294 CAPRINE. 



caucasica, from Sindh and Beloochistan, but does not state if he procured 

 specimens or not. 



Besides the European Ibex, Capra ibex, and the Caucasian Ibex just 

 alluded to, other species have been recorded j viz., C. 2)yrenaica, from the 

 Pyrenees ; C. Walie, from North Africa ; C. nubiana, &c. 



Domestic goats have feet-pits in the fore-feet, but not in the hind, 

 whilst sheep have them in all four feet, and by this means, as Blyth long 

 ago pointed out, a hind quarter of goat with the foot attached can be at 

 once distinguished from one of sheep, a point of some domestic interest 

 in India, where goat mutton is so often substituted for sheep. 



Gen. Ovis, Linnaeus. 



Char. Horns in both sexes, large, angular, heavily wrinkled, turned 

 downwards almost into a circle, with their flat points directed forwards 

 and outwards. No muffle ; no beard ; chaffron convex ; large but 

 immobile eye-pits in some, wanting in others ; small feet-pits in all feet ; 

 inguinal glands distinct ; two mammse. 



The characteristics of sheep compared with goats are, according to 

 Hodgson, as follows : A feebler structure and more slender limbs, 

 shorter hoofs and small false hoofs ; a larger and heavier head ; an arched 

 chaffron ; longer and more pointed ears ; croup higher than the withers ; 

 want of hircine odour ; paler eyes j shorter and more equal hair, and 

 straighter back. The sheep bears change of climate ill, is incurious, 

 staid, and timid ; does not bark trees ; and, in fighting, runs a tilt, 

 adding the force of impulse to that of weight. Blyth remarks that all 

 the wild races of sheep differ conspicuously from most of the domestic 

 races by their short deer-like tail ; but the fine Hunia sheep of Tibet has 

 a short tail, 4J to 5J inches, and the fighting ram has also a short tail. 



Sheep are found in Northern and Central Asia, in the South of Europe, 

 and in Northern Africa ; and one species in the Neoarctic region. Two 

 species are found in our province, and a third, still larger occurs on the 

 other side of the great Snowy range. 



236. Ovis cycloceros. 



HUTTON, Calc. J. N. H. II. pi. XIX. SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1860, 

 p. 126, with figure of the horns; and the animal figd. Illustrated Pro- 

 ceedings of Zoological Society, pi. LXXX. BLYTH, Cat. 548. Figured 



