1841.] A Monograph of the species of Wild Sheep. 877 



11.0. Musimon, Linnaeus. — The Moufflon Sheep of Corsica and Sar- 

 dinia, but not, there is reason to suspect, of the Levantine countries. 

 It is unnecessary to give a detailed description of this beautiful little 

 species, though I may mention that the fine living male in the gardens 

 measures 39 inches from nose to tail ; the tail 5 inches ; from nose to 

 base of horn 7 inches ; ears 4 inches ; neck, from posterior base of 

 horn to the abrupt angle of its insertion, 8 inches, and thence to base 

 of tail 21 inches; height at the shoulder 2 J feet. The horns of this 

 individual are remarkable for not spiring in the least degree, whence 

 they point towards the back of the neck : they measure 21 inches over 

 their curvature, and 8i inches round at base, being in their fifth year 

 of growth ; their widest portion apart is 15 inches, and at the tips 

 6 inches ; but another pair, upon the stuffed specimen in the Museum, 



cycloceroSy "from the circular position of its horns." (Extract from a letter dat- 

 ed Candahar, Vlth September, 1840, published in the Calcutta Journal of Na- 

 tural History, No. iv. p, 557.) This gentleman thinks it will prove to be the 

 proper " Bearded Sheep" of Pennant, and there is little or no doubt he is right 

 so far as regards the imperfect skin purchased by Pennant in Holland, and which 

 that naturalist was informed " came from the East Indies ;" but Pennant erro- 

 neously identified this skin to be of the same species as the Barbary animal, 

 (O. Tragelaphus,) and mixes up the two in his description. The figure he re- 

 fers to, also, as taken from the living animal in Paris, and of which a copy is 

 given by Shaw, (if I mistake not, a little embellished about the cheeks and chin,) 

 appears to me to represent a Corsican Moufflon, (O. Musimon,) the hoofs of 

 which had grown out of a state of protracted confinement, as commonly enough 

 happens with captive ruminants. 



Compare Mr. Fraser's notice with that of Lieut. Wood, of a specimen of the 

 *' Kutchgar" of Pamir: this author states, "It was a noble animal, standing as 

 high as a two year's old colt, with a venerable beard, and two splendid curling 

 horns, which, with the head, were so heavy, as to require considerable exertion 

 to lift them. Though in poor condition, the carcass, divested of its offal, was a 

 load for a baggage pony ; its flesh was tough and ill-tasted, but we were told 

 that in autumn, when this animal is in prime condition, no venison is better fla- 

 voured. The Kutchgar is gregarious, congregating in herds of several hundreds. 

 They are of a dun colour, the skin more resembling the hide of a cow than the 

 fleece of a [tame] Sheep. A skeleton of this animal, and several complete cra- 

 nia, were deposited, I believe, at Loodiana." The latter are now before me, or 

 (as in a note to Taylor's reprint of this memoir,) I should have been tempted to 

 refer the foregoing notice to O. Polii. Whereas the carcass of O. Vignei, however, 

 " divested of its offal, is a load for a baggage pony," Sir Alexander Burnes was 

 informed, respecting the " Rasse," that " a common sized specimen will require two 

 horses -to bear its flesh from the field," and the latter is moreover reported to be of a 

 white colour. Capt. Hay remarks, that the present species is "gregarious in flocks 

 of about forty, headed by an old male." A stuffed specimen, I am told, exists iu 

 the Museum of Paris.— E. B. 



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