24 WILD SHEEP. 



On reaching camp, long after dark, after an eleven hours' tramp 

 over rocky ridges, across wind-swept uplands, and through deep snow 

 drifts, we found that Holcomb had secured a good head early in the 

 day. 



Next* day, however, luck was mine once more, for within two 

 hours of leaving camp, I had sighted a herd of sheep, stalked it and 

 secured the ram. He was a good sized animal, and I was now satis- 

 fied. In shooting him, one of my bullets passed clean through his 

 chest, and dropped an old ewe which was running beside 'him. This 

 was an unusually large specimen, standing nearly as high as the ram, 

 and having 18 inch horns. 



After this we gave up hunting sheep, and decided to move on 

 to other country after wapiti and wild goats. 



An account of wild sheep in China is not complete without some 

 reference to the burhel (Ovis nahura), a small wild sheep, which occurs 

 in Soutb- western Kansu. This sheep is of a grey-brown colour, with 

 black markings upon the legs and belly which otherwise are cream. 

 The horns, instead of curving in a circle like the other wild sheep, take 

 a backward turn, giving the head more the appearance of a goat's. 

 A very good description of this sheep is given in Frank Wallace's 

 "Big Game of Central and Western China." 



