Sheep
the common name of the genus Ovis, belonging to the Cavicornia, or hollow-horned ruminant family. Naturalists are by no means agreed as to what was the original breed of this invaluable animal. Of the several varieties of wild sheep which have by naturalists been considered entitled to the distinction of being the parent stock, may be mentioned: (1) the Musmon (O. musmon), still found wild in the mountains of the larger islands of the Mediterranean and European Turkey; (2) the Argali (0. ammon), or wild Asiatic sheep, which are the tenants of the highest mountains of Central Asia, and the elevated, inhospitable plains of its N. portions; (3) the Rocky Mountain sheep (O. montana), which is found on the mountains of North America; (4) the bearded sheep of Africa (O. tragelopleus), found on the high lands of Egypt and in Barbary. The leading fact in the geographical history of this genus is that it occurs both in !
SHEEP the New and the Old World, whereas the goat tribe are naturally unknown in America. It is usually regarded by naturalists as being not only specifically, but generically, distinguished from the goat tribe; but some authorities, on the other hand, are inclined to believe that the generic separation is founded chiefly on characters which have arisen from the SHEEP of naturalists is that it is from this species the domestic breeds have been obtained. The bearded sheep of Africa has the hair on the lower part pa of the cheeks and upper jaws extremely long, so that it forms a double or divided beard. The hairs on the sides and body are short, those on the top of the neck somewhat longer, and rather erect. The whole B A C A. Markhor.
WILD SHEEP B. Blanford Sheep. influential power of man. In a state of nature, the sheep is scarcely less active or energetic than the goat.
The main characteristics of the four unsubdued races of sheep mentioned above are as follows: The Musmon measures about three feet and a half in length, and its height, at the highest part of the back, is about two feet six inches. The neck is large, the body thick, muscular, and of a rounded form. The horns of the male are nearly two feet long. The body is protected by a short, fine, graycolored wool, of which the filaments are spirally twisted, and by a stiffish silky hair, sufficient to conceal the wool beneath. It is gregarious in a state of nature, and seldom descends from the highly-elevated portions of the mountains on which it dwells. The general opinion C. Barbary Sheep. under-parts of the neck and shoulders are covered by coarse hair.
The Argali, or wild sheep of Asia, measures about three feet in height at the shoulder, and five feet in length. His horns are nearly four feet long, long, and placed on the summit of the head, so as to cover the occiput. They nearly touch each other in front, bending backward and laterally, and then forward and outward. The female is of smaller size, and her horns are nearly straight. The Ovis montana, or Rocky Mountain sheep of the United States, is larger than the largest varieties of domestic breeds. The horns of the male are of great dimensions. The hair in this species resembles that of a deer.
The many varieties of sheep which tenant Great Britain and Ireland may be SHEEP conveniently divided into two classes; the first consisting of sheep without horns, and the second of sheep with horns. Of the first class are, the New Leicester sheep, the characteristics of which are fineness and fullness of form, an early maturity and propensity to fatten; the wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer. The Cotswold sheep, which have been long celebrated for the fineness of their wool, and which have been gradually improved by crossing with the Leicester sheep. Their mutton is finegrained and full-sized. The Dartmoor sheep, which have white faces and legs, some with and some without horns, small in the head and neck, and generally small-boned, carcass narrow and flatsided. The Southdown sheep have short wool, close and curled. The flesh is highly esteemed. The Romney-Marsh sheep have long but coarse wool, much internal fat, and much hardihood, and require no artificial food during the hardest winter but a little hay. The Cheviot sheep are a peculiar breed, which are kept on the extensive range of the Cheviot hills.
They have the face and legs generally white, and the body long; their wool is short, thick, and fine; they possess very considerable fattening qualities, and can endure much hardship both from starvation and cold. Of the horned sheep, the chief varieties are: The Dorset sheep.
They are a good folding sheep, and their mutton is well flavored, but their principal distinction and value is the forwardness of the ewes, who take the ram at a much earlier period of the year than any other species, and thus supply the market with lamb at the time when it fetches the highest price. The Shetland sheep small and handsome; hornless, hardy, feeding on even sea-weed, and with soft and cottony wool. The Hebridean sheep is the smallest of its kind, even when fat weighing only 20 pounds.
The most important breed of sheep regards the texture of the wool is the Merino (O. hispanica). The wool is fine, long, soft, twisted, in silky spiral ringlets, and naturally so oily that the fleece looks dingy and unclean from the dust outside, but is perfectly white underneath. They readily form cross breeds, called demimerinos, which have been brought to great perfection in France, whence, as well as from Spain, they have been imported into the United States. Of the other remarkable varieties of the genus Ovis in different parts of the world, we may mention the fat-tailed sheep, common in Tartary, Arabia, Persia, and Egypt, the tail of which is so loaded with fat that it alone frequently weighs 20 pounds. The many-horned sheep of Iceland, and the most northern part of the Russian do- SHEERNESS minions, has three, four, or five horns, sometimes placed with great regularity, and sometimes differing in proportion and situation. The Cretan sheep, chiefly found in the island of Crete, are kept in many parts of Europe on account of the strangeness of the appearance of its horns, which are remarkably large, long, and spiral; the fat-rumped tailless sheep are met with in all the deserts of Tartary; the African or Guinea sheep, a native of all the tropical climates, both of Africa and the East. Different names are given to the sheep, according to its sex and age. The male is called a ram or tup.
After weaning, he is said to be a hog, hogget, or hoggerel, a lamb-hog, or tup hog or teg; and if castrated, a wetherhog. After shearing, he is called a shearhog, or shearing, or dimmort, or tup. After the second shearing, he is a twoshear ram; and so on. The female is a ewe or gimmer-lamb till weaned, and then a gimmer, or ewe-hog, or teg. After being shorn, she is a shearing-ewe or gimmen, or theave, or double-toothed ewe; and after that a two-, or three-, or fourshear ewe or theave. The age of the sheep is reckoned, not from the period of their being dropped, but from the first shearing. The total number of sheep in the United States on Jan. 1, 1920, was 48,615,000.
Black sheep is a figurative term to denote a person who is, as it were, outlawed from society, by reason of his misdeeds or moral obliquities.