SHEEP AND GOATS 
tions, since, despite the pawing and snorting, little serious 
action would follow. 
This behavior, so much in contrast to that of other kinds of 
wild bulls, is explained, of course, by their gregarious instincts, 
leading them to gather in a bunch for safety against danger, 
but also by the fact that there were on the American plains no 
such powerful beasts of prey as menace African and Asiatic 
cattle. Hence individual defensive action was not bred in our 
bisons as it was in the Old World oxen. 
This enormous national asset of beef cattle, upon which the Indian 
population of the West almost wholly depended for food and clothing, has 
been swept away within a century. A careful investigation in 1904 dis- 
covered about twelve hundred then living in the parks of the world, while 
a few are protected, though at large, in northwestern Colorado and in 
Yellowstone Park, and perhaps four hundred still exist in the rough, wooded 
country west of Great Slave Lake. A full history of the decline and destruc- 
tion of this fine animal has been written by William T. Hornaday.7!8 
Next follow the sheep and goats, with little in structure to 
distinguish between them or to separate them from the oxen, 
though it is easy enough to recognize the three  gneep ana 
apart in the field. Sheep are smaller than cattle G0ats- 
generally, and the males have massive horns (the females much 
smaller ones), usually triangular in 
section, rough, cross-wrinkled, and 
tending to coil beside the head into 
a “ram’s-horn” spiral. A distinc- 
tive feature is a small gland in each 
foot between the hoofs; and the 
ewes have but two teats. The rams 
are devoid of any strong odor, and 
have no beard. ‘‘As regards the 
character of their molar teeth, the 
sheep resemble the gazelles, and it is accordingly not improb- 
able that they may trace their descent to extinct antelopes more 
251 
OORIAL OR SHA. 
