200 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



dewlap, while on the former are a pair of those 

 pendent tags or lappets which occur in several 

 domesticated breeds of sheep and goats, as well 

 as in some pigs. Their function — if they have 

 any — is still unknown; and it has been suggested 

 that they are merely hypertrophied growths of 

 ordinary skin-warts. In the present instance they 

 are about the thickness of a finger, with a length of 

 a couple of inches or so. The legs are long and 

 slender ; and the tail and fat-masses of the 

 same type as in the Tatarian breed, except that 

 the latter are smaller. The thick, moderately long, 

 and not particularly soft, although rugged, wool 

 is so thickly intermingled with coarse hair, that 

 in some cases the fleece might be better described 

 as hairy rather than woolly. Very frequendy the 

 colour is dirty yellowish white, but it may be brown 

 or black, while piebald or skewbald individuals are 

 by no means uncommon, and others have the 

 head brown or black, or blotched with these colours, 

 and the body white. In new-born lambs the coat 

 consists of wavy or closely curled hairy locks. 



These sheep form the chief support of the 

 nomad Kirghiz hordes, by whom they are kept 

 in enormous flocks. When under Kirghiz owners 

 they are kept in the open throughout the year, 

 but those belonging to Russians in Southern Siberia 

 are stalled during the winter. On account of their 

 abundant hairy fleece, as well as in respect of the 



