Sheep.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



151 



standing as high as a two-year old colt, with a vene- 

 rable beard, and two splendid curling horns, which, 

 with the head, were so heavy as to require consider- 

 able exertion to lift them. Though poor in condi- 

 tion, the carcass divested of its offal was a load for 

 a bageage pony. The Rutchgar is gregarious, con- 

 gregating in herds of several hundreds ; they are of 

 a dun colour." This traveller confirms Marco Polo's 

 narrative : " We saw," he writes, " numbers of the 

 horns strewed about in every direction, the spoils of 

 the Kirghise hunter." " The ends of the horns pro- 

 jecting over the snow often indicated the direction of 

 the road, and wherever they were heaped in large 

 quantities, there our escort recognised the site of a 

 Kirghise encampment." The flesh is much prized 

 by these people, who shoot it (the animal) with ar- 

 rows. " The Rass is said to delight in the coldest 

 districts: a common-sized individual will require 

 two horses to bear its flesh from the field." The 

 horns, following their curvature, are nearly five feet 

 in length. It would appear that the Kutchgar has 

 yet to" be added to the list of species. 



The Siberian Argali (Ovis Ammon). — This noble 

 sheep is described by Pallas. 



The Kamtchatkan Argali (Ovis nivicola). — M. 

 Eschscholtz, who describes this species, states it to 

 be very numerous on the mountains of Kamtchatka ; 

 in summer it resides upon the snow-clad heights, 

 but in winter it descends to the lower regions. Kot- 

 zebue notices its agility. 



America presents us with two species very closely 

 allied to the Siberian Argali — The Rocky-Mountain 

 Argali (Ovis Montana), and the Californian Argali 

 (0. Calif'orniana, Douglas). 



The Nahoor, or Sua, of Thibet (Ovis Nahoor, 

 Hodgson), a native of the Kachar region of Nepal 

 and the glaciers of the Himalaya. 



The Burrhel (Ovis Burrhel, Blyth), a species allied 

 to the latter, and inhabiting the highest ridges of the 

 Himalayan chain, where it " bounds lightly over the 

 encrusted snows, at an altitude where its human 

 pursuers find it difficult to breathe. It has the bleat 

 of the domestic species, as indeed they all have, and 

 is very shy and difficult of approach. Flocks of ten 

 or twenty have been observed conducted by an old 

 male, which make for the snowy peaks upon alarm, 

 while their leader scrambles up some crag to recon- 

 noitre, and, if shot at, bounds off a few paces, and 

 again stops to gaze. They pasture in deep and 

 hollow grassy glens." A specimen, in the Museum 

 of the Zoological Society, was shot near the Boo 

 rendo Pass, at an altitude of about 17,000 feet. 



The Caucasian Argali (Ovis cylindricornis, Blyth), 

 hitherto confounded with the Siberian Argali. 



The Armenian Argali (Ovis Gmelinii, Blyth). — 

 Specimens of this sheep, from Erzeroom, are living 

 in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. " Accord- 

 ing to Gmelin, this species is found only in the 

 highest mountains in Persia. The males, he informs 

 us, are very quarrelsome amongst, each other, inso- 

 much that he had been at one place where the 

 ground had been strewed with horns that had been 

 knocked off in their contests." It is allied to the 

 Corsican Mouflon. " Sir John MacNeill informed 

 me that. ' it appears to be the common species of the 

 mountains of Armenia ; occurring likewise on the 

 north-west of Persia ;' but the wild sheep of the 

 central parts of Persia is evidently distinct, ' having 

 horns much more resembling those of the domestic 

 ram, being spiral, and completing more than one 

 spiral circle. I think I am not mistaken in sup- 

 posing,' continues Sir John, ' that I have also had 

 females of this species brought to me by the huntsman 

 with small horns, resembling those of the ewes of 

 some of our domestic sheep ; but, on reflection, I 

 find that I cannot assert this positively, though I 

 retain the general impression.' It is highly proba- 

 ble that a wild type of O. Aries is here adverted to 

 which would thus inhabit the same ranges of moun- 

 tains as the wild common goat (C. JEgagrus) ; and 

 with respect to the circumstance of horns in the fe- 

 male sex, I may here remark that this character is 

 very apt to be inconstant throughout the present 

 group." 



