The Sakin, or Asiatic Ibex 



legs ; but in one race they are lighter-coloured, with 

 the under-parts pure white. The winter coat appears 

 to become lighter as the season advances, owing to 

 bleaching by exposure to the weather. 



Although only three or four of them occur within 

 the area covered by the present volume, it will be 

 convenient to give a brief account of the various local 

 races or phases ot the Asiatic ibex which have received 

 distinct scientific names. 



In 1900 the present writer proposed the name 

 Capra sibirica wardi for the dark-coloured ibex from 

 Baltistan, while in the same year the Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild bestowed the title of C. sibirica lydekkeri 

 on the ibex of the Katutay range of the Irtish Altai. 

 Subsequently the author defined and figured the 

 Himalayan ibex as C. sibirica sacin^ while other writers 

 have named additional races. Still later Dr. Lorenz 

 von Liburnau, who visited the principal museums of 

 Europe with the object of studying Central Asian ibex, 

 published a review of all that is known on the subject, 

 with the description of yet other races. 



As is usual when we have to deal with a large 

 number of local races, a difficulty crops up with regard 

 to English names. For the species in general the 

 proper title is the Asiatic or Siberian ibex ; and the 

 various sub-species ought to be known as such-and- 

 such races of that species. Capra sibirica wardi 

 should, for instance, be called the Balti race of the 

 Asiatic ibex. This is, however, somewhat cumbersome, 

 and it is generally known as the Balti ibex. On the 

 other hand, this makes it appear as a distinct species. 

 A way out of the difficulty would be to call the Asiatic 

 ibex the skin ( = skeen), or sakin, and we should then 

 have the Balti sakin, the Katutay sakin, etc., which 

 would make matters simpler. 



The typical Capra sibirica^ according to Dr. von 

 Lorenz, is from the northern slope of the Sayansk 

 range, in the neighbourhood of Munku Sardyk to the 



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