18 Domesticated A7ii7nals. 



similar to the summer coat of the wild Monfion or Uriah The 

 head is, in fjict, almost identical in form and general appearance 

 with that of a female of one of those two species, and thus quite 

 different from the long and slender head of the Barbarj Wild Sheep, 

 or Udad, which has been regarded as the ancestral stock of the 

 domesticated breeds. The tail is much shorter than in European 

 Domesticated Sheep, not reaching to within a considerable distance 

 of the hocks. From the uniform colour of the coat it would seem 

 probable that the breed is more nearly related to the Urial than to 

 the Mouflon ; and if the former were originally domesticated in 

 Persia, it might well have been introduced into Africa by way of 

 Syria. Be that as it may, it seems most likely that in the West 

 African breed we have the earlier stock of the more specialised 

 woolly breeds of Europe. 



The Maned breed is represented by a ram from Abyssinia, which 

 has short horns, a brown shaggy coat, and a short tail. The Pigmy 

 breed, from the Caniaroons district of West Africa, is shown by a 

 specimen of an adult ram, which stands only 19 inches at the withers. 

 The horns, which are stout and thick, are only about an inch and 

 a half in length, and the coat consists of coarse hair without any 

 trace of wool. On most of the body the hair is about an inch long, 

 but on the neck it is lengthened into a kind of mane, and there is 

 also a ruff on the throat. The general colour of the hair of the 

 upper-parts is chestnut-red, but the ears, the greater part of the face, 

 the throat ruff , the buttocks, the whole of the under-])arts, and a 

 large portion of the legs are jet black. The tail is short and thinly 

 haired, not reaching half-way to the hocks. In its black under-parts 

 this sheep presents a remarkable contrast to the wild Mouflon, in 

 which the belly is white with a broad band of black dividing it from 

 the fawn of the flanks. This white belly of the Mouflon is obviously 

 for protective purj)oses, and with the removal of any necessity for 

 protective coloration in the domesticated breed, it would seem that 

 the black of the flank band has spread over the whole of the under- 

 parts. The shortness of the tail points to affinity with the Mouflon, 

 and also shows that this and the other Hairy Sheep of West Africa 

 have no relationship to the Barbary Wild Sheep. 



The Domesticated Sheep of the Hausas of Nigeria form 

 "~ a well-marked breed, which has been named Ovis. longipes 



2>neep. camapi (fig. 9). The breed is typically characterised 

 by the hairy coat, the drooping cars, ' Roman-nosed ' ])rofile, long 

 legs, long short-haired tail, the presence of a pair of pendent lappets. 