The Sha (Ovis Vignei, Blyth), a Mouflon inhabit- 

 ing the mountains of Little Thibet and the Sulimani 

 range between India and Khorassan. "Vast num- 

 bers of this species are driven down by the snow 

 in winter to the branches of the Indus, where the 

 river breaks through the chain of the Himalaya." 

 The wild sheep of the Hindoo Koosh mountains, 

 described in the ' Journal Asiatic Soc. Beng.' for 

 1840. is either this or a closely allied species. Its 

 climbing powers are extraordinary. 



The Corsican Mouflon (Ovis Musimon, Linn.), a 

 native of Corsica and Sardinia. Speaking of this 

 sheep, Mr. Blyth remarks — "It has always ap- 

 peared to me, however, that the specifical distinct- 

 ness of the Mouflon is very obvious, and I doubt 

 whether it has contributed at all to the origin of any 

 tame race. That it interbreeds freely with the lat- 

 ter, under circumstances of restraint, is well known ; 

 but we have no information of hybrids, or Umbri, 



as they are called, being ever raised from wild Mou- 

 flons, though the flocks of the latter will occasion- 

 ally graze in the same pasture with domestic sheep ; 

 and all but mingle among them. The male of this 

 animal is denominated in Corsica Mufro, and the 

 female Mufra, from which Buffon, as is well known, 

 formed the word Mouflon ; and in Sardinia the male 

 is called Murvoni, and the female Murva, though it 

 is not unusual to hear the peasants style both indis- 

 criminately Mufion, which (as Mr. Smyth remarks, 

 in his description of that island) is a palpable cor- 

 ruptionof the Greek Ophion. It is sometimes stated, 

 but I do not know upon what authority, that a few 

 of these animals are still found upon the mountains 

 of Murcia." 



The Cyprian Mouflon, probably different from the 

 preceding, and termed by Mr. Blyth O. Aphion. 



In this review of Mr. Blyth's paper we have 

 omitted the Ixalas Probation, Ogilby (of which a 

 unique specimen exists in the museum of the Zool. 

 Soc. London, the history of which is obscure), and 

 the Aoudad (Ovis Tragelaphus, auct.), which we 

 refer to the goats. 



From none of the species here enumerated can 

 we confidently select the type of the domestic sheep 

 (Ovis Aries, Linn.). 



The Mouflons and Argalis. that is, the wild species 

 of the genus Ovis, are covered with a harsh kind of 

 hair, having beneath it at its roots a short spiral 

 wool, which in winter becomes longer and fuller. 

 Mr. Bell, indeed, considers the harsh hair as essen- 

 tially wool in its structure, presenting the imbrica- 

 tions which the microscope shows to be the cha- 

 racteristic of wool, and on which its felting property 

 depends ; and he regards the short under-coat as 

 composed of hair and not of wool. Mr. Youatt 

 makes the contrary statement, and notwithstanding 

 the appearances noticed by Mr. Bell, we incline to 

 Mr. Youatt's opinion ; for, be it observed, in the 

 Cashmir and the Angora goats the long outer gar- 

 ment is hair ; the short under-coat exquisitely fine 

 wool. In other wool-bearing animals, as the beaver 

 and otter, the same arrangement prevails ; and we 

 know, moreover, that in some neglected breeds of 

 common sheep the wool becomes mixed with long 

 hairs (not short and fine), which more or less 

 obscure the wool. 



