I I 2 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



considerable numbers of that curious and exclusively 

 African animal the Barbary sheep. 



The Barbary sheep or aoudad (Ovis leruid) aroui 

 of the Arabs mouflon a manchettes of the French 

 colonists stands about three feet six inches at the 

 shoulder, old males attaining the bulk of a small ox. 

 The horns are curved backwards and slightly 

 downwards, while the tips are directed inwards, thus 

 allowing the animal to pass easily through the scrub ; 

 a few faint annulations are seen along the outside. 

 The face is long and rather expressionless ; the 

 shoulders are somewhat elevated ; the tail bears a 

 terminal tassel. The males are bearded like goats, 

 but more so, a long mat of hair hanging under the 

 throat and along the chest ; the knees are besleeved 

 with a generous frill. 1 



The colour of the aoudad males, females and 

 young alike is a uniform reddish gray tinged with 

 yellow, like that of the rocks amongst which they 

 wander. The horns attain an average length of 

 25 inches over the curve ; the young have them 

 quite wrinkled, these corrugations disappearing 

 with age. 



The zoological position of the Barbary sheep is 

 highly interesting, for like the musk ox it stands in 

 "splendid isolation" from all other forms. The 

 only African member of the genus Ovis, its curious 



1. Bare patches of hard skin occur on the knees, recalling similar 

 callosities in the giraffe. 



