294 CAPBIN^. 



caucasica, from Sindh and Beloochistan, but does not state if he procured 

 specimens or not. 



Besides the European Ibex, Capra ibex, and the Caucasian ibex just 

 alluded to, other species have been recorded, viz., C. pyrenaica, from the 

 Pyrennees, C. ivalie, from North Africa, C. mibiana, &c. 



Domestic goats have feet-pits in the fore-feet, but not in the hind, 

 ■whilst sheep have them in all four feet, and by this means, as Blyth long 

 ago pointed out, a hind quarter of goat with the foot attached can be at 

 once distinguished from one of sheep, a point of some domestic interest 

 in India, where goat mutton is so often substituted for sheep. 



Gen. Uvis, Linnceus. 



Char.— Horns in both sexes, large, angular, heavily wrinkled, turned 

 downwards almost into a circle, with their flat points directed forwards and 

 outwards. No muffle ; no beard ; chaffron convex ; large but immobile 

 eye-pits in some, wanting in others ; small feet-pits in all feet ; inguinal 

 glands distinct ; two mammse. 



The characteristics of sheep compared with goats are, according to 

 Hodgson as follows : — A feebler structure and more slender limbs, shorter 

 hoofs and small false hoofs ; a larger and heavier head ; an arched chaffron ; 

 longer and more pointed ears ; croup higher than the withers ; want of 

 hircine odour ; paler eyes ; shorter and more equal hair, and straighter 

 back. The sheep bears change of climate ill, is incurious, staid and timid ; 

 does not bark trees ; and, in fighting, runs a tilt, adding the force of im- 

 pulse to that of weight. Blyth remarks that all the wild races of sheep 

 differ conspicuously from most of the domestic races by their short deer-like 

 tail, but the fine Hunia sheep of Tibet has a short tail, 4i to 5J inches, 

 and the fighting ram has also a short tail. 



Sheep are found in Northern and Central Asia, in the South of Europe 

 and in Northern Africa ; and one species in the Nearctic region. Two 

 species are found in our province, and a third, still larger, occurs on the 

 other side of the great snowy range. 



236. Ovis cycloceros. 



HniTON, Calc. J. N. H., 2. pi. XIX.— Sclater, P. Z. S. 1860, 

 p. 126, with figure of tlie horns ; and the animal figd. Illustrated Pro- 

 ceedings of Zoological Society, pi. LXXX,— Blyth, Cat. 548.— Figured 



