of a deer. Several naturalists of eminence have considered it as forming but one species with the argali; and Cuvier supposes that it may have crossed Bhering's Straits on the ice. It resembles the argali indeed, perfectly in its manners, in the form of its body, and in the nature and color of its hairy coat; but it seems to be a larger animal, and to present a constant difference in the form of curvature in its horns.

Is an inhabitant of rocky and mountainous regions, and is principally found in the Alpine parts of Asia. Dr Pallas observed this species existing throughout the vast chain of mountains extending through the middle of that continent to the Eastern Sea.

These animals have large horns, arched semicircularly backward, and divergent at their tips, wrinkled on their upper surface, and flattened beneath; on the neck are two pendant hairy dewlaps. This creature is about the size of the fallow deer. It is of a gray ferruginous brown color above, and whitish beneath. The face is also of a whitish hue; and behind each of the shoulders a dusky patch or spot is often discovered. In the European variety, the legs are generally white. The head exhibits much resemblance to the ram; but the ears are considerably smaller in proportion to its size. The body is large; but the neck and legs are slender, and the latter are very strong. The tail is very short, being seldom more that three inches in length. The horns in the adult, or full grown animal, have much the appearance of those of the common ram. This animal has hair instead of wool, thus greatly differing from the general aspect of the sheep; but the face, in winter, and especially that part about the tip of the nose, becomes whiter; the back is of a more ferruginous cast: and the hair, which is close

1 Ovis ammon, LIN.

in summer, like the deer, becomes somewhat wavy, a little curled, and rough, consisting of a kind of wool intermixed with hair, and its roots concealed by a fine woolly down. About the neck and shoulders, as well as under the throat, the hair is considerably longer than elsewhere. The female is much less than the male, and her horns neither so much curved nor so large as those of the ram.

From spring to autumn the argalis feed in the little valleys among the upper regions of the mountains, on the young shoots of the Alpine plants, and are said to grow very fat. As winter approaches, they descend lower, and eat grass and other vegetables. They are fond of frequenting spots of a saline nature, and will excavate the ground in such places in order to get at the salt.

In Siberia, the argali is chiefly found on the summits of the highest mountains, exposed to the sun, and free from woods. They generally travel in small flocks; and seldom produce more than one, or sometimes two, at a birth. The young lamb, when first born, is covered with a soft, gray, curling fleece, which gradually changes into hair towards the end of summer.

These animals are very timid; and when closely pursued, they turn and double like a hare, and do not run in a progressive course. They ascend rocky mountains with great agility, passing over the narrowest and most dangerous places with perfect safety, like the wild goat.

The males are said to fight frequently, and often precipitate each other down the rocks in their contests. The chase of these creatures is extremely dangerous and difficult, but is a most important object with some of the Asiatics, as this sheep supplies them with a great number of valuable and necessary articles; the skin being used for clothing, and the flesh as food. Pallas informs us, that "the flesh of the lamb is excellent; that of the old. animals is good; but more particularly when roasted."

The horns of the argali grow to a vast size, and some have been found to measure in their convolutions above two ells in length, and to weigh fifteen pounds each. Sometimes they are found broken off in such a manner, that the small animals of the forest creep into the cavity for shelter.

THE CORSICAN ARGALI,1

OR Mouflon of Buffon, is of a much darker color than the Asiatic. It is so extremely wild, as to be seldom taken alive. However, it is shot by the hunters, who lie in ambush for it among the recesses in the mountains. Like many other animals, the young ones, which are often taken when the parent has been destroyed, are very easily tamed. The various kinds of domestic sheep are all supposed to have sprung originally from the argali.

1 Ovis musimon, Pall.

OUR domestic sheep is only to be met with in Europe, and some of the most temperate provinces of Asia and America, and if transported into Guinea, loses its wool, and is covered with hair. It increases there but little, and its flesh has no longer the same taste; it cannot also subsist in cold countries.

In Iceland, a breed of sheep is to be found, who have many horns, short tails, harsh and thick wool, under which, as in almost every animal in the north, is a second lining of a softer, finer, and thicker wool. These animals are sometimes wintered in stables, but are generally left to provide for themselves in the open plains. Caves are their retreats in stormy weather; but when they cannot reach such places of shelter, and are involved in falls of snow, they place their heads near each other, with their muzzles downward towards the ground. In this situation, they will remain for several days, and hunger will sometimes compel them to gnaw each other's wool. They yield from two to six quarts of milk a day. Their wool is not shorn, but loosens of itself, about the end of May, and is then stripped off at once, like a skin.

