150 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Sheep. 



in order to gain a livelihood for itself and owner. 

 He had taught this animal, while he accompanied 

 its movements with a song, to mount upon little cy- 

 lindrical blocks of wood, placed successively one 

 above the other, and in shape resembling the dice- 

 boxes belonging to a backgammon table. In this 

 manner the goat stood, first, upon the top of one 

 cylinder, then upon the top of two, and afterwards 

 of three, four, five, and six, until it remained ba- 

 lanced upon the top of them all, elevated several 

 feet from the ground, and with its four feet collected 

 upon a single point, without throwing down the dis- 

 jointed fabric upon which it stood. The practice is 

 very ancient. It is also noticed by Sandys. No- 

 thing can show more strikingly the tenacious foot- 

 ing possessed by this quadruped upon the jutty points 

 and crags of rocks ; and the circumstance of its 

 ability to remain thus poised may render its appear- 

 ance less surprising, as it is sometimes seen in the 

 Alps, and in all mountainous countries, with hardly 

 any place for its feet, upon the sides and by the 

 brink of most tremendous precipices. The diameter 

 of the upper cylinder, on which its feet ultimately 

 remained until the Arab had ended his ditty, was 

 only two inches, and the length of each cylinder 

 was six inches." Fig. 666 represents this perform- 

 ance. 



The period of gestation with the goat is five 

 months, and the female usually produces two, some- 

 times three young at a birth. 



The use of the goat in England, compared with 

 other countries, is very limited '; the demand for its 

 milk is only occasional, and the flesh even of the 

 kid is not in much request. Few stable-yards, how- 

 ever, are without a goat or two, the peculiar odour 

 of the animal (especially strong in the male) being 

 supposed to be both salutary and grateful to horses. 

 While doubting this, we can well imagine that the 

 presence of the active, familiar, and playful goat may 

 not be unproductive of benefit to the horse confined 

 in his stall, as the latter, like most animals, delights 

 in society, and instances of attachment between 

 goats and horses are far from being uncommon. 



From the domestic goat we must pass to consider 

 our specimens of some of its wild representatives. 



667, 668, 669. — The Ibex, Botjojuetin, or 

 Steinbok 



(Capra Ibex). This bold and powerful animal, 

 armed with huge sweeping horns, inhabits the alpine 

 heights of Europe and Western Asia. It associates 

 in small troops, consisting of a male and a few fe- 

 males. The horns of the male curve boldly oyer 

 the back, their anterior surface presenting a series 

 of regular protuberances or partial rings : their 

 length is often three feet. In the female they are 

 smaller. The hair of the Ibex in summer is short 

 and close, in winter long and thick ; its colour is 

 yellowish grey, a black streak extending along the 

 spine; the croup is white, as are also the under 

 parts of the body, a dark tint abruptly dividing the 

 white from the general colour above. The chin is 

 bearded. The Ibex stands two feet six or eight 

 inches in height, and is extremely active and vigor- 

 ous. The chase of the Ibex is as arduous as that 

 of the chamois, the animal leading its pursuer, un- 

 less he can steal upon it unawares with his rifle, a 

 dangerous track over steep and rugged mountain 

 pinnacles, along the brink of precipices, and over 

 fearful chasms: when at last hard pressed, the Ibex 

 will often turn upon its foe with impetuous rapidity, 

 and hurl him headlong down the steep rocks or 

 abrupt precipice. 



The Ibex is vigilant and wary ; and it is only 

 during the night that it descends to pasture in the 

 woods, but at sunrise again repairs to the bleak 

 mountain summits. Like the chamois, it is satisfied 

 with a frugal fare and a scanty supply of water. 

 It is said that the old males seek more elevated 

 spots than the females and younger males, which 

 are more easily to be obtained. The only sound 

 which the animal makes is a short whistle, and 

 when irritated, a snorting noise. In Europe its fa- 

 vourite haunts are the Alps, the Apennines, the 

 Pyrenees, and the mountains of Tyrol. In Asia it 

 is found in the mountain-chain of the Taurus. 



670. — The Paseng 

 (Capra JEgagrus). The Paseng is found in the 

 mountains which traverse the north of Persia and 

 India as far as China, and especially the Caucasian 

 chain and that of Taurus. It is known to the Tur- 

 komans, Kirghiz, and other nomadic people to the 

 north of Persia, and also to the natives of the Per- 

 sian provinces at the southern base of the moun- 

 tains. The Paseng exceeds the largest domestic 

 goat in size, and is very strong and active, precisely 

 resembling the Ibex in habits and manners. The 

 general colour is grey, shaded with rusty brown : the 

 forehead is blackish brown, whence a line of the 

 same colour extends down the spine, crossed by a 

 similar band over the withers ; the beard is long 

 and of a dark brown, which is the colour of the 



limbs; a white patch occupies the crupper. The 

 horns of the male are very large, compressed, and 

 slightly diverging as they arch backwards; their 

 anterior edge is narrow, and marked by a series of 

 protuberances with deep notches between. 



