3 io 



HOOFED ANIMALS 



while we place the Sheep in the genus Ovis and the Goats 

 in the Capra, we may very well consider that the terms are 

 almost interchangeable, trusting to the descriptions of the 

 various selected animals to afford us the few safe means of 

 identification. 



FAMILY OV1D1E (SHEEP). 



SHEEP (Ovis aries). 

 Coloured Plate XVIII. Figs. I and 3. 



From the very earliest days the domesticated Sheep has 

 been among the most valued of man's possessions ; its 

 history is blended with that of the laws and 

 customs of nations ; writers, sacred and pro- 

 fane, historians and poets of all times have 

 abounded in allusions to it ; and there is no 

 more interesting and beautiful sight than hill 

 and valley whitened with flocks feeding in 

 peaceful security. Such a scene takes us back 

 to the patriarchal days, when a pastoral life 

 was the chief condition of men, and when 

 the office of shepherd was an occupation of 

 chiefs and even princes. The Sheep is the 

 first animal mentioned by name in the sacred 

 writings. The firstlings of the flock were 

 offered in sacrifice according to the Jewish 

 ritual ; the Lamb was a type of 

 BONES OF THE innocence and purity ; and as the 

 *THE SHEEP. F Antitype of these sacrifices Christ 

 is expressly called the ' Lamb of 

 God, that taketh away the sins of the world ' 

 ' a Lamb without blemish and without spot.' 

 We may forgo any detailed description of 

 an animal with which all are so familiar, simply 

 remarking that in many of the domesticated 



. ,. T ,.,,, , , , ., FOOT OF THE 



varieties horns are so little developed that it SHEEP. 

 may be said that they are almost absent. In 

 others they are comparatively large in the male, curving 

 downwards and not infrequently upwards again. An 



