2 3 ° Sheep
Buxton has put on record some excellent notes on the habits .of the
animal, from which the following is paraphrased.
Arui inhabit districts where the cliffs are formed of reddish and
yellowish rocks, among which the rufous tawny of their coat renders them
so inconspicuous that, although by no means uncommon, they are extremely
difficult to detect. Throughout the district water is extremely scarce,
and, according to Arab reports, the sheep seldom, i f ever, drink more than
once in four or five days, so that they are easily able to undertake long
journeys in search of liquid. They never enter the cedar forests, where
the climate is moister, and appear to inhabit much more broken and
precipitous ground than the majority of wild sheep ; this trait confirming
their affinity to the goats. As the Arabs; have taken possession of all
situations in the mountains where water is to be met with, the arui have
been compelled to accustom themselves to the near presence of man and
the flocks of domestic goats by which, in these districts, he is accompanied.
To avoid the nomads and their flocks^ the arui are constantly shifting their
quarters; and they have by long use grown accustomed to selecting sites
for repose where, while practically invisible themselves, they can obtain
a good view of their surroundings. Arui generally go about in small
parties of four or five, not unfrequently a ewe being seen accompanied
only by a pair of yearling lambs. In captivity they thrive well and breed
freely ; the lambs, of which there may be either one or two at a birth,
being produced after a gestation of about one hundred and sixty days. It
may be noted that the coloration of the arui is almost identical with that
of the bubaline hartebeest (Bubalis boselaphus) which inhabits the deserts
of Northern Africa, although it has now retreated south of the Atlas. In
the edmi gazelle (Gazella cuvieri),-'''which inhabits actually the same
districts as the arui, the colour of the upper-parts is rather paler, while the
under-parts and muchi^ the legs are white, and the tail-tip black. Both
the edmi and the arui assimilate so closely to their surroundings as to be