The Bharal, or Blue Sheep 



along the curve. The two next largest are respectively 

 32 and 31^ inches in length, the latter having a basal 

 circumference of 13^ inches, and a tip-to-tip interval of 

 2 2|- inches. Several other specimens have a length of 

 30 inches or over. 



Bharal inhabit Tibet and the adjacent districts at 

 high elevations, being seldom found in winter below 

 10,000 feet, and in summer ascending to between 

 14,000 and 16,000 feet, or even higher. Their range 

 extends from the main axis of the Himalaya in the 

 south to the Kuen-lun and Altyn-tag in the north. 

 Eastwards they are known to extend as far as Moupin, 

 in Eastern Tibet, while westwards they range to Shigar, 

 in Baltistan, and to the neighbourhood of Gujhal, in the 

 upper Hunza valley near Passu. 



As bharal approximate to goats in structure and 

 coloration, so they show certain resemblances to the 

 latter in the matter of habits ; for, although displaying 

 an ovine habit in dwelling on open undulating country 

 and resting at midday on or near their feeding-grounds, 

 they are more active mountaineers than other Asiatic 

 wild sheep, ascending steep cliffs with comparative ease, 

 and taking to difficult places when disturbed. In the 

 more remote valleys in the neighbourhood of Leh the 

 traveller may occasionally stumble on a flock of bharal 

 feeding or reposing on his line of route, as once 

 happened to the present writer, when, with luck, two or 

 more rams may be obtained without difficulty, since, 

 after being fired at, the members of the flock run but a 

 short distance before turning round to gaze at the 

 intruder after the manner of sheep in general. Many 

 of the valleys they frequent are strewn with boulders or 

 masses of rock projecting through the turf, so that at a 

 distance it is difficult to distinguish between boulders 

 and bharal. The number of individuals in a flock 

 commonly varies from ten or less to forty or fifty, but 

 occasionally there may be as many as a hundred. In 

 some districts on the upper Indus the old rams are 



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