CHAPTER XIV 



THE WILD SHEEP 



(Ovis montand) 



THE wild sheep ranks highest among the ani 

 mal mountaineers of the Sierra. Possessed of 

 keen sight and scent, and strong limbs, he dwells 

 secure amid the loftiest summits, leaping unscathed 

 from crag to crag, up and down the fronts of giddy 

 precipices, crossing foaming torrents and slopes of 

 frozen snow, exposed to the wildest storms, yet 

 maintaining a brave, warm life, and developing 

 from generation to generation in perfect strength 

 and beauty. 



Nearly all the lofty mountain-chains of the globe 

 are inhabited by wild sheep, most of which, on 

 account of the remote and all but inaccessible 

 regions where they dwell, are imperfectly known as 

 yet. They are classified by different naturalists 

 under from five to ten distinct species or varieties, 

 the best known being the burrhel of the Himalaya 

 (Ovis burrhel, Blyth); the argali, the large wild 

 sheep of central and northeastern Asia (0. ammon, 

 Linn., or Caprovis argali)] the Corsican mouflon 

 (0. mmimon, Pal.); the aoudad of the mountains of 

 northern Africa (Ammotragus tragelaphus); and 

 the Rocky Mountain bighorn (0. montana, Cuv.). 



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