SHEEP. 
233 
These sheep are generally found alone or in parties of two or 
Distribution. 1 0 . . 1 . . 
three, and are sparsely distributed over the more precipitous regions 
of the arid southern slopes of the Atlas range, from the Atlantic to Tunis. They 
are unknown in the interior of the range near the coast, always keeping within 
sight of the desert, and capable, according to Arab reports, of going several days 
without water. Their colour harmonises admirably with the limestone rocks of 
their native mountains. 
Mr. E. N. Buxton observes that the Arabs are in the habit of 
Habits. 
pitching their tents near the scanty springs frequented by these 
sheep, and daily lead their goats high up the mountains. Consequently, the arui 
HI 
THE BARBARY SHEEP nat. size). 
have “ no means of escaping from them, as every mountain within reach of water 
is similarly infested. They are constantly within sight and hearing of the Arabs 
and their goats, and as they cannot get away they have developed the art of hiding 
themselves to an extraordinary extent, and they have unlimited confidence in their 
own invisibility. This was demonstrated by me one evening when I sat for twenty 
minutes carefully spying the surrounding country. The knoll on which I sat 
commanded a small shallow hollow. In this there was not a vestige of cover 
except a few thin thuya bushes which looked as if they could not hide a rat. It 
was not till I rose to shift my position that a female arui and two yearlings started 
