ORDER ARTIODACTYLA : EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 567 



Nasonov (1923, p. 35) records specimens of "erskinei" from the 

 vicinity of Dere-Kazah (12-18 km. north of Teheran), from the 

 southwestern side of Mount Demavend, and from Mount Savelan. 



Ladak Urial; Astor Urial; Shapu 



Ovis VIGNEI VIGNEI Blyth 



Otws] Vignei Blyth, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1840, p. 70, 1841. ("Little 



Thibet, and . . . the Sulimani range between India and Khorassan"; 



type locality restricted by Blyth (p. 78) to "Little Thibet," and by 



Blanford (1891, p. 498) to "Astor," Kashmir, India.) 

 FIGS.: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1860, pi. 79 (Mammalia); Lydekker, 1898c, 



p. 166, fig. 32, and 1900, pi. 3, fig. 3; Van der Byl, 1915, pi. 46; Nasonov, 



1923, pi. 8, fig. 4; Stockley, 1928, pi. facing p. 120. 



Apparently this Urial still exists in moderate numbers. 



General color rufous-brown; face "livid," without a white muzzle; 

 a conspicuous fringe of lengthened blackish hairs down the front of 

 the neck; belly white, bordered by a black lateral band; limbs 

 brown, with a whitish ring above each hoof, then a dark ring. Horna 

 subtriangular, compressed, describing three-fourths of a circle and 

 pointing towards the back of the neck; 32^ inches in length over 

 the curvature. (Blyth, 1841a, p. 71.) Record length of horns on 

 front curve, 39 inches (Ward, 1935, p. 292). Height at shoulder, 

 36 inches (Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 85). The females of all the 

 subspecies have horns (Nasonov, 1923, p. 53) . 



"The range extends from Astor to Zaskar, Ladak, and probably 

 Tibet" (Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 85). "In Zanskar and Ladak 

 this sheep is found at elevations of from 12,000 to 14,000 feet 

 elevation" (Lydekker, 1898c, p. 169). Sushkin (1925, p. 149) 

 gives the distribution as "Ranges along the upper Indus as far 

 south as Gilgit, north to Vakhan (southwestern Pamir)." 



"Vast numbers of this species are driven down by the snow in 

 winter to the branches of the* Indus, near Astor, at the southern 

 extremity of Little Thibet, where the river breaks through the 

 chain of the Himalaya" (Vigne, in Blyth, 1841, p. 72). 



"In Ladak good heads have been getting scarce of late years. 



"In winter they come low down, especially near Bunji in Astor. 

 In the old days the native hunters used to account for many at 

 this season, but this, fortunately, is now restrained by the officials 

 of the Game Preservation Department." (Van der Byl, 1915, 

 p. 118.) 



Burrard (1925?, p. 188) writes of this Urial: 



This handsome sheep is essentially an inhabitant of the valley of the Indus. 

 It is found in hills and mountains on both banks of that great river, and 