A species of Ibex, distinct, it is believed, from 

 the European, inhabits the Caucasian range, and 

 especially the neighbourhood of the sources of the 

 rivers Terek and Caban. It is the Capra Caucasica 

 of Giildenstet. (Fi-. 667.) 



Riippell, in his ' Zoological Atlas,' describes and 

 figures an ibex from the mountains of Abyssinia, 

 under the native name of Walie (Capra Walie, 

 Riipp.). It is of a dark-yellowish umber, the under 

 surface and inside of the limbs being white. 



Another distinct species is the Jemlah Ibex, 

 described by Col. H. Smith (Capra Jemlaica), 

 with horns peculiarly massive at the base. It is an 

 inhabitant of the range of the Himalaya moun- 

 tains. This species would appear to be the Jharal 

 of Mr. Hodgson. Its height is thirty-three inches ; 

 the head is finely formed, full of beauty and expres- 

 sion, clad in close short hair, and without the least 

 vestige of a beard. The Jharal is of compact and 

 powerful make, with a spare, short, and bowed 

 neck ; deep barrel and chest ; longish, very strong 

 and rigid limbs, supported on perpendicular pas- 

 terns and high compact hoofs. The fur is of two 

 sorts, an outer coat of straight and somewhat harsh 

 hair, and an inner vest of soft fine wool. The fore- 

 quarters are superb, and wholly invested in a long, 

 flowing, straight, lion-like mane, feathered verti- 

 cally from the top of the withers and sweeping 

 down below the knees. The horns are nine inches 

 long, subtriangular, wrinkled across, and gently re- 

 curved. The colour is deep brown superficially, 

 but under the outer coat hoary blue, which is the 

 prevailing tint of the mane ; chin and lips hoary, 

 with a blackish mark below the angle of the mouth. 

 This fine species is found in the Kachar region of 

 Nepal, solitary or in small herds: it is bold, capri- 

 cious, active, and pugnacious, but easily tamed, and 

 breeds, as does the Ibex, with the common goat. 

 (See 'Proceeds. Zool. Soc' 1834, p. 106.) Mr. 

 Hodgson considers it distinct from the C. Jemlaica, 

 and terms it C. Jharal. 



An ibex from Nubia and Arabia is described by 

 Fred. Cuvier, under the title of Capra Nubiana. 

 It is more slightly built than the common ibex, with 

 slender elongated horns two and a half feet in 

 length. A specimen is preserved in the museum 

 of the Zool. Soc. Lond. How far the species of 

 ibex we have noticed are truly distinct from each 

 other, or mere varieties resulting from climate and 

 other causes, we will not attempt to decide. It is 

 perhaps the Caucasian ibex that exists in Palestine, 

 Edom, and Sinai, and which is stated closely to 

 resemble the ibex of bouquetin of the Alps. It is 

 called in Arabic Beden and Taytal. The former 

 appellation is exclusively applied to the male, 

 which is readily distinguished by a beard and 

 large knotted horns curving backwards over the 

 body. The horns of the female are very much 

 smaller, scarcely exceeding in size those of the 

 gazelle. 



671. — The xAoudad 

 {Capra Tragelaphus; Ovis Tragelaphus, Pallas; 

 Ammotragus Tragelaphus, Blyth, in 'Zool. Pro- 

 ceeds." 1840, p. 78). This species is in some re- 

 spects intermediate between the goat and sheep, 

 with which latter it is associated in most systematic 

 works. It differs from the sheep in having a con- 

 cave chafFron, and in the absence of suborbital 

 sinuses, but in the form of its horns it resembles 

 them more than it does the ibex or wild goat. 

 These horns are stout, subquadrangular, and ringed ; 

 they diverge more laterally than those of goats in 

 general, and curl as in the sheep. There is no 

 beard, but a pendent mane of long coarse hairs 

 begins under the lower jaw, and runs along the 

 under side of the neck and chest. The fore-legs 

 above the knee are also covered with long hair, 

 which hangs round the leg below the knee like a 

 ruffle, whence the French term this species " mou- 

 flon a manchettes." The rest of the body is clothed 

 with short hair; the general colour is dull yellowish 

 brown. The male attains a large size, exceeding a 

 fallow-deer, and measuring more than three feet 

 at the shoulder. The horns are sometimes two 

 feet in length following the curve. The female is a 

 third smaller than the male. 



The Aoudad, as it is called by the Moors of Bar- 

 bary, is found in Sinai, and in the mountains which 

 border the Nile to Ethiopia and Abyssinia. In 

 Egypt it is termed Kebsch by the modern Arabians. 

 It is also spread throughout the whole of North 

 Africa, about 1 8°, frequenting in small families the 

 steepest and most inaccessible crags. It is abund- 

 ant in the range of the Atlas, tenanting the woods 

 at a high elevation, and the precipitous rugged 

 heights usually clothed with forests at their base. 

 The Aoudad is wonderfully agile, and leaps with 



amazing precision to great distances, from ledge to 

 ledge, and from point to point, over the must elevated 

 ridges. The old ones are not unfrequenllyshot by the 

 Moors of Tunis, Tripoli, and other places, and the 

 young are occasionally captured alive. It is, however, 

 very rarely seen in European menageries. A female 

 some years existed in the gardens of the Zool. Soc. 

