ovis. ' 59 



liope to find your game. It is all important to get above the animals, 

 whose chief vigilance is directed down hill. Dm-ing the day-time 

 ibex remain high up lying down and sleeping, generally in some com- 

 manding position, where to approach. them may be impossible. But in 

 the evening they come down to the grassy slopes to feed, and remain- 

 ing there all night, wend their way up again in the early morning. 

 This is the time to look for them. If you have got on to your ground 

 early, you may be fortunate enough to waylay a herd as they leisui'ely 

 browse their upward way to their retreat for the day. If not, you must 

 mark them down, and when they are comfortably settled, try and stalk 

 them. This of course,^' ho says, " is the ' real Jam/ It may take you 

 hours of hard work and break-neck climbing to get near them^ but you 

 are repaid at last." 



The flesh of the ibex is excellent venison. The skins are converted 

 into water and flour bags by the hill tribes, and the horns carried by 

 certain sects of mendicants as an insignia of their calling and as 

 *' trumpeting horns/' The true bezoar, (pa-zahr) a calcareous con- 

 cretion is said to be obtained from the stomach of this animal. It is 

 to the present day highly prized as a sovereign antidote to snake and 

 other poisons, and as an universal remedy for all diseases. There is a 

 very large specimen in the possession of one Chuttunmull, a native 

 druggist at Hyderabad. It measures 2^ inches in diameter. The 

 surface is polished and is of a greenish olive colour. The price paid for 

 the specimen, he said, was Rs. 175. Smaller specimens are obtainable 

 for from Rs. 50 to 75. 



Family, OVIDiE,— Sheep. 



Horns behind the orbit, more or leas spiral, wider than deep, angular, 

 much wrinkled, turned downwards, often almost into a circle. No 

 muffle, no beard. Throat with long shaggy hair. Mammas 2. 



Ovis cycloceros, Hutton, Cole, Journ. Nat. Histy. vol. ii., 1842, 

 p. 514; Jerdon, Mammals of Ind, p. 295; Gray, Cat. Bum. p. 55; 

 Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, ^c, Sind. 



Horns sub triangular, much compressed laterally and posteriorly, 

 transversely sulcated, curving outwards and I'eturning inwardly 

 towards the face. General colour rufous brown, pr uniform yellowish or 

 fawn-coloured brown. Face livid or bluish grey. Sides of mouth and 

 chin white. Belly and legs below the knee whitish. A profuse beard 

 from the throat to the breast intermixed with some white hairs reach- 

 ing to the level of the knees. Tail short, white. Eye pits large. Horns 

 2^ to 2| feet round the curve. Diameter at base 4 to 4^ inches. 



Female, with short straight horns, slightly bent behind. No beard. 



Hab. — The warmer mountainous regions of Sind, Punjab, Be- 

 loochistan, Persia and Afghanistan, at less elevations than the 

 ibex, and during winter frequently on the plains and valleys. In 

 the Himalayas it is said to be rare, being confined to the belt of 

 country between Cashmere and the Indus Valley, but in the Sooliman, 

 Hazara and Salt Range of the Punjab, numerous, in fairly large flocks. 



