362 UNGULATA. 



The "Bighorn" (Ovis-montana) is the only wild sheep 

 indigenous to the North American Continent, and is very 

 closely allied to the Kamschatka Wild Sheep (Ovis- 

 nivicola). Both of these species, whose rams attain 

 a height of three and one-half feet at the shoulder and 

 average about three hundred and fifty pounds in weight, 

 can be readily distinguished from the Argali (Ovis- 

 ammon) of Mongolia, and the Wild Sheep of Tibet (Ovis- 

 hodgsoni), by the character of their skull and horns; 

 the skull of the last two species having a deeper pit for 

 the gland below the eye, and very strongly marked 

 wrinkles on the anterior surface of the enormous horns 

 which are wanting on the horns of the others. The range 

 of the Bighorn extends from Mexico to Alaska, and from 

 the eastern points of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 

 Coast. The Kamschatka species is found in the Stanovoi 

 Mountains as well as on the peninsula of Kamschatka, 

 where its range is separated by little more than the 

 Bering Strait from the Alaskan habitat of the American 

 species. The skins of the Tibet lambs, sometimes called 

 Mandarin lambs, are white, and the long curly wool is 

 fine and silky; they take the dye beautifully in fancy 

 colors as well as black, but are principally used in their 

 natural state for baby carriage robes and fur sets and 

 trimmings, or are dyed black and made into muffs and 

 boas. Furs made from the skins of the lambs of the 

 domesticated Iceland and China sheep are sometimes sold 

 as Tibet. The Pamir,, which inhabits and takes its name 

 from the elevated district in central Asia known as "the 

 roof of the world," has longer curved horns, but does 

 not grow to quite the size of the Argali. The horns of 

 some of the male Pamir sheep measure from fifty to 

 sixty inches along the outer curve. 



The Armenian and Cyprian Sheep (Ovis-gnelini and 

 Ovis-ophion) are two small species distinguished by dark 

 colored tails and the absence of horns in the ewes. The 

 Armenian sheep is the larger of the two, standing about 

 two feet nine inches. The horns of the males, which have 

 a peculiar backward and inward curve until they nearly 

 meet at the back of the neck, rarely exceed twenty inches 

 in length. The color of the body of these sheep is white 

 with the exception of the upper parts which are a russet 



