Íslenskar landbúnaðarrannsóknir - 01.03.1970, Síða 16

14 ÍSLENZKAR LANDBUNAÐARRANNSÓKNIR
phenomenon has also been found by
Sánches Belda (1962).
The hairy parts on the face and the out-
side of the legs usually show a certain tvpe
of agouti colouring, where the tip of the
fibre is rustred in colour, while the re-
mainder of the fibre is black.
Colour 04 — black mouflon (Plate III, 2)
This colour has also been called black
reversed badgerface (Roberts and Jenkjn,
1926), but here it will be referred to as
the mouflon pattern in accordance with
Berge (1958), due to the resemblance be-
tween this pattern and the colour pattern
of the wild Mouflon.
This colour is in many ways entirely the
reverse of the black badgerface colour de-
scribed above. The belly of the animal is
dirty white, but occasionally one can de-
tect a few fine ancl short, black undercoat
fibres on the belly. The white colour
stretches backwards into the crutch and up
around the anus, and extends to the under-
side of the tail. The brisket is white, and
sometimes, but not always, a white band
stretches from the brisket to the under-
side of the neck. The underside of the
lower jaw is white or near wliite. A light-
coloured mark above the eye seems to be
a permanent feature of this pattern. The
inner side of the ears is white, or near
white.
The upper part of the body shows pre-
dominantly black colour, although in
many instances in the Icelandic slieep a
pronounced agouti colouring of the birth
coat is observed. This agouti colouring is
sometimes different from the one observed
in the black badgerface. In the black mou-
flon the tip of the agouti fibre may be
black followed by a rustred or greyish
band, and from then on the fibre is black,
but fibres with a light colour on the tip
only may also be found in black mouflon
lambs. The agouti colour is most pro-
nounced on the lower part of the neck,
but may occasionally be found alnrost all
over the body. Sometimes it is almost com-
pletely absent.
The hairs on the head and feet in black
mouflon animals usually show the same
type of agouti colour as above, i.e. a black
tip followed by a lighter band.
The undercoat fibres on the upper part
of the body always consist of black fibres.
As the lambs get older, some of the outer-
coat fibres on the upper part of the body
may become white and show up in the
pelt in autumn. These fibres are too few
in number, however, for the colour to be
mistakenly classified as grey mouflon.
Colour 05 — black (Plate I, 3, I, 4 and
III, 6)
This colour produces only black fibres
on the animals at birth, and no white
fibres are found anywhere on the animal
at least during the first few weeks after
birth. After the age of 6 months, however,
some animals may develop white fibres,
mainly in the outercoat. The numbers of
these fibres may increase so much with age
tliat the animals may become grey in ap-
pearance, particularly on the sides. A
distinction between genuine grey and grey-
ing black in adult sheep is tliat tlre under-
coat of the greying black animal remains
black throughout its life.
PÁlsson (1944) describes three types of
black in adult Icelandic sheep, i.e. pure
black, where the colour remains pitchblack
throughout the animal’s life, greying black,
where white fibres develop in the outer-
coat with advancing age, as described
above, and browning black, where the
black colour shows some fading towards
brown with advancing age. No attempt
was made in the present study to distingu-
ish between these three types of black, as