In warm climates, some are covered with wool, others with hair, and a third kind with hair mixed with wool. The first kind of sheep of those countries, is that commonly called the Barbary or Arabian sheep, which I entirely resembles the tame kind, excepting in the tail, which is very much loaded with fat, is often more than a foot broad, and weighs upwards of twenty pounds. As for external appearance, this sheep has nothing remarkable but the tail, which he carries as if a pillow was fastened to his hinder parts. Among this kind of broad tailed sheep, there are some whose tails are so long and heavy, that the shepherds are obliged to fasten a small board with wheels, in order to support them as they walk along. This tail, which is a substance between marrow and fat, is considered a great delicacy. In the Levant, these sheep are clothed with a very fine wool. In the hotter

The

countries, as Madagascar and India, they are clothed with hair. superabundance of fat, which in our sheep fixes upon the reins, in these sheep descends under the vertebrae of the tail; the other parts of the body are less charged with it than in our fat sheep. This variety is to be attributed to the climate, the food, and the care of mankind; for these broad, or long tailed sheep, are tame, like those of our country, and they even demand much more care and management. This breed is much more dispersed than ours; they are commonly met with in Tartary, Thibet, Turkey, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Barbary, Ethiopia, and Madagascar; and even as far as the Cape of Good Hope. In Thibet, their fleeces, which are very fine, are manufactured into shawls.

In the islands of the Archipelago, and chiefly in the island of Candia, there is a breed of sheep, of which Belon has given the figure and description, under the name of strepsiceros. This sheep is of the make of our common sheep. It is like that, clothed with wool; and only differs from it by the horns, which are larger and rise upwards, but are twisted into spirals. The distance between the horns of the ewe enlarges towards their

tops; those of the ram are parallel. This animal, which is commonly called the Wallachian sheep, is frequent in Austria and Hungary, where its name is zackl.

In the hottest countries of Africa and India, there is a breed of large sheep, which has rough hair, short horns, hanging ears, and a kind of tuft under the tail. Leo Africanus, and Marmol, call it adamain; and it is known to the naturalists by the name of the Senegal ram, the Guinea ram, and the Angola sheep, &c. He is tame, like ours; and, like him, subject to variety. These, though different in themselves by particular characters, resemble each other so much in other respects, that we can scarcely doubt that they are of the same kind.

A specimen of the male African sheep, is now in the Tower menagerie, to which it was presented by Lord Liverpool. In temper, it is extremely mild; but it is an uncouth looking creature. It is high on the legs, narrow in the loins, and its coat is rough and shaggy. Its horns are remarkably

small, and within their curve the ears are inclosed. Whenever the ears escape from this seeming confinement, the animal exhibits much uneasiness; and difficult as it is for him to replace them, he never rests till it is accomplished. On his back and sides he is nearly black; the shoulders are

of a reddish brown; the posterior part of the body, the haunches, the hind legs, the tail, the nose, and also the ears, which are rather large, are white. There is likewise a white spot over each eye.

One of the curious modifications produced by cultivation, in the domestic sheep, consists in the augmentation of the number of its horns; two, three, or even four supplementary appendages of this description, being occasionally procured in addition to the usual number. Under these circumstances, the additional horns usually occupy the upper and fore part of the head, and are of a more slender shape, and take a more upright direction than the others; thus approaching in character to those of the goats, while the true horns retain more or less of the spiral curve that distinguishes those of the sheep. There exists a strong tendency to the hereditary propagation of this monstrosity, which is extremely frequent in the Asiatic races, but is also met with in a breed that is common in the north of Europe, and is said to have been originally derived from Iceland, and the Feroe islands. In the latter case, it is unconnected with any other anomaly; but in the flocks of the nomad hordes of Tartary, it is usually combined with an enlargement of the tail and adjacent parts, by the deposition of fat, frequently to an enormous extent. Specimens of both varieties, separate and combined, have formed part of the Society's collection at the farm on Kingston Hill, to which most of the domesticated animals were removed during the summer of 1829.