This is a sort of sheep living wild on the mountains of Corsica and
Sardinia; a similar species is also scattered over European Turkey and
some of the islands of the Archipelago. They are about the ordinary
size of sheep, and breed with the domestic races. The head is long,
with the muzzle compressed, the nose somewhat raised, and the forehead
swollen; the horns of the male (the female being without) are large,
long, and triangular, bending backward like a half circle, attenuated
from the base to the tip, which is obtuse; the body is large and
muscular, the tail short, and bare on the inside; the legs are pretty
long, and the hoofs short.
They wander in flocks of about a hundred, led by some old and
courageous male. Their habits are like those of our own sheep, docile
and gentle, though sometimes an amorous or a churlish old ram will
butt down a child, a woman, or a man, who may happen to stand in his
road, when the fit is upon him.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: RED DEER.]