fSHEE 



SHEEP 



377 



Shee, SIR MARTIN ARCHER, portrait-painter, 

 was bom at Dublin, 23d December 1770, studied 

 under West, and as a boy of sixteen became famous 

 as a porttait-painter. In 1788 he settled in London, 

 where he became A.R.A. in 1798, R.A. in 1800, 

 and President of the Royal Academy in 1830, when 

 lie was knighted. He was regarded as a rival of 

 Lawrence, though his art was but poor and few of 

 his portraits are now thought much of. He wrote 

 several poems, didactic, tragic, and other ; a novel ; 

 and a Plan for the Encouragement of Historical 

 Painting. He died at Brighton, 19th August 1850. 

 See the Life by his son (2 vols. 1860). 



Sheeahs. See SH!ITES. 



Sheen. See RICHMOND. 



Sheep (Ovis), a genus of ruminant quadrupeds 

 of the family Capndse, so nearly allied to goats 

 that the propriety of generic distinction is very 

 doubtful. They differ from goats in having the 

 outline of the face more or less arched and convex ; 

 the horns spiral, sometimes very large in the males 

 in domestication, however, wanting in many 

 breeds ; the chin destitute of a beard ; a sac or pit 

 between the toes of each foot, lined with hair, and 

 secreting a fatty matter. Upper incisors and 

 canine teeth are wholly wanting : see BoviDjE, 

 CAPRIU.*. It is supposed by some that all the 

 wild sheep existing in different parts of the world 

 are mere varieties of one species ; and it is impos- 

 sible to say from which of the wild species the 

 domestic sheep is sprang. 



All the wild sheep known are natives either of 

 mountainous regions or of dry and elevated table- 

 lands. They are gregarious, a character which the 

 domesticated sheep fully retains. They are gener- 

 ally seen in small IMB, and are not easily ap- 

 proached, taking refuge in flight, a sharp whistling 

 sound emitted by one of the rams serving as an 

 alarm to the whole llcx'k ; although thev are very 

 capable of making a vigorous defence when driven 

 to close combat. A ram of the domestic species is 

 indeed able to sustain a conflict with a bull, taking 

 advantage of his far greater agility, and butting 

 against his foe with his strongly armed forehead. 

 A ram has been known to throw a bull on the 

 ground at the first onset, and is always ready to 

 defend himself ami his companions against a dog. 

 Many rams exhibit great pugnacity. Sheep differ 

 from goats in their mode of fighting ; goats rear 

 themselves on their hind legs, and throw them- 

 selves sideways on their adversary, to bring the 

 points of their horns to bear ; whereas sheep rush 

 straight at each other, a mode which better suits 

 the different style of armature of the head. Rams 

 of the black-faced variety are especially powerful 

 with their heads, and often at the rutting season 

 kill each other. Their naturally strong skull is 

 further protected in battle by heavy arched horns. 

 A thorough ram fight is a terrifying sight. The 

 two warriors go backwards each some fifteen or 

 twenty yards, and then meet each other with great 

 violence, their heads cracking loudly, and their 

 beam-ends rising in response to the collision of 

 li'Mils. Ewes of this breed fight also. Sheep 

 without horns are not usually so pugnacious as the 

 mountain breeds. 



All the wild sheep have short wool, with an outer 

 clothing of long and nearly straight hair. But even 

 the long hair has usually the peculiar character of 

 wool, in that roughness of surface which gives it 

 the property of fflthnj (see HAIR, WOOL, FELT). 

 One effect of domestication in the common sheep has 

 been to cause the disappearance of the outer long 

 hair, and to produce instead an increase of the length 

 and abundance of the wool, an object of great 

 importance to the sheep-farmer. In neglected 

 breeds of the common sheep the two kinds of hair 



or wool are very apparent. In some tropical climates 

 the sheep loses its abundant fleece, and is covered 

 with hair little longer than that of the ox. 



Although not equal to goats in their adaptation 

 to rocky steeps, and not endowed with such power 

 of leaping from crag to crag, most breeds of sheep 

 exhibit a strong disposition to seek their food in 

 places where no animal not very agile and sure- 

 footed could venture ; and those of the domesticated 

 breeds which retain much of their original wildness 

 are thus adapted to situations in which otherwise 

 the pasture would be of little value to man. In fine 

 weather sheep ascend the heights, and in cold and 

 stormy weatner they repair to the lower grounds. 

 In modern times it has been customary to remove 

 the large flocks from mountainous regions to lower 

 grounds to pass the winter ; and in the fall of the 

 year shepherds have difficulty in preventing the ani- 

 mals from leaving the summer pastures too early if 

 the weather is unfavourable. On the other hand, 

 if fine spring weather sets in before the period of 

 removal from the winter-quarters, the flocks keep 

 pressing towards the summering regions. Moun- 

 tain sheep have favoured spots whither they go 

 regularly over-night, and the ewes generally have 

 choice localities to which they go to lamb. They 

 get much attached to certain pastures, and many of 

 them have been known to return stealthily, in the 

 course of a few days, to their native or appreciated 

 pastures, though removed many miles. 



A very interesting species of the wild sheep is 

 the Great Mountain Sheep (Ovispoli) on the Thian 

 Shan and other lofty chains of central Asia : I -'.'. 

 hands high, the horns (each some 6 feet long) form- 

 ing a wide open curve. It was met with by Marco 

 Polo (hence the technical name), but has only 

 lately been studied or seen. The Argali (0. 

 n in in mi ), found east and north of it, is the subject 

 of a separate article. The Moufflon ( 0. musimon ) 

 is the wild sheep of the mountains of Greece, 

 Corsica, and Sardinia. The Rocky Mountain 

 Sheep, or Big-horn (0. montana), of North Amer- 

 ica, is equal in size to the Argali, which it much 

 resembles also in its general appearance. The flesh 

 is of the very finest quality. The wool is very 

 fine, and fully an inch and a half long ; it is com- 

 pletely concealed by long hairs. The general colour 

 is brown, paler on the lower parts ; the old rams 

 are almost white in spring. The Big-horn is found 

 from Nebraska to the Pacific coast-ranges, and 

 from the Rio Grande northward to 68, and occurs 

 in herds of from three to twenty or thirty. The 

 Aoudad (0. traqelaphus), a native of the north of 

 Africa, inhabiting chiefly the lofty parts of the 

 Atlas Mountains, has the throat, the chest, and 

 front of the forelegs adorned with long shaggy hair. 



The Common Sheep (0. aries) was probaWy the 

 first animal domesticated by man ; Abel, the 

 ' keeper of sheep,' brought an offering unto the 

 Lord ' of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat 

 thereof ; ' and lambs were amongst the most fre- 

 quent sacrificial offerings of the Jews. The felting 

 and weaving of wool were unquestionably among 



the earliest of the arts. The wool was probably at 



practice which 



first pulled from the skin, a cruel 



long survived in some places. Sheen-shearing is 

 often referred to in Scripture. The leather made 

 of the skin of the sheep is much employed in book- 

 binding, and for making gloves. In patriarchal 

 times the milk was much used, as it still is in some 

 countries ; it is richer than cow's milk, and the 

 cheese made of it has a sharp tciste and strong 

 flavour, which, however, are greatly relished by 

 some. In some mountainous parts of India the 

 sheep is even used as a beast of burden, carrying 

 loads of from 35 to 40 Ib. up steep crags, where 

 almost no other animal could be employed. 

 Those who watch sheep carefully, or keep them 



