193 
AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
AMERICAN ARGALI. 
OVIS MONTANA. 
[Plate XVII. Male and Female.] 
White Buffalo. — Mackenzie, Voyages. Mountain Barn . 
M‘Gillivray. — New York Med. Repos, vol. vi. Bis; 
Horn. — Lewis and Clark. Ovis Montana. — Desma- 
REST,Mamm. Cuvier, Reg. an. Richardson, Faun. am. 
bor. Ovis Ammon. — Godman. Harlan. Ovis Am- 
mon var Pygargus. — Griffith, An. King. Rocky 
Mountain Sheep. — Warden. Unit. St. — Philadelphia 
Museum. 
No part of natural science is environed with greater diffi- 
culties, or presents more obstacles to the inquirer, than the 
history of those animals which have been the companions 
and slaves of man from the earliest ages; this is strongly 
exemplified in the Sheep, whose almost innumerable varie- 
ties are to be met with in every civilized portion of the 
globe. In the investigation of this subject many questions 
of importance arise, which have no inconsiderable bearing 
on the issue, though from the present state of our know- 
ledge, it is impossible to solve them in a satisfactory or 
undeniable manner. Some of these have been thus noticed 
in a late work.* “ The first relates to the propriety of the 
generic distinction between the Sheep and Goats, which 
naturalists have borrowed from the vulgar classification, 
adopting it in many instances contrary to their own better 
judgment. The second has reference to the specific differ- 
ences supposed to exist between the three or four distinct 
races that have been found in a state of nature, and to the 
claims which they severally possess to be regarded as the 
originals of the domesticated breeds.” 
It is true that a comparison of the domestic varieties of 
these animals, exhibits many striking differences tending to 
confirm the generic distinctions which have been established 
by naturalists; but when this investigation is extended to 
those species which are still found in a wild and unreclaimed 
state, it becomes almost impossible to determine to which 
genus many of the animals belong. There is so great a 
similitude existing between their habits and mode of life, 
as well as in their external form and anatomical structure, 
that it appears wholly superfluous to class them under dif- 
ferent heads. Thus, their horns are constituted of the same 
hollow, angular sheaths, supported by bony prominences, 
having cavities communicating with the frontal sinuses, the 
form, number, and character of their teeth are identical, 
they both have the same narrow and elongated muzzle, 
without the naked space surrounding the nostrils, so well 
marked in many of the ruminantia, and lastly both genera 
* The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated, No. IX. 
3 C 
are destitute of the lachrymal openings and brushes on the 
knees, so generally to be met with among the antelopes and 
deer. In fact, the only real generic difference between, as 
given by Baron Cuvier, consists in the direction of the 
horns — these appendages, in the Sheep, being “ directed 
backwards and returning more or less forward, in a spiral 
manner,” whilst in the Goats, the horns “are directed 
upwards and backwards ; ” as regards the absence of the 
beard in the Sheep, it cannot be assumed as a characteristic 
mark, as this is also the case in some species which are 
classed among the Goats. The learned naturalist just quoted 
also adds, they (the Sheep) little deserve to be generically 
separated from the Goats, as they produce prolific hybrids 
with them. 
But a still more debateable question arises as respects the 
different races of the Sheep which are yet found in a wild 
state. On the one hand, it would be an extraordinary 
anomaly in the laws which regulate the geographical distri- 
bution of animals, if, as was formerly supposed, the wild 
Sheep found in the mountains of Africa, the great chain 
extending through central Asia, and the elevated regions of 
various parts of the American continent, be admitted as 
belonging to the same species, whilst on the other, when 
we advert to the slight shades of difference existing between 
them, and their close resemblance in every important par- 
ticular, strong doubts may be reasonably entertained, of the 
propriety of separating them from each other. 
Before, however, entering on the history of the subject 
of our present illustration, we shall pursue the plan we 
have adopted in this work, and make a few observations 
on the genus Ovis. 
To none of the domestic animals is mankind more indebt- 
ed for the comforts and luxuries of civilized life than to this 
quadruped ; others may excel it in strength, speed, and dig- 
nity of character, but were we to be deprived of the ser- 
vices of any of our attendants among the inferior animals, 
we would in all probability find that those of the Sheep 
would be as severely felt as any of the others. The inoffen- 
sive and mild character of these animals, when under the 
control of man, is so well known as to have descended into 
a proverb. But when ranging in flocks over the extensive 
tracts devoted to them in many countries, and where they 
seldom depend on the aid of the shepherd, they display very 
different characteristics. Here, being obliged to depend on 
their own resources, when threatened with an attack, they 
show a courage and resolution which is generally supposed 
to be foreign to their nature. Thus, a ram will boldly meet 
and drive off a dog or fox, and where the danger is more 
alarming, the whole flock unites for common defence, draw- 
ing up in a circle, placing the young and females in the 
centre, whilst the old males present an armed front to the 
