SHEEP. 



231 



spread over many parts of Europe, and has been introduced into South Africa, 

 America, and Australia ; but, for several reasons, has not found much favour 

 with English farmers. 

 Long-wooUea Finally, we have the various strains of long-woolled sheep, 



Breeds. under which heading are comprised the new Leicester, and the 

 varieties more or less intermixed with it in blood, such as the Lincolnshire, the 

 Romney Marsh, the Cotswold, the Devonshire, the Notts, and the long-woolled Irish 

 bleeds. They are all of large size, destitute of horns in both sexes, and bear long 

 wool, which, while unsuitable for felting, is eminently adapted for the manufacture 

 of worsted yarn. These sheep are stated by Mr. Low to be "more especially 

 adapted to the plains and the districts where artificial food can be reared in the 

 necessaiy quantity. They have been continually increasing in number with the 

 extension of tillage and the general improvement of agriculture. Of the several 

 varieties, the new Leicester breed occupies the first class with respect to form, and 

 the aptitude to fatten readily." 



The Bharal (Ovis nahura). 



With the bharal, or blue sheep of Tibet, we come to the first of two wild 

 species differing markedly from all the others in the characters of their horns and 

 skulls, and approximating in these respects to the goats. As regards the horns, the 

 male bharal has these appendages nearly smooth, and rounded or subquadrangular 

 at the base, while their curvature assimilates more to a letter S than to the spiral 

 characteristic of the typical sheep. They are marked with fine transverse striae, 

 and rise very close together on the head; their direction is outwards, at first 

 upwards, then downwards, and at the extremities backwards. The females have 

 short horns, curving upwards and outwards. There is no gland on the face, and 

 consequently no pit in the skull below the eye. The tail is relatively longer than 

 in any of the wild species yet noticed. The fur is of uniform length throughout, 

 without any trace of a mane on the neck or fringe on the throat, and is remarkable 

 for its smoothness and compactness. As regards coloration, the adult male bharal 

 is a decidedly striking animal. Thus, whereas the general colour of the upper- 

 parts is brownish grey, becoming more distinctly brown in summer, and tending to 

 slaty grey in winter, the under-parts, the inside and back of the limbs, as well as 

 (he rump so far as the root of the tail, are white. The front of the face, the 

 chest, a stripe down the front of the limbs, interrupted by white at the knees, and 

 a stripe along the side dividing the white of the belly from the dark of the upper- 

 parts, as well as the last two-thirds of the tail, are black. The black markings 

 on the face, chest, and flanks, are wanting in the females. 



The male bharal stands about 3 feet in height at the withers, and good-sized 

 horns have a length of 24 or 26 inches along the curve, with a basal girth of some 

 1 1 inches. Specimens have, however, been recorded measuring 30| and 32 inches in 

 length, and 13 inches in girth. The female bharal is altogether a smaller animal. 

 The bharal is essentially a Tibetan species, ranging, according to 

 Mr. Blanford, from near Shigar in Baltistan and the neighbourhood 

 of Sangu, south-east of Yarkand, as far eastwards as Moupin in Eastern Tibet : 



