THE BHARAL 821 



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characteristic of the typical sheep. They are marked with fine transverse striae, and 

 rise very close together on the head; their direction is outward, at first upward, 

 then downward, and at the extremities backward. The females have short horns, 

 curving upward and outward. There is no gland on the face, and consequently no 

 pit in the skull below the eye. The tail is relatively longer than in any of the 

 wild species yet noticed. The fur is of uniform length throughout, without any 

 trace of a mane on the neck or fringe on the throat, and is remarkable for its 

 smoothness and compactness. As regards coloration, the adult male bharal is a 

 decidedly striking animal. Thus, whereas the general color of the upper parts is 

 brownish gray, becoming more distinctly brown in summer, and tending to slaty 

 gray in winter, the under parts, the inside and back of the limbs, as well as the 

 rump, so far as the root of the tail, are white. The front of the face, the chest, a 

 stripe down the front of the limbs', interrupted by white at the knees, and a stripe 

 along the side dividing the white of the belly from the dark of the upper parts, as 

 well as the last two-thirds of the tail, are black. The black markings on the face, 

 chest, and flanks, are wanting in the females. 



The male bharal stands about three feet in height at the withers, and good- 

 sized horns have a length of twenty-four or twenty-six inches along the curve, with 

 a basal girth of some eleven inches. Specimens have, however, been recorded 

 measuring thirty and one-half and thirty-two inches in length, and thirteen inches 

 in girth. The female bharal is altogether a smaller animal. 



The bharal is essentially a Tibetan species, ranging, according to 

 Mr. Blanford, from near Shigar in Baltistan and the neighborhood of 

 Sangu, southeast of Yarkand, as far eastward as Moupin in Eastern Tibet; while 

 in a north and south direction it embraces the area lying between the main axis of 

 the Himalayas (or a few of the higher ranges to the south) and the Kuen-L,un and 

 Altyn Tagh ranges. 



Structurally the bharal is as much a goat as a sheep, but in the 

 absence of a beard and of a strong odor in the rams, as well as in gen- 

 eral appearance, it is more like a sheep, and is consequently placed in the same 

 genus. It exhibits, however, a marked difference from other species of the same 

 general size in refusing to breed with domestic sheep; and its relationship to the 

 goats is so strong that, were it not for convenience, there are considerable grounds 

 for including both sheep and goats in a single genus. 



In conformity with its structure, the bharal, as Mr. Blanford re- 

 marks, ' ' is intermediate in its habits between the sheep and the goats. 

 Like the former it is found on undulating ground, and frequently lies down during 

 the day on its feeding ground, though generally among stones; but, like the latter, 

 it is a splendid climber, perfectly at home on precipitous cliffs, and wont, when 

 alarmed, to take refuge in -ground inaccessible to man. It is found in herds of from 

 eight or ten to fifty or even a hundred; the males and females being generally found 

 apart in the summer, but frequently associating together at all seasons. The 

 herds keep to high open ground above forest and never even enter bush. They 

 feed and rest alternately during the day. Owing to their color it is peculiarly diffi- 

 cult to make them out when they are lying down among stones. ' ' It appears that 



