Dr. N. Severtzoff on the Mammals of Turkestan. 225 



0. Karelini. Of one of these flocks I shot a specimen, now 

 in mj collection ; and the animal fell only to the second bullet. 



The old male killed by me I hit five times, each time with 

 a good-sized bullet ; and only the sixth bullet brought it down, 

 having penetrated to the heart. 



The first bullet hit the animal between the hind legs in the 

 left testicle, the right one not being damaged at all ; the pain of 

 this wound impeded the animal in running ; and even then two 

 men had to follow it for about one hour. Two bullets had struck 

 the horns ; one of the two bullets was flattened and only left 

 a mark on the horn, whilst the other partly buried itself in 

 the horn and afterwards fell out without doing any consider- 

 able damage. Each time the horn was struck by the bullet 

 the animal fell to the ground, but within a minute rose again. 

 Neither of the two following bullets sufficed to stop the animal 

 in its flight, although one of them penetrated the liver and 

 the other the lung ; and it was only on receipt of the sixth 

 bullet (which, as already mentioned, penetrated the heart) that 

 the animal succumbed. These particulars give a slight idea 

 of the strength and tenacity of this sheep. 



In order to get a shot at it it is necessary to approach it 

 from behind some rock ; this is easily done at the Aksay, 

 where the sheep are not pursued at all, and therefore do not 

 avoid spots which afford hiding-places for a man ; but on 

 the plains of Han-tengri, which in summer are regularly 

 visited by the different Kirgees tribes, these sheep are very 

 cautious, as is also the case with 0. Karelini on the Upper 

 Narin, in which locality we saw great numbers of the latter 

 species, but could not obtain any specimens. 



The speed of O. Polii 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, while 

 it has apparently no effect whatever on the sheep. 



The Cossacks here say that the wild sheep and goats in 

 jumping from one rock down to another alight on their horns. 

 This seems very improbable to me ; but still there is also some 

 reason to believe it — namely, that in jumping the head with 

 the heavy horns might make the animal lose its balance. 



The weight of an old specimen killed and gralloched by me 

 was too much for a strong mountain-camel, the animal re- 

 quiring four hours to accomplish four versts, and being obliged 

 to lie down several times during the journey. At low 

 elevations a camel can carry 17 poods with ease, but in 

 these lofty plains not more than 11 or 12 poods; the entire 

 weight of a male 0. Polii will therefore be not less than 16 

 or 1 7 poods ; the head and horns alone weigh over 2 poods. 

 [To be continued.] 



