AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



193 



AMERICAN ARGALI. 



OVIS MONTANA. 



[Plate XVII. Male and Female.] 



White Buffalo. — Mackenzie, Voyages. Mountain Ram. 

 M'GiLLivRAT. — New York Med. Repos. vol. vi. Bis; 

 Horn. — Lewis and Clark. Ovis Montana. — Desma- 

 REST, Mamm. Cuvier, Reg. an. Richardson, Faun. am. 

 bor. Ovis Jimmon. — Godman. Harlan. Ovis Am- 

 nion var Pygargus. — Griffith, An. King. Rocky 

 Mountain Sheep. — Warden. Unit. St. — Philadelphia 

 Museum. 



No part of natural science is environed with greater diffi- 

 culties, or presents more obstacles to the inquirer, than the 

 history of those animals which have been the companions 

 and slaves of man from the earliest ages; this is strongly 

 exemplified in the Sheep, whose almost innumerable varie- 

 ties are to be met with in every civilized portion of the 

 globe. In the investigation of this subject many questions 

 of importance arise, which have no inconsiderable bearing 

 on the issue, though from the present state of our know- 

 ledge, it is impossible to solve them in a satisfactory or 

 undeniable manner. Some of these have been thus noticed 

 in a late work.* " The first relates to the propriety of the 

 generic distinction between the Sheep and Goats, which 

 naturalists have borrowed from the vulgar classification, 

 adopting it in many instances contrary to their own better 

 judgment. The second has reference to the specific difier- 

 ences supposed to exist between the three or four distinct 

 races that have been found in a state of nature, and to the 

 claims which they severally possess to be regarded as the 

 originals of the domesticated breeds." 



It is true that a comparison of the domestic varieties of 

 these animals, exhibits many striking difierences tending to 

 confirm the generic distinctions which have been established 

 by naturalists; but when this investigation is extended to 

 those species which are still found in a wild and unreclaimed 

 state, it becomes almost impossible to determine to which 

 genus many of the animals belong. There is so great a 

 similitude existing between their habits and mode of life, 

 as well as in their external form and anatomical structure, 

 that it appears wholly superfluous to class them under dif- 

 ferent heads. Thus, their horns are constituted of the same 

 hollow, angular sheaths, supported by bony prominences, 

 having cavities communicating with the frontal sinuses, the 

 form, number, and character of their teeth are identical, 

 they both have the same narrow and elongated muzzle, 

 without the naked space surrounding the nostrils, so well 

 marked in many of the ruminantia, and lastly both genera 



» The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated, No. IX. 



3 C 



are destitute of the lachrymal openings and brushes on the 

 knees, so generally to be met with among the antelopes and 

 deer. In fact, the only real generic diflerence between, as 

 given by Baron Cuvier, consists in the direction of the 

 horns — these appendages, in the Sheep, being " directed 

 backwards and returning more or less forward, in a spiral 

 manner," whilst in the Goats, the horns "are directed 

 upwards and backwards;" as regards the absence of the 

 beard in the Sheep, it cannot be assumed as a characteristic 

 mark, as this is also the case in some species which are 

 classed among the Goats. The learned naturalist just quoted 

 also adds, they (the Sheep) little deserve to be generically 

 separated from the Goats, as they produce prolific hybrids 

 with them. 



But a still more debateable question arises as respects the 

 difierent races of the Sheep which are yet found in a wild 

 state. On the one hand, it would be an extraordinary 

 anomaly in the laws which regulate the geographical distri- 

 bution of animals, if, as was formerly supposed, the wild 

 Sheep found in the mountains of Africa, the great chain 

 extending through central Asia, and the elevated regions of 

 various parts of the American continent, be admitted as 

 belonging to the same species, whilst on the other, when 

 we advert to the slight shades of diflerence existing between 

 them, and their close resemblance in every important par- 

 ticular, strong doubts may be reasonably entertained, of the 

 propriety of separating them from each other. 



Before, however, entering on the history of the subject 

 of our present illustration, we shall pursue the plan we 

 have adopted in this work, and make a few observations 

 on the genus Ovis. 



To none of the domestic animals is mankind more indebt- 

 ed for the comforts and luxuries of civilized life than to this 

 quadruped; others may excel it in strength, speed, and dig- 

 nity of character, but were we to be deprived of the ser- 

 vices of any of our attendants among the inferior animals, 

 we would in all probability find that those of the Sheep 

 would be as severely felt as any of the others. The inofien- 

 sive and mild character of these animals, when under the 

 control of man, is so well known as to have descended into 

 a proverb. But when ranging in flocks over the extensive 

 tracts devoted to them in many countries, and where they 

 seldom depend on the aid of the shepherd, they display very 

 difierent characteristics. Here, being obliged to depend on 

 their own resources, when threatened with an attack, they 

 show a courage and resolution which is generally supposed 

 to be foreign to their nature. Thus, a ram will boldly meet 

 and drive ofi" a dog or fox, and where the danger is more 

 alarming, the whole flock unites for common defence, draw- 

 ing up in a circle, placing the young and females in the 

 centre, whilst the old males present an armed front to the 