 London, and is the only one we have ever had the 

 opportunity of examining alive. Fine preserved 

 specimens are both in the British Museum and that 

 of the Zool. Soc. This species is clearly delineated 

 on the monuments of ancient Egypt. 



Genus Ovis. — Sheep. 



Of all our domestic animals, the sheep is that of 

 which we have the earliest notice: "Abel was a 

 keeper of sheep." It was reclaimed in the primor- 

 dial era of man's existence on the globe, and we 

 must look to western Asia as its original habitat. 

 From this centre it has more or less gradually spread 

 by the agency of man, and, influenced by climate, 

 food, and treatment, has ramified into numerous va- 

 rieties. Naturalists have amused themselves with 

 conjectures as to the wild stock whence the do- 

 mestic sheep has descended ; some asserting the 

 Mouflon of Crete, Corsica, and the islands of the 

 Grecian Archipelago to be its origin ; others the 

 Argali of Siberia: others, again, that the European 

 sheep are the descendants of the Mouflon, the Asi- 

 atic of the Argali. Mr. Blyth considers it likely 

 " that, more than one wild species have commingled 

 to form the numerous domestic races," though, as he 

 adds, certainly none as yet described ; and though 

 so many decidedly distinct wild species have been 

 added to the genus, we are far from having ascer- 

 tained the complete number existing, several more 

 yet remaining to be discovered, upon the lofty table- 

 lands and snowy mountains of Middle Asia, from the 

 Caucasus and Taurus to the Altai ; and among them 

 it is probable there may be some much more nearly 

 allied to the domestic races than any at present 

 known. He believes that a wild sheep or Argali in 

 central Persia, noticed by Sir John MacNeill, will 

 prove upon further investigation to be the wild stock, 

 or one at least of the wild stocks of the domestic 

 sheep. This wild Persian species is at present un- 

 described. When we consider that for several 

 thousand years the domestic sheep has been subject 

 to man, and undergone many modifications, we can- 

 not help doubting'as to the recognition of its primi- 

 tive type ; nay, we even doubt whether that type be 

 extant. Hector Boethius describes a wild breed of 

 sheep in the Island of St, Kilda exceeding the largest 

 goat in size, with heavy massive horns, longer than 

 those of the ox, and as bulky, and with a tail hang- 

 ing to the ground. Skulls of sheep, perhaps belong- 

 ing to this race, occur in peat-bogs ; two of these 

 crania, one probably that of a male, the other of a 

 female, which were obtained in Ireland from the 

 peat, were some time since exhibited to the Geolo- 

 gical Society. Pennant remarks that such an ani- 

 mal as Boethius has described is figured on a bas- 

 relief taken out of the wall of Antoninus near Glas- 

 gow. These animals, whether they ever existed 

 or not, were distinct not only from the Mouflon of 

 Corsica, but from any other of the wild species as 

 far as we know them. 



In the 'Zool. Proceeds.' 1840, is a paper by Mr. 

 Blyth, entitled 'An amended list of the genus Ovis, 

 which is too full of information to be altogether 

 passed over. We may premise by observing that 

 Fig. 672 is a sketch of the head of the Armenian 

 Argali (Ovis Gmelinii, Blyth) ; Figs. 673 and 674 are 

 drawings of the Mouflon of Corsica (Ovis Musimon). 



The species (granting that they are all distinct 

 from each other) enumerated by Mr. Blyth are the 

 following, some of which are new to science : — 



The Pamir sheep, or Rass (Ovis Polii, Blyth). 

 " In the narrative of the celebrated Venetian tra- 

 veller Marco Polo, we read that upon the elevated 

 plain of Pamir, eastward of Bokhara, and 16,000 

 feet above the sea-level, wild animals are met with 

 in great numbers, particularly sheep of a large size, 

 having horns three, four, and even six palms in 

 length. The shepherds form ladles and vessels 

 from them for holding their victuals. They also 

 construct fences for enclosing their cattle and secur- 

 ing them against the wolves, and which likewise 

 destroy many of the wild sheep. More recently an 

 animal called the Rasse was indicated, from report, 

 in Sir A. Burnes's ' Travels in Bokhara,' and its horns 

 have been since transmitted to the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, by Lieut. Wood, of Sir A. Burnes's party, 

 through the medium of G. I. Vigne, Esq." This 

 pair of horns was labelled Rass or Roosh. Sir A. 

 Burnes writes : " I have heard of an animal called 

 Ross by the Kirghises, and Kooshgar by the natives 

 of the low countries ; but Lieut. Wood, in the narra- 

 tive of his recent journey to the source ot the Oxus, 

 distinguishes between the Ross and the Kutchgar, 

 the former having straight spiral horns, and its 

 dun-colour being of a reddish tinge. Both are said 

 to be peculiar to the Pamir. The same writer, speak- 

 ing of the Kutchgar, says it was a noble animal, 



