SHEEP. 



233 



Distribution. 



These sheep are generally found alone or in parties of two or 

 three, and are sparsely distributed over the more precipitous regions 

 of the arid southern slopes of the Atlas range, from the Atlantic to Tunis. They 

 are unknown in the interior of the range near the coast, always keeping within 

 sight of the desert, and capable, according to Arab reports, of going several days 

 without water. Their colour harmonises admirably with the limestone rocks of 

 their native mountains. 



Mr. E. N. Buxton observes that the Arabs are in the habit of 

 pitching their tents near the scanty springs frequented by these 

 sheep, and daily lead their goats high up the mountains. Consequently, the ami 



Habits. 



THE BARBARY SHEEP (& nat Size). 



have " no means of escaping from them, as every mountain within reach of water 

 is similarly infested. They are constantly within sight and hearing of the Arabs 

 and their goats, and as they cannot get away they have developed the art of hiding 

 themselves to an extraordinary extent, and they have unlimited confidence in their 

 own invisibility. This was demonstrated by me one evening when I sat for twenty 

 minutes carefully spying the surrounding country. The knoll on which I sat 

 commanded a small shallow hollow. In this there was not a vestige of cover 

 except a few thin thuya bushes which looked as if they could not hide a rat. It 

 was not till I rose to shift my position that a female arui and two yearlings started 



