152 VERTEBEATES. 



fleece is composed of wool and hair mixed. The hair of the Wal- 

 lachian sheep is long and silky like that of a spaniel, and of great 

 length, falling almost to the ground. 



The Tartar Sheep, found in 

 Tartary and Thibet, is a very prolific 

 animal, the female bringing forth 

 from fhree to five young at a ) irth. 

 It is valuable for its flesh, which is 

 excellent, and of a delicate flavor, but 

 its wool is of little value. 

 S?*^-- ^Ji'''^iji3tM§/ The sheep is indeed absolutely 



Tartar Sheep Without resource and without deience. 



The Wether Sheep are still more 

 timorous than Ewes; it is through fear that they gather so often 

 in troops ; the smallest noise, to which they are unaccustomed, is 

 sufficient to make them fly, and get close together. This fear is 

 attended with, the greatest stupidity ; for they know not how to fly 

 the danger, nor do they even seem to feel the inconvenience of 

 their situation ; they continue wherever they are, either in rain or 

 snow; and to oblige them to change their situation, they must 

 have a chief, who is intrusted to walk first, and whom they will 

 follow step by step. This chief will remain with the rest of the 

 flock, without motion, in the same place, if he be not driven from 

 it by the shepherd, or the dog which guards them. 



The Q-mAFPE is one of the tallest, most beautiful, and most 

 harmless animals in nature. The enormous disproportion of its 

 legs (the fore legs being as long again as the hinder ones) is a 

 great obstacle to the use of its strength ; its motion is waddling 

 and stiff; it can neither fly from its enemies in its free state, nor 

 serve its master in a domestic one. The species is not very nu- 

 merous, and has always been confined to the deserts of Ethiopia, 

 and some other provinces of Africa and India. 



An African traveller thus describes this animal : " The 

 Giraffe chews the cud, as all horned animals with cloven feet do. 

 Like them, too, it crops the grass ; though seldom, because pasture 

 is scarce in the country which it inhabits. Its ordinary food in 



