THE MANY-HORNED SHEEP. 513 



mingled wool and hair, and the latter covered the former, being 

 very long, beautifully fine, and falling from the middle of the 

 back over either side almost to the ground. The hair on the 

 face was short and of a rusty black. In most figures and 

 accounts of this breed, the horns are represented as rising 

 almost perpendicularly from the skull, in a series of spiral 

 turns, the first turn being the largest ; while in the ewe they 

 are said to diverge, taking a lateral direction. But the horns 

 of the ram at the Gardens, extended laterally from the skull, 

 and after the first turn took a downward direction. It is 

 probable, therefore, that in the growth of the horns there is 

 a certain degree of individual variation among the breed -, as 

 indeed might be expected, knowing how unfixed are all the 

 external characters of the domestic sheep, and how capable 

 they are of soon being modified."* 



THE MANY-HORNED SHEEP. (Ovis Aries, var. Polycerata.) 



This singular breed of sheep inhabits Iceland and the Feroe 

 Islands. It has usually four horns, but sometimes six, or even 

 eight. 



Van Troil, in his Letters on Iceland, says that during bad 

 weather the sheep are very apt to hide themselves in caves. 

 But if no such retreat is near when a snow storm comes on, 

 they huddle together, with their noses towards the centre and 

 bent to the ground, which not only prevents them from being 

 so easily buried, but facilitates the owner's finding them again. 

 They can remain for several days in this situation ; but it not 



* The Menageries (1840), vol. iii. p. 410. 



2 L 



