THE SHEER 



CHAPTER I. 



KISTOUY or THE SHEEP. 



(I.) Origm of the Sheep. — As the origin of our 

 domesticated animals has afforded scope for much 

 curious speculation, so none have attracted a greater 

 degree of attention in this respect than the sheep. 

 Into these arguments, however, it would be absurd to 

 enter ; I shall therefore content myself with such opi- 

 nions as are deemed the best. 



Placed in the Class Mammalia, and Order Rurai- 

 nantia.the innumerable varieties at present existing may, 

 according to Cuvier, whose tact in arranging animals 

 is universally acknowledged, all be referred to four 

 species — the Argali of Siberia, the Mouflon of Sardinia, 

 the Mouflon of America, and the Mouflon of Africa — 

 though to be rigidly accurate in natural distinctions 

 he would refer them all to three, thereby excluding the 

 third. 



(2.) The Argali of Siberia (^Ovis Ammon) in- 

 habits the mountains of Asia, where it attains the size 

 of a fallow deer. The male has very large horns, with 

 three rounded angles at the base, flattened in front, and 

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