EUROPEAN GOATS AND SHEEP 
I was unable to measure the horns themselves I should say they taped 40 
inches. Another fine specimen lived at Woburn and is now in the museum 
there. I measured its horns as 35 inches. Of wild specimens the best I 
have seen are one of 34| inches, shot by Mr W. Moncrieffe in Sardinia, and 
one of 33f inches shot by the Hon. M. Egerton in the same island. The 
females of the Sardinian race usually carry short horns, whilst those of 
Corsica are generally hornless, though I have seen several from that 
island that also carried these appendages. 
At the present time moufflon are found on the high mountains and heath - 
covered slopes of Corsica and Sardinia, chiefly in the latter island on the 
mountain of Gena Gentu. They have also been introduced with much suc- 
cess into several mountain preserves in Hungary and Austria, where 
acclimatization has caused them to assume a much darker pelage. A fine 
series of heads of Austrian moufflon were shown at the Vienna Exhibition 
in 1910, and were chiefly remarkable for the thickness of the horns, most 
of which curved backwards at the points, and the dark hair on the necks 
of the males. 
The ground moufflon frequent varies much according to the season; 
in September, when few hunters assail them, they are found in the open 
grass -covered terraces of the highest mountains, whilst in winter they 
descend to the protection of the higher ilex forests, which they share 
with wild boars and native herds of pigs which feed on the acorns. 
In the spring they are usually to be seen in broken valleys where currents 
of wind meet and are very difficult either to approach or to stalk in the 
high macquia scrub {erica arborea). They are seldom found in flocks of 
more than a dozen, and in the rutting season in November and December 
the males fight much amongst themselves, the crash of their horns being 
heard at a considerable distance. In May the female brings forth one or 
two kids, and, like all sheep and goats, they breed with the utmost regu- 
larity. 
No European animal affords finer sport to the rifleman than the Sar- 
dinian moufflon, and the reader, if he is a true hunter, will do well to 
try and obtain specimens before the species becomes extinct or so rare 
that it is impossible to hunt it. Nearly all the Englishmen who have essayed 
the chase of this animal go in February and March, when the moufflon 
is most difficult to hunt. By far the best time is in the month of September, 
before the heavy October rains commence, when the little sheep are out on the 
open hills and are also less disturbed by the shepherds and domestic animals, 
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