Big Game of Mongolia and Tibet 



says that when he first visited the country 

 around the sources of the Yellow River, in 

 1870, he saw herds there of a thousand head 

 and more. Yaks are enormous feeders, and, 

 in a country as thinly covered with grass as 

 that in which they roam, they must travel 

 great distances to secure enough food. As it 

 is, it is the rarest thing in the world to find 

 even in July or August fine grazing in any 

 part of this country ; the yaks keep the grass 

 as closely cut as would a machine. 



In some of the wildest districts of western 

 China a wild ox {budorcas) is still found. Fa- 

 ther Armand David thus describes it {Nou- 

 vclles Archives du Museum de Paris, X., 17): 

 "It is a kind of ovibos, with very short tail, 

 black and sharp horns, with broad bases touch- 

 ing on the forehead ; its ears are small, and, as 

 it were, cropped obliquely. The iris is of a 

 dirty yellow gold color, the pupil oblong and 

 horizontal. The fur is quite long and of a 

 dirty white color, with a dash oi brown on the 

 hind quarters." 



The wild ass is no longer found, I believe, 

 to the east of the Koko-Nor, but from that 

 meridian as far west as Persia is met with in 

 large numbers, and in the wilds to the north of 



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