THE SHEEP. 



109 



Every chain of lofty mountains in Europe 

 and \Ycstcrn Asia has its own species of ibex. 

 The Alps, the Sierra Nevada, the Caucasus, 

 the Altai Mountains, Mount Sinai, and the 

 mountains of Abyssinia have ibexes \\hich are 

 somewhat different from each other as regards 

 their horns and skins, but are similar to one 

 another in the rest of their structure and their 

 mode of life. They are all animals which 

 dwell in the highest regions and exhibit all 

 the (nullities of goats in the highest degree. 

 \\'e have not considered it necessary to repeat 

 here what has already been said, and we only 

 add a few words concerning the Alpine Ibex 

 (//h-.v alpiiins (Capra ibex} ), fig. 185, which 

 has no beard, and simply curved, and slightly 

 divergent horns with very prominent ridges 

 or knobs. 



This majestic animal, formerly distributed 

 over the whole Alps, had already in the 

 middle ages become rare, thanks to the un- 

 reasing pursuit of which it was the object, in 

 consequence of a fancy which ascribed all 

 sorts of medicinal virtues to different parts of 

 the animal. Even at the present day the fat 

 and the dried blood of the ibex are sold in 

 certain Alpine valleys at high prices. The 

 horns, likewise, had a considerable value, and 

 the labours, privations, and dangers connected 

 with the chase of the ibex on the almost 

 inaccessible peaks where it had to be followed, 

 were among the highest enjoyments of sport. 

 Now the ibex exists only in a few districts of 

 the Alps, where it is protected in the strictest 

 manner. From the Swiss Alps it has en- 

 tirely disappeared, and in the western Alps 

 it is still found only in the Val de Cogne and 

 the ravines opening into it, which King 

 Victor Emmanuel placed under strict super- 

 vision. On the summit of the Col de Geant, 

 between Chamounix and Courmayeur, there 

 is to be seen at the height of ten thousand 

 feet a board with the inscription, " Defense 

 de chasser," and keepers are placed all round. 

 There are perhaps in this district still about 

 three hundred head in all, distributed in 



small troops of about a dozen each. Attempts 

 have been made without success to re-intro- 

 duce the ibex into the Austrian Alps. In the 

 zoological gardens at Schonbrunn and a few 

 others elsewhere are kept a number of ibexes, 

 which excite general astonishment by their 

 enormous leaps. They are capable of being 

 tamed to a certain degree, but in old age they 

 become ill-tempered. Hybrids between the 

 ibex and the common goat have also been 

 reared, but all of these became in advanced 

 years so ill-tempered and unmanageable that 

 they had to be killed. The descendants of 

 these hybrids acquired in course of time the 

 characters of common goats. 



The Sheep. 



The sheep are distinguished from the goats 

 by their flat brow, the ram's nose, the absence 

 of the beard, and the presence of tear- pits 

 and interdigital glands, as well as by the 

 character of their horns, which are twisted 

 like the shell of a snail, and adorned with 

 rings of knobs or tubercles. These rings 

 are continued on the three or four sides of 

 the horns. The legs are thinner and longer 

 than those of the goats, the body more 

 slender, and the tail shorter and covered with 

 hair all round. This covering is made up of 

 a thick wool mixed with longer fine hairs. 

 But, as already mentioned, there are connect- 

 ing links between the two groups, for ex- 

 ample, goats without any beard and with 

 interdigital glands and small tear-pits, and, 

 on the other hand, sheep with a straight nose 

 and without tear-pits. In the sheep both 

 sexes are provided with horns, but those of 

 the female are always smaller than those of 

 the male, and also, for the most part, less 

 twisted. 



The mode of life of wild sheep is absolutely 

 the same as that of goats. But for us, who 

 only know the tame animal, rendered stupid 

 by slavery, the sheep is the type of dull sub- 

 missiveness, of peace-loving indolence and 

 blind obedience, without will, without vivacity, 



