160 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



the noble old beast no sportsman need be told ; but it 

 was otherwise decreed. Too hard pressed, at last they 

 dashed into the ravine below the rock, and left the 

 gorge by a pass they are seldom if ever known to take. 



As may be understood from this, the saddle of the 

 old rams in this part of the island at any rate is 

 most conspicuous. In fact, the excellent description of 

 the Corsican ram in his winter coat, given in the article 

 of " Zoophilus," exactly corresponds with those of South- 

 western Sardinia. Even the young rams, with horns 

 only 7 inches or 8 inches long, show more or less sign 

 of the white saddle and dark markings on the neck and 

 shoulders. These appear to increase in distinctiveness 

 with the age of the animal when in a wild state ; but I 

 have reason to suspect that captivity in some mysterious 

 manner affects the assumption of the white saddle. 

 In summer all even the old rams lose almost all 

 trace of the saddle, and are then of a uniform chocolate- 

 brown colour, their legs from the knees and hocks 

 whitish. The females in winter are of a rich ruddy 

 grayish-brown, the old ones with dark markings on the 

 sides, and some very slight sign of the saddle. In 

 summer they are much redder than the rams at that 

 same season, with a black dorsal streak. 



How the direction of the horns can be in any way 

 indicative of the distinctness of the two races is incon- 

 ceivable to me. Nothing can well exceed the variation 

 to which these organs are subject. We have seen and 

 shot them off the same ground (and their heads are in 

 my collection at this present moment), with almost 

 every degree of curvature and variety of direction 

 within the bounds of a moufflon's head, from the horns 

 directed backwards so as to rub the hair off the neck, 

 to those curled forwards beside the cheeks. 



April 17. VICTOR BROOKE. 



