8i6 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



numerous, so that instead of being met with in large flocks, it is now only seen in 

 companies of from four to five up to seven individuals; while in the largest "drives" 

 not more than forty or fifty head are ever killed at one time. 



In Sardinia the mouflon, instead of being found on all the mountain 

 ranges, are restricted to certain chains, and there they frequent only 

 the highest ridges, generally confining themselves to such peaks as command a view 

 of the whole of the surrounding country. The flocks of mouflon are led by an old 

 and powerful ram; but at the pairing season the large flocks used to split up into 

 small parties, consisting of one ram and several ewes. The rams engage in fierce 

 conflicts among themselves for the supremacy; and during the months of December 

 and January the mountains re-echo with the sound of the blows as one ram rushes 

 against the head of another. The lambs either one or two at a birth are pro- 

 duced during April or May; and are able in a few days to follow their dams every- 

 where. Mr. E. N. Buxton states that the Sardinia mouflon is one of the most 

 difficult animals to approach with which he is acquainted. He observes that 

 " when they are alarmed, or at ' gaze,' they have a habit, or at least the rams have, 

 of placing themselves in the middle of a bush of tnacquia, or in the shadow which 

 it casts. The ewes, who are naturally less conspicuous, do this in a less degree. 

 The mouflon are assisted by the wonderful alertness of their eyes. ' ' Later on Mr. 

 Buxton writes that " one of their favorite devices is to seek for spots on the lee side 

 of a ridge where the currents of air meet. Here, in otherwise favorable positions, 

 they are quite unapproachable." Occasionally wild mouflon will desert their own 

 kin to live among tame sheep; while sometimes also a motherless domestic lamb has 

 been known to seek companionship among a flock of mouflon. Evidently, there- 

 fore, the wild sheep are very closely related to our domestic breeds. 



DOMESTIC SHEEP (Ovis aries] 



Although from the similarity in the form and structure of their horns there 

 can be no doubt that the domestic races of sheep are more nearly allied to the 

 mouflon, Armenian wild sheep, and urial, than to those mentioned hereafter, yet 

 we are at present quite in the dark as to their origin; and it is an open question 

 whether we ought to regard the various domesticated breeds as derived from a 

 single, or from several original wild stocks. The most important features by which 

 most domestic races of sheep differ from their wild cousins are the length of the 

 tail, and the substitution of a coat of wool for one of hair. No wild sheep except 

 the under-mentioned Barbary sheep, which has horns of a totally different type, is 

 furnished with a long tail; but it has been suggested that the long tails of the 

 domestic breeds are due to a kind of degeneracy, although, it must be confessed 

 that this does not much advance matters. Unfortunately, geology does not help us 

 much in this investigation; although it is ascertained that the inhabitants of the 

 ancient Swiss lake villages were possessed of a breed of sheep characterized by their 

 small size, long, thin legs, and goat-like horns. 



Domestic sheep vary greatly in the character of their horns. Thus while in 

 the Dorset breed these appendages are present in both sexes, and of nearly equal size 



