192 NYAN (OVIS AMMON) SHOOTING 



had to give up. Next morning we took up the hunt 

 again, and followed the frozen tracks till we discovered 

 them lying down in a hollow. The unwounded one 

 vanished like a ghost, but the one I had hit was stiff and 

 was not quick enough ; as he topped the ridge I fired and 

 hit him in the shoulder. The smaller animal remained 

 faithful to his elder friend till the moment of his death ; 

 he even lingered on the hillside a short distance off, after 

 the latter fell, and did not take his final departure till he 

 saw us start again for the valley ahead of us, in which 

 direction he was evidently bound himself ; he then 

 disappeared. It is said that the young rams always show 

 this sympathy when an older one — the leader, I suppose 

 — is hurt, but the older ones do not reciprocate the 

 attention when a junior is the victim. 



It will be observed that I did not see any phenomenal 

 heads during my stalks : the four I bagged were all below 

 the average — only one could be said to be really good ; 

 but if a sportsman went along the border-line, and made 

 trips beyond it, after procuring information regarding 

 likely and unfrequented localities, I think he would come 

 across nyan the heads of which would bear comparison with 

 any that have been obtained. I am afraid, however, that 

 heads having forty-five or fifty-inch horns have become 

 extremely rare. The nyan is an animal that sticks, it 

 would seem, to the bit of country where he " growed." Big 

 heads become matured in certain places : the sportsman 

 comes along and lays himself out to get as many as he can. 

 After that there will be no desirable heads in that locality 

 for years — not, in fact, until the young rams of the place 

 have had time to grow them. Severe winters, the rapacious 

 wolf, and the local shikari, are also causes which militate 

 against really good trophies. The old ram with a heavy 

 head is naturally slow, and he soon falls a victim to the 



