OvIs. 429 
1880: ‘The male dark earthy brown above, lighter below; rump 
lighter coloured ; tail one inch; white ruff of long hairs on throat and 
chin; hair of body short, brittle, and close-set. The female darker 
coloured than the male, and may often be distinguished, when too far to 
see the horns, by the dark hue of the neck.” Both male and female are 
horned; the horns of the former are very large, some are reported 
as being as much as four feet long, and 22 inches in circumference at 
the base. Dr. Jerdon quotes Colonel Markham in giving 24 inches 
as the circumference of one pair. They are deeply rugose, triangular, 
and compressed, deeper than broad at the base, forming a bold sweep 
of about four-fifths of a circle, the points turning outwards, and ending 
obtusely. The horns of the female are mentioned by various writers as 
being from 18 to 22 inches, slightly curved; 
but the correspondent of the Civil and 
Military Gazette above quoted gives 24 
inches as his experience. 
S1zE.—From ro to 12 hands, sometimes 
an inch over. 
A very interesting account of this 
animal, with a good photograph of the 
head, is given in Kinloch’s ‘ Large Game- 
shooting in Thibet and the North-west.’ 
He says: “In winter the Ovzs Ammon 
inhabits the lower and more sheltered 
valleys, where the snow does not lie in 
any great quantity. As summer advances, 
the males separate from the females, and 
betake themselves to higher and more se- 
cluded places. They appear to be par- 
ticular in their choice of a locality, repair- : 
ing year after year to the same places, Ovis Hodgsoni. 
where they may always be found, and en- 
tirely neglecting other hills which apparently possess equal advantages 
as regards pasturage and water. Without a knowledge of their haunts 
a sportsman might wander for days and never meet with old rams, 
although perhaps never very far from them. I have myself experienced 
this, having hunted for days over likely ground without seeing even the 
track of a ram, and afterwards, under the guidance of an intelligent 
Tartar, found plenty of them on exactly similar ground a mile or two 
from where I had been. ‘The flesh of the Ovzs Ammon, like that of all 
the Thibetan ruminants, is excellent ; it is always tender, even on the 
day it is killed,and of very good flavour, possibly caused by the aromatic 
herbs which constitute so large a portion of the scanty vegetation of 
those arid regions: 
