THE MOUrLON.] 



SHEEP, 



[the MOUFLOU". 



THE NAHOOR, OR SHA, 

 The Nalioor, or Sha, of Tibet (Oi-is Nalioor, 

 Hodgson), is a native of the Kacliar region of 

 Nepal, and the glaciers of the Himalaya. Of 

 this sheep there is very little to be said ; but 

 it has a near alliance to the Burrhel — Ovis 

 Burrhel of Blytli — which inhabits the loftiest 

 crests of the Hitnalayan chain. Here it is 

 said to bound "lightly over the encrusted 

 snows, at an altitude where its human pur- 

 suers find it difficult to breathe. It has the 

 bleat of the domestic species, as indeed they 

 all have, and is very shy and difficult of ap- 

 proach. Flocks of ten or twenty, conducted 

 by an old male, have been observed to make 

 for the snowy peaks upon alarm, while their 

 leader scrambled up some crag to reconnoitre, 

 and, if shot at, would bound off a few paces, and 

 again stop to gaze. They pasture in deep and 

 hollow grassy glens." A former specimen, in 

 the Museum of the Zoological Society, was 

 shot near the Boorendo Pass, at an altitude of 

 about 17,000 feet. 



THE SHA. 

 This is the Ovis Yignei of Blyth, a Mouflon 

 inhabiting the mountains of Little Tibet and 

 the Sulimani range, between India and Kho- 

 rassan. Vast numbers of this species are 

 driven down by the snow in winter, to the 

 branches of the Indus, where the river breaks 

 through the chain of the Himalayas. The wild 

 sheep of the Hindoo Koosli mountains, de- 

 scribed in the Journal of the Asiatic Society/ of 

 Bengal, is either this or a closely allied species. 

 Its climbing powers are extraordinary. 



THE CORSICAN MOUFLON. 

 This is the Ofis Musimon of Linnajus, a 

 native of Corsica and Sardinia. Speaking of 

 it, Mr. Biyth remarks — "It has always ap- 

 peared to me, however, that the specifical dis- 

 tinctness of the Mouflon is very obvious ; and 

 I doubt whether it has contributed at all to 

 the origin of any tame race. That it inter- 

 breeds freely with the latter, under circum- 

 stances of restraint, is well known; but we 

 have no information of hybrids, or TJmbri, as 

 they are called, being even raised from wild 

 MouQons, though the flocks of the latter will 

 occasionally graze in the same pasture with 

 692 



domestic sheep ; and all but mingle with them. 

 The male of this animal is denominated, in 

 Corsica, Mufro, and the female, Mufra; 

 from which Bufibn, as is well known, formed 

 the word Mouflon. In Sardinia, the male is 

 called Murvoni, and the female Murva ; though 

 it is not unusual to hear the peasants style 

 both indiscriminately Mouflon, which (as Mr, 

 Smyth remarks, in his description of that 

 island) is a palpable corruption of the Greek 

 Ophion. It is sometimes stated, but I do not 

 know upon what authority, that a few of these 

 animals are still found upon the mountains of 

 Murcia." 



This would seem to be the same as the Ovis 

 Mouflon of Buffbn, found in the islands of the 

 Grecian Archipelago, in Sardinia, Greece, Asia, 

 and in the western part of European Turkey. 

 It is two-and-a-half feet high, and about three- 

 and-a-half long. It has large semicircular and 

 wrinkled horns, bending gracefully backward, 

 resembling, in some degree, the black-taced 

 sheep of the Highlands. They are, however, 

 much thicker, usually measuring from twelve 

 to sixteen inches at the base, and sometimes 

 as much as twenty-two inches in length. The 

 colour of the animal is grey ; and it is covered 

 with hair, of a curly and woolly kind. There 

 are a few black hairs about the head. When 

 the female has horns they are very small, but 

 she is frequently entirely destitute of them. 

 They always browse upon the sides of hills, or 

 upon their summits, in very temperate lati- 

 tudes. They are gregarious, herding together 

 for the purposes of defence; and, like other 

 sociable animals, place themselves under the 

 protection of the largest and the strongest ot 

 their rams. When the females are in season, 

 they separate into smaller flocks, and this is 

 the signal for the wars of the males. The 

 females usually tliroio two lambs in the month 

 of April or May, and these the dams defend 

 with indomitable courage in any emergency. 



According to Cuvier, these animals are very- 

 dull and uutameable. He says that " domes- 

 tication has had no influence" in taming them ; 

 " it merely accustoms them to the presence of 

 new objects ; and they are no longer aft'righted 

 at the sight of man, but rather seem to acquire 

 more confidence in their own powers as they 

 become more familiarised with him. Instead, 

 therefore, of avoiding their keeper, especially 



