KAMCHATKAN BIGHORN 



377 



Skull and Horns of Male Kamchatkan Bighorn. Shot by Prince E. Demidoff. 



KAMCHATKAN BIGHORN (Ovis canadensis nivicola). 



Although the Kamchatkan wild sheep is readily distinguished 

 from the Rocky Mountain bighorn (O. canadensis typicd) by the slender- 

 ness of the horns at the points, and their wider tip-to-tip measurement, 

 as well as by the shorter, blunter, and more thickly haired ears, the 

 shorter face, the longer hair of the body, and the inferior size of the 

 white patch on the rump, yet the Alaskan and the N.W. bighorn, in 

 which the horns are of the Kamchatkan type, and the ears are shorter 

 than in the Rocky Mountain race, tend to bridge over these points 

 of difference. These transitions indicate that all the bighorns are 

 essentially local modifications of the same animal ; the Asiatic forms 

 being, as might be expected, the 'most aberrant. Height at shoulder 

 about 37 or 38 inches ; weight about 250 Ibs. 



Distribution. Kamchatka. 



2 C 



