i8o Sheep 



and Mongolia it lives at comparatively low elevations above the sea- 

 level. 



Habits. — Although the habits oi this sheep are doubtless in the main 

 very similar to those of the Tibetan race, a note bv Mr. St. George Little- 

 dale with regard to one trait is worthy of quotation. This passage is as 

 follows: — "The sheep's habit ot disappearing in cavities and under rocks 

 from lo A.M. until evening made the sport less interesting than the 

 pursuit of Ovis po/i, who is always 'on view,' and even when hard hit the 

 extraordinary vitality ot the beast not untrequently enables him to escape 

 the hunter." 



/;. Mongolian Race — Ovis ammon jitbata 



Oris jii/nitii^ Peters, Monatshcricht AkaJ. Bcr/in^ 1^76, p. 117, pis. i.-iv. ; 

 Prezewalski, Cat. Zoo/. Coll. p. 15 (1887). 



Characters. — Apparently nearly allied to the Tibetan race, having horns 

 ot a very similar type, and a distinct throat-rutf, which, like the face, is 

 yellowish- white. The white on the buttocks and hinder surtaces of the 

 legs is, however, more abundant and of a purer tint even than in the 

 Siberian race, the tail being wholly pure white. 



Distribution. — Eastern Mongolia, to the north of Pekin. This sheep is 

 known to me only by the description and plate in Peters's memoir. 



c. Tibetan Race — Ovis ammon hodgsoni 



Ovis hodgsoni., Blyth, Pi'oc. Zool. Soc. 1840, p. 61;; P. L. Sclater, ibid. 

 i860, p. 129; Severtzoff, Trans. Soc. Moscoi/, vol. viii. art. 2, pp. 151 

 and 154 (1873) ; Brooke, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1875, p. 520; W. L. Sclater, 

 Cat. Ma/nni. Ind. Mas. pt. ii. p. 1^6 (1891) ; Blanford, Fauna Brit. India — 

 Manini. p. 494 (1H91) ; Ward, Records of Big Game, p. 243 (1896). 



