THE MOUFLON— THE UKIAL 287 



especially on the legs, and it has smoother horns ; but it varies much 

 locally both in size and colour. In Alaska there is a race of it 

 (Dall's Sheep) which is nearly or quite white ; and there is also a 

 nearly black variety. Bighorns are especially remarkable for their 

 great climbing powers. 



THE MOUFLON 



(Ovts musimon) 



The Mouflon of Corsica and Sardinia is so very similar to tame 

 Sheep in size, voice, and — allowing for the unfamiliar hairy and 

 coloured coat — general appearance, that it is in all probability the 

 ancestor of these. The colour is a bright brown, becoming darker 

 and duller in winter, with the legs and abdomen white, and black 

 streaks dividing this colour from the brown of the flanks and running 

 down the legs. The rams have a well-marked white saddle-mark, 

 which is wanting in the ewes, these being also usually hornless, or 

 with very small horns. 



More or less black varieties of Mouflons are not uncommon ; 

 several have been bred in the London Zoological Gardens, but the 

 parent ram is himself partly black. He is a very brave animal, and, 

 desiring to get at the buck Markhor next door — a much bigger animal 

 than himself — he broke the padlock on the door of separation with his 

 head, and then went in and made the vicious Goat acknowledge his 

 supremacy. Another race or species of Mouflon (Ovts orientalis) 

 inhabits the mountains of Western Asia, and is also found in Cyprus ; 

 this is less variegated in coat than the European animal, and is gene- 

 rally larger, though the Cyprian race is smaller than the Corsican and 

 Sardinian animal. 



THE URIAL 



(Ovts vignei) 



The Urial, which is about the size of a tame Sheep, but more leggy, 

 is of a sandy colour, with a black or black-and-white ruff in the ram ; 

 the ewe in this species is horned, though the horns are small. It is 

 found from Bokhara through Persia to the Punjab, where, unlike 



