ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 595 



of the upper Yellow River in Kokonor