108 Account of the Taye. 



that the Tay^e^ or Tage (as he calls it) is the same ani- 

 mal as the Argali^ or Wild sheep, which inhabits the 

 north-east parts of Asia, and the country of Kamt. 

 schatka*. Mr. Pennant, though less positive, is of 

 the same opinionf . This, however, appears to me to 

 be a doubtful point. Venegas's figure rather forbids 

 the idea, that the Asiatic and American animal are 

 the same. The horns of the former are less incur- 

 ' vated than those of the latter. The abbe Clavigero 

 says, the Taye is " unquestionably the Ibex of Pliny, 

 described by Count de BufTon, under the name of 

 Bouquetin|." This cannot be. Judging by the figure 

 of the Californian animal, it appears to be most 

 essentially different from the Bouquetin, which is the 

 Capra Ibex of Linnceus. 



I have myself received some additional information 

 concerning the existence of a large horned animal, in 

 all probability the Taye, in the country adjacent to the 

 river Missouri, the great western branch of the Mis- 

 sisippi. This animal is a native of the Stony-mountains 

 about the head- waters of the Missouri. It is said to be 

 nearly of the size of an elk (Cervus Wapiti ?), and of 

 the colour of a Fallow-deer. Its horns resemble those 

 of a ram, but are turned, in a spiral form, like a trum- 

 pet, and are of an enormous size, some of them mca- 



• Specimen Zoologiae Gcographicac, Quadrupedum Domi- 

 cilia et Migraiiones sistetis, &c. p. 632, 633. Lugduni Batavorum ; 

 1777. 



t Arctic Zoology. Vol. i. p. 13, U. 



\ The History of Mexico. Vol. ii. p. 32*. 



