SHORT-TAILED EUROPEAN BREEDS 6i 



— four horns, while the ewes may in some instances 

 likewise be four-horned. The shortness of the tail 

 is an indication of pure blood.^ 



In the form of its brown horns the Soa ram 

 presents a striking likeness to the wild mouflon ; 

 and since, as clearly mentioned, the latter appears 

 to have formerly enjoyed a much wider range than 

 it has at the present day, there is a strong proba- 

 bility that it was the ancestor of the loaghtan breeds. 

 That loaghtans are not derived from the red sheep 

 {Ovzs orientalis) of South-western Asia is, as indicated 

 later, evident from the difference in the direction of 

 the terminal part of the spiral of the horns ; and if 

 the mouflon be not the parent type, this has to be 

 sought — among existing forms — in the urial of the 

 Punjab and Himalaya. It is, however, far more 

 probable that some at least of the domesticated 

 sheep of Northern Europe were derived from an 

 indigenous rather than from an Asiatic wild species. 

 In confirmation of this it may be mentioned — for 

 what the fact is worth — that the colour of the 

 fleece of the Soa sheep is nearer to that of the 

 European mouflon than it is to that of the Asiatic 

 urial. 



The Manx, or typical, loaghtans run somewhat 



larger than the Soa breed, and display a marked 



tendency to the development of extra horns in the 



rams. During the nineteenth century these sheep 



' Elwes, op. cit., p. 32. 



