294 



ZOOLOGY. 



The domestic sheep when young is called a lamb : the 

 female is called an ewe : the male, a ram ; it is too well known 

 to require any zoological description. The variety called 

 merino, remarkable for the fineness of its 

 fleece, and at one time limited to Spain, 

 has been extensively introduced into 

 France and Germany, both as a pure 

 breed and as crossed with others. Five 

 hundred thousand of the pure breed exist 

 in France. The clip takes place in the 

 month of May. 



The goat resembles the sheep as re- 

 gards the horns ; but it differs in the 

 direction they take. Its chanfrein, or 

 face and head, is concave, and it has a 

 beard. All the species of this genus 

 belong to Europe and Asia; they live in 

 small troops amongst the rocks, and dis- 

 play astonishing agility. 



The segagre, or wild goat, seemingly the origin of all the 

 domestic species, lives in troops in the mountains of Persia, 

 and perhaps even amongst the Alps. 



Fig. 265. Head of 

 Antelope Canna.* 



Fig. 266. Gnu or Wildebeest of the Dutch Colonists.! 



The bouquetin is another wild species inhabiting the sum- 

 mits of the lofty mountains of the Old World. 



The domestic goat prefers rocky ground as a habitat : its 

 milk is less apt to curdle in the stomach than that of the cow, 



* Hartebeest of the Dutch Colonists of the Cape of Good Hope; an Antelope, 

 t I saw them in -vast droves on the Great Bonlebok Plain, to the North of 

 the Wenterbergen, Cape of Good Hope. R. K. 



