SHEEP, Oral, a genus of ruminant quadrupeds of the family cavridce, so nearly allied to goats that the propriety of generic distinction is rely doubtful. They differ from goats in having the outline of the face more or less arched and COn?•x; the horns spiral, sometimes very large in the males—in domestication, however, often wanting in the females, and also in the males of some breeds; the chin destitute of a beard: a sac or pit between the toes of each foot, lined with hair, and secreting a fatty matter. It is supposed by sonic that all the wild sheep existing in different parts of the world are mere varieties of one species, but of this there is no sufficient p'ioof, nor is there any thing more than unsupported conjecture in any of the opinions advanced coneernina. the origin of the domestic sheep, such, for example, as that which refers it to the (q.v.), or that which ascribes different domesticated breeds to different wild originals, as the mouffien and the argali (q.v.).
All the wild sheep known arc natives either of mountainous regions or of dry and elevated table-lands. They are a character which. the domesticated sheep fully retains. They are generally,seen in small flocks, and ore not easily approached, taking refuge in flight, a sharp whistling sound, emitted by one of the rams, serviug as an alarm to the whole flock; although they are very capable of making a vigorous defense when driven to close combat. A rum of the domestic species is, indeed, able to sustain a conflict with a bull, taking advantage of his far greater agility and hut his foe with his strongly armed forehead. A ram Las been known to throw a bull on the ground at the first onset, and is always ready to defend himself and his companions against a dog. Many rams exhibit great pugnacity. Sheep differ from goats in their mode of fighting. Goats rear themselves on their Lind-legs, and throw themselves side ways on their adversary, to bring the points of their horns to bear. Sheep rush straight at each other, a mode which better suits the different style of armature of the head. Rams of the black-faced variety are especially powerful with their heads, and often at the rutting season kill each other. Their nat orally strong skull is considerably protected in battle by heavy arched horns. A thorough ram fight is a terrifying sight. The two warriors go backward each some 15 or 20 yards, and then meet each other with great violence, their heads cracking loudly, and their beam-ends rising in response to the collision of heads. Ewes of this breed fight also. Sheep without horns are not so
pugnacious as the mountain breeds.
All the wild sheep have short wool, with an outer clothing of long and nearly straight But even the long hair—at least on the moufflon—has the peculiar character of Wool, in that roughness of surface which gives it the property of felting (see limn and rEur). One effect of domestication in the common sheep has been to cause the disap pearance of the outer long hair, and to produce instead an increase of the length and abundance of the wool, an object of great importance to the sheep-farmer, In neglected breeds of the common sheep the two kinds of hair or wool are very apparent. In some tropical climates the sheep loses its abundant fleece, and is covered with hair little longer than that of the ox.
Although not equal to goats in their adaptation to rocky steeps, and not endowed with such power of leapina from crag to crag, most breeds of sheep exhibit a strong dis position to seek their food in places where no animal not very agile and sure-footed could venture: and those of the domesticated breeds which retain much of their original wildness are thus adapted to situations in which otherwise the pasture would be of little value to man. Every one who has seen the lambs frisking on a Highland bill, in a fine evening. must have admired their nimble movements in places where a. herd-boy could with difficulty scramble. In fine weather sheep ascend the heights; and in cold and stormy weather they repair to the lower grounds. In modern times it has been cus tomary to remove the large flocks from mountainous regions to lower grounds to pass the winter; and in the fall of the year shepherds have difficulty in preventing the ani mals from leaving the summer too early if the weather is unfavorable. On the if tine spring weather sets in before the period of removal from the winter quarters, the flocks keep pressing toward the summering regions. .Mountain sheep have favored spots whither they no regularly over night, and the ewes generally have choice localities to which they go to lamb. They get much attached to certain pastures, and many of them have been known to return stealthily, in the course of a few days, to their ntnive or appreciated pastures, though removed some hundreds of miles.