The causes which have rendered the fleece of the 

 European sheep what we now find it are involved in 

 obscurity. We attribute much, in the first in- 

 stance, to the effests of temperature ; for though 

 the merino sheep of Spain (a race originally im- 

 ported from England), and the flocks of Australia 

 and Southern Africa, are pre-eminent as wool- 

 bearers, yet it would seem that the predisposition 

 to develop wool at the expense of hair is acquired 

 only in temperate, elevated, or even cold climates. 

 For instance, we learn from Mr. Hodgson that the 

 wool of the Bhotean domesticated sheep, called 

 Huniah, is superb, and he adds, the animal is suited 

 only to the northern district of Nepal, suffering 

 much from the heat of the central district. ('Zool. 

 Proceeds,' for 1834, p. 99.) On the other hand, it 

 is clear that in the early ages of man's history, the 

 shepherds must have selected for breeding those 

 individuals on which the wool predominated, and 

 that, by following up this system, the sheep gradu- 

 ally attained its present condition, so that, a wool- 

 bearing breed became at length permanently esta- 

 blished. Originally, perhaps, the sheep, then a 

 wool-bearer, and long domesticated, was of a brown 

 or rusty-black colour, a hue still lingering on the 

 faces and limbs of many of our breeds, and some- 

 times appearing as the general tint of individuals, 

 thus conspicuous in the midst of their white-fleeced 

 companions. Nine out of ten of the sheep of Duk- 

 hun are black, with short, crisp, coarse wool. 



As the primitive fleece of the sheep was a mix- 

 ture of hair and wool, we cannot be surprised to 

 find races domesticated in which the hair predomi- 

 nates over the wool, and that so greatly, that they 

 may with propriety be termed hairy. Sometimes 

 the hair is like that of a spaniel dog, long and silk}', 

 and many of the flocks of the Bucharian Tartars 

 are thus clothed. To this breed may be referred 

 the Cretan or Wallachiau sheep (Ovis Aries, var. 

 Strepsiceros), common in Crete, Wallachia, Hun- 

 gary, and the western parts of Asia. (Fig. 675.) 

 Of this variety a splendid ram from Mount Par- 

 nassus was presented by Dr. Bowring to the Zool. 

 Soc. Lond. It was vicious, unruly, and of amazing 

 strength. Its horns were very large, and spirally 

 contorted, adding greatly to its striking and pic- 

 turesque appearance. Its fleece consisted of hair 

 and wool, the former being of great length, perfectly 

 straight, close-set, and beautifully fine, falling from 

 the middle of the back on each side of the animal, 

 almost to the ground. On the face the hair was 

 short, and of a rusty black ; on the body it was 

 white. In general, the horns in the male rise almost 

 perpendicularly from the skull, making a series of 

 spiral turns in their ascent, the first turn being the 

 largest, while in the female they diverge, taking a 



lateral direction. In the specimen, however, to 

 which we have alluded, they extended laterally 

 from the skull, and after the first turn took a down- 

 ward sweep ; variations in these points may be ex- 

 pected in domesticated animals. In some varieties 

 of the Guinea sheep the hair is coarse and often 

 shaggy. In the specimens of Guinea sheep figured 

 (Fig. 676), the limbs are long, the body gaunt, the 

 ears pendulous, the forehead arched, and two fleshy 

 excrescences hung from the throat. A smaller 

 hair-clad breed extends along the Slave Coast. 

 The Fezzan sheep, of which we have seen examples 

 in England, closely resemble the Guinea sheep, but 

 have a pendulous dewlap instead of the tassels of 

 skin on the throat. They are gaunt, coarse-haired, 

 ill-formed animals, with high withers like a buffalo. 

 The males have small horns. In Madagascar the 

 sheep are covered with short hair. In Persia, Tar- 

 tary, and other parts of the East, there has long 

 existed a singular variety, with a great deposit of 

 fat on the tail and croup, giving an unsightly ap- 

 pearance to the animal : the tail itself is short, and 

 seems buried in the mass on each side ; the body is 

 generally white, the head and neck black : of the 

 variety (Ovis Aries, var. Steatopygus) we have seen 

 specimens in the gardens of the Zool. Soc. Lond. 

