234 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



dewlap, which extends on to the chest ; the withers 

 are higher than the rounded croup ; the legs are 

 of medium length and strong and stout build ; and 

 the rather thin and evenly haired tail is about a 

 foot long and reaches nearly to the hocks. On the 

 face, ears, and limbs the coat is very short and 

 close-lying ; but on the occiput the hair becomes 

 longer, while on the neck, withers, and chest it 

 forms in old rams a heavy mane or mantle ; in 

 ewes the mane is scantier and shorter. A change 

 of direction in the lie of the hair on the withers is 

 indicated by a pronounced whorl. The horns are 

 of the curling mouflon-type, and thus quite different 

 from the outwardly directed ones of the long- 

 legged breed. 



Fitzinger states that the colour is either piebald 

 or skewbald, with a sharp demarcation between the 

 light and the dark areas. In piebald examples the 

 head, neck, mane, and lower parts of the limbs are 

 usually black ; while the body and such portion of 

 the mane as hangs below the breast are white, with 

 a slight tinge of yellow. The horns and hoofs 

 are black. 



The headquarters of this breed are the Eastern 

 Sudan, where these sheep are abundant in the 

 countries inhabited by the Dinkas, Nuers, and 

 Shilluks, and in fact all along the valley of the 

 Bahr-el-Abiad, or White Nile. They have, how- 

 ever, spread from this region through the Tan- 



