2i6 tme Sheep and its cousins 



him as Moroccan sheep. In 1885 a single example 

 was brought to Schonbrunn by the Austrian traveller 

 and naturalist Heuglin, which was examined by 

 Fitzinger.^ 



In the opinion of the latter writer three 

 European sheep are the result of crossing the 

 Libyan lop-eared sheep with the native breeds of 

 the countries in which they occur. The first of 

 these is the Bergamo breed, of the warm valleys 

 of Upper Italy, more especially the provinces of 

 Bergamo and Como, and the neighbouring parts 

 of Lombardy, where they are kept in large flocks. 

 The ancestors of these sheep were probably im- 

 ported into Italy from Africa in Roman times, and 

 crossed with the ordinary local breed. In general 

 appearance and their large size they are more like 

 their African than their European parents, although 

 in certain respects they come nearer the latter. 

 The general shape of the head and the drooping 

 ears conform essentially to the African type, but in 

 some instances the rams are horned ; the thin tail 

 reaches the hocks. Although the usual colour of 

 the thick shaggy fleece is dirty white, it is not 

 infrequently a lighter or darker shade of brown, 

 sometimes with a rufous tinge and occasionally 

 dull chestnut. The rams are much bigger than the 

 ewes. 



In Lombardy, where they may include as 



* op. cit., vol. xli. p. 195, i860. 



