greyish, but their margins and part of the interior are white. 

 The muzzle and chin are greyish white, passing into greyish rufous in the 

 middle of the black area on the throat ; and a broad band grizzled with 

 white defines the hinder border of the black saddle-patch. The buttocks 

 and all the under-parts, with the exception of a narrow streak between the 

 fore-legs, are dazzling white ; and there is a streak of white on the hinder 

 surface of both pairs of limbs above the knees and hocks, while below both 

 the latter the legs are white save for a variable amount of black on the 

 front of the anterior pair. With the advance of winter the general colour 

 of the upper-parts deepens and tends more to chestnut-brown ; the saddle- 

 patch on each side of the body lightens in colour, till in many of the old 



