THE BARBARY SHEEP 113 



horns, maned forequarters, and uniform coloration 

 render it striking and singular ; the horns are much 

 smoother than in most wild sheep compare them 

 for instance with the huge ribbed weapons of the 

 Ovis Poll they also entirely lack the forward 

 curvature of the tips seen in that species. Per- 

 haps the bharal, or blue sheep of Thibet, comes 

 nearest to the aoudad in the structure of its horns and 

 skull ; but the blue sheep, though brownish grey 

 above, has the rump and underparts distinctly white, 

 and has no elongated hair on the throat and chest. 



Amongst the goats, however, several species 

 occur bearing superficial likeness, both in horns and 

 pelage, to the aoudad. Thus the thar of the 

 Himalayas has the horns compressed in front, 

 angulated, and triangular in section ; flattened 

 laterally, they bear considerable resemblance, on a 

 small scale, to the weapons of the Barbary sheep. 

 Again, they are almost as large in females as in 

 males ; another point of similarity. In old thar 

 the shaggy coat becomes elongated on neck, chest^ 

 and shoulders to form a half-mane ; the coat is also 

 almost uniformly coloured, of a dark or reddish 

 brown. One must not, however, press the analogy 

 too closely ; for although Barbary sheep and thar 

 may well have been descended from a common 

 ancestor, at the present day structural differences 

 sufficiently indicate the gap that has intervened. 

 Thus the thar has no gland between the hoofs of 



