426 MamMALiA OF INDIA. 
give what I gather from others about it, which is not much, as it is 
not very well known. 
S1ze.—Stands nearly four feet at the shoulder. 
In the article on Asiatic sheep by Sir Victor Brooke and Mr. 
B. Brooke in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society ’ in 1875, there 
is an excellent series of engravings of horns of these animals, amongst 
which are two of Ovis Polit. The description of the animal itself 
appears to be faulty, for it is stated that around the neck is a pure 
white mane, whereas Mr. Blanford wrote to the Society a few months 
later to the effect that he had examined a series of skins brought from 
Kashgar, and found that none possess a trace of a mane along the neck, 
as represented in a plate of the animal, there being some long hair 
behind the horns and a little between the shoulders, but none on the 
back of the neck. The animal has a very short tail also—so short it 
TUS (Br 2 tele . SES 
Horns of Ovis Polit. 
can hardly be seen in hfe. According to M. Severtzoff there is a dark 
line above the spinal column from the shoulders to the loins; a white 
anal disc surrounds the tail; this disc above is bordered by a rather 
dark line, but below it extends largely over the hinder parts of the 
thighs, shading gradually into the brown colour of the legs. The light 
greyish-brown of the sides shades off into white towards the belly. 
He gives the following particulars concerning its habits: “It is not a 
regular inhabitant of the mountains, but of high situated hilly plains, 
where Festuca, Artemisia, and even Sadsofe form its principal food. It 
only takes to the mountains for purposes of concealment, avoiding even 
then the more rocky localities. It keeps to the same localities summer 
and winter. Its speed is very great, but the difficulty in overtaking 
wounded specimens may be partly attributed to the distressing effect of 
the rarefied air upon the horses, which has apparently no effect whatever 
on the sheep. The weight of an old specimen killed and gralloched by 
