OVIS, the sheep, in natural history, a genus of mammalia of the order Pecora. Generic character : the horns hollow, wrinkled, turning backwards and out wards into a spiral form; lower front teeth eight; no canine teeth. There are nine species mentioned by Shaw. The following are most worthy of attention.
0. ammon, or the Siberian sheep, or the argali. The argali, or wild sheep, is the presumed origin of all the domestic sheep. It is found on the immense chain of mountains reaching through the mid dle of Asia to the Eastern Ocean. In Barbary, Corsica, Sardinia, Greece, and Kamtschatka, it is also to be met with, and in some of these places in great abundance. Its size is that of a fallow deer. In Siberia the argali is fond of ranging the highest elevations, and is generally seen in small flocks. As winter approaches, they move down wards into the plains, and instead of the shoots of the mountain plants, which were before their food, eat grass and other ve getables. They are extremely fond of salt, and will often remove the earth which covers this substance, in consider able quantities, in order to obtain it. Their horns grow to a vast size and weight. These animals are timid in a very great degree; but the males will occa sionally engage in fierce conflicts with each other, and, it is said, endeavour to precipitate each other down the steeps of the mountains which they in habit. They move over these rugged eminences with great agility, and the chase of them is difficult and fatiguing. They are supposed to live to the age of fourteen years.
0. cries, or the common. sheep. This animal, in its state of complete domesa cation, appears equally stupid as it is harmless, and seems nearly to justify the observations of Buffon, who describes it as one of the most timid, imbecile, and contemptible of quadrupeds. When sheep, however, have an extensive range of pasture, and are left in a considerable degree to depend upon themselves for food and protection, they exhibit more respectability of character. A ram has been seen in these circumstances to at tack and beat off a large and formidable dog, and even a bull has been felled by a stroke received between his eyes, as he was lowering his head to receive his adversary on his horns and toss him into the air. When individual efforts are unequal to the danger, sheep will unite their exertions ; placing the females and their young in the middle of an irregular square, the rams will station themselves so as to present an armed front on every side to the enemy, and will support their ranks in the crisis of attack, harrassing the foe by the most formidable and some times fatal blows. Sheep display consi derable sagacity in the selection of their food, and in the approach of storms they perceive the indications with accurate precision, and retire for shelter always to the spot which is best able to afford it. The domestic sheep is scarcely ever found (excepting in temperate latitudes) in a state approaching to perfection. In hot regions its wool degenerates into a species of hair, and in rigid climates, though the wool is fine at the roots, it is coarse towards the surface. The flesh of the animal, when it passes to great de grees, whether of heat or cold, appears also proportionably deteriorated. The wool of sheep in no country of the world attains greater excellence for the pur poses of manufacture, without the assist. ante of any mixture, than in England. That of the Spanish breed is finer, but too short for manufacture by itself, and comparatively trifling in weight. Since England attained any considerable ad vance in civilization, its breed of sheep has been admired for the excellence of their fleeces,. which constituted the grand material of national industry, wealth, and revenue. At present the worth of the wool annually shorn in that country is considerably upwards of two millions, and when wrought pro duces an amount of nearly seven mil lions sterling ; facts which exhibit the importance of the cultivation of that ani mal, which is the source of all this opu fence, in a point of view particularly strik ing. There are several breeds or races in that country which have their respec tive admirers, and each of which will probably thrive better than others in certain soils and situations. The sheep of Lincolnshire afford the largest quan tity of wool, but their flesh is more coarse and lean, and less pleasantly flavoured than that of some others. The sheep of
the largest size are found in the rich dis trict between Yorkshire and Durham, one of which was fed so highly as to weigh sixty-two pounds per quarter. These are reported to be equally prolific as they are large, and an ewe of this breed produced, at the age of two years, four young ones at a birth, and at the end of eleven months after, five more. The Dorsetshire breed is also considera bly celebrated fbr fecundity ; these are likewise highly admired for the delicacy and fine flavour of their flesh, but their wool is little in amount, though of excel lent quality. In the North there is a hardy race of these animals, marked by their shaggy wool and black faces, which are admirably adapted to the bleak and mountainous tracts where they are produced, and sustain the rigour of winter in these cold situations without any inconvenience. Their eyes are wild, their movements nimble and rapid, and their flesh is peculiarly excellent. Towards the extreme points of the north of Scotland, there is a race of sheep particularly small, not exceeding six pounds per quarter in weight. The attention of noblemen and gentlemen of the first distinction has now long been directed to the cultivation of the sheep, with respect to every point of its econo my, its breed, its food, and the nature and degree of those attentions which will best promote its excellence, both as an article for subsistence and manufacture. These efforts, not many years since, it must he acknowledged, took a somewhat singular direction, and it appeared to be the grand object of agricultural ingenuity, to raise the animal to that superlative de gree of fatness which, in all but the most robust appetites, was calculated to excite disgust. In one instance, particularly, it was considered as an exploit of transcen dent merit to have carried this process so far, that the fat of the animal, cut, with out any slope, directly through the ribs, measured upwards of seven inches. This as well as pernicious and wasteful folly, has, however, now, for some years, ceased. The sheep is more subject to disorders than any of the do mesticated animals ; giddiness, consump tion, scab, dropsy, and worms, frequent ly seizing upon and destroying it. The last are met with in vast numbers in the liver and gall bladder of these ani mals. These worms belong to the ge nus fasciola, are flat, oval, and pointed at the extremities. The fly is another formidable enemy, and is often fatal in the course of twenty-four hours, breed ing within the skull of the animal. To extricate the sheep from this danger, the French shepherds apply the trephine without the slightest hesitation, and with the greatest dispatch and success. For the common rain, see Mammalia, Plate XVII. fig. 4.
The Cretan sheep is remarkable for long and large horns, twisted in the shape of a screw.
The many horned sheep is found most commonly in the north of Europe, and most frequently in Iceland. Three, four, and even five horns, are occasionally seen on these animals in considerably differ ent forms, sizes, and situations. See Mammalia, Plate XVII. fig. 6.
The Cape sheep is remarkable for its emaciated appearance, long neck, and pen dulous ears, and for having a pair of wat tles under the neck like goats.
The broad-tailed sheep occurs in vari ous countries of Asia and Africa, and is extremely similar to the European breed in almost all respects, but that its tail is of an immense weight, varying from fif teen to fifty pounds, under which the shepherds are reported to place a board with wheels, to facilitate the animal's movements. These tails are stated to constitute the most marrowy and luxuri ous food.
The Tibetian sheep yield wool of admi. rable length and fineness, and are said to produce the material from which are fa bricated the Indian shawls, which are sometimes sold in this country for be tween thirty and fifty pounds.
0. montana. This species is remarka ble for the fineness of its wool, being in this respect superior to any sheep hither to known ; and for the singular form of its horns, which are short, conical, slightly recurved, and acute at their tips. It is described in the Journal of the Aca demy of Natural Sciences of Philadel phia, Vol. 1. No. 1. by Mr. Geo. Ord. A portion of the skin, with the born attach ed to it, is in Peale's Museum. It is a na tive of North America.
For a species of sheep called the dwarf sheep, see Manimalia, Plate XVII. fig. 5.