 Fig 677 is a portrait of one of these sheep, with a 

 Caracal brought from Persia. The fleece of the 

 sheep consisted of short, coarse wool, mixed with 

 hair. 



Among other strange varieties of sheep may be 

 here noticed the sheep of Syria and Egypt, with a 

 long tail loaded with fat, which sometimes even 

 trails on the ground. This race (Ovis Aries, var. 

 Macrocercus) is closely allied to the preceding (see 

 Figs. 678, 679). In the Egyptian animals the tail 

 is broad throughout, but in the Syrian it narrows to 

 a point. The ordinary weight of the tail is fifteen 

 pounds, but in some of the larger kinds, well fat- 

 tened, the tail will weigh seventy, eighty, and it is 

 said, even one hundred and fifty pounds. Ludolph 

 saw in Egypt a sheep's tail of eighty pounds' weight. 

 This overgrown tail is a great inconvenience to the 

 animal, and in order to prevent injury to it, the 

 shepherds are often obliged to fix a thin piece of 

 board to the under surface of the part that trails on 

 the ground, to which small wheels are sometimes 

 added. Our figures exhibit the Syrian variety with 

 only a moderate caudal development. The caudal 

 deposit of fat in these varieties of sheep is oleagi- 

 nous, being of a consistence between fat and mar- 

 row, and is often used in the place of butter ; when 

 the animal is young, this fat is stated to be little 

 inferior to the best marrow. The long-tailed breed 

 (var. Macrocercus) is not only found in Arabia, 

 Syria, and Egypt, but is very numerous in the in- 

 terior and southern parts of Africa, and is covered 

 with a mixture of coarse short wool and hair. 



Before we proceed to take a general survey of 

 the more important breeds of our British sheep, we 

 may observe, that besides the variations to which 

 we have alluded, respecting fleece and general 

 form, the horns are subject to great difference of 

 size and curvature, and are sometimes wanting in 

 both sexes, sometimes only in the female ; while, 

 on the contrary, in some breeds the number of horns 

 is increased beyond the natural allotment. 



In Iceland and the Feroe Islands there are two 

 races of sheep : one of a small size, and of a dun or 

 rust-black colour ; the other of larger size, and 

 white. Both these races are remarkable for the 

 number of their horns, varying from three to eight. 

 Four, however, is the usual number, as in the draw- 

 ing of the head, Fig. 6S0. Of the larger race we 

 have seen many individuals: they are strongly- 

 built animals, with a coarse fleece, consisting of 

 long hair externally, and an under-layer of close 

 wool, impenetrable by the heaviest rain. The wool, 

 however, is of little value, being fit onl/for horse- 

 cloths and common rugs. These sheep yield an 

 extrordinary quantity of milk, far superior to that 

 of any of the southern breeds. Von Trail, in his 

 ' Letters on Iceland,' states that a single ewe will 

 yield from two to six quarts a day. In the Feroe 

 Islands is a wild race of sheep, of great antiquity. 

 They are covered with black, short, curled wool, and 

 their flesh has a peculiarly dark appearance and 

 venison-like flavour. 



In 1821 Mr. Trevelyan visited the Feroe Islands, 

 and found the remnants of this wild race, in noway 

 dependent upon or under the control of man. They 

 are sometimes caught by dogs, but can seldom be 

 obtained, except by being shot, or intercepted in a 

 narrow space and driven over the cliffs. 



Among the breeds of Europe which have at- 

 tained to the highest celebrity, and by means of 

 which, through judicious crossing, the sheep of 

 Saxony, Prussia, Austria, and England have been 

 greatly improved as respects the quality of the 

 fleece, is the far-famed Merino of Spain (Fig. 6S2). 

 The term " merino " alludes to the over-sea origin of 

 the race, and there are good grounds for believing 

 that these Spanish sheep are originally of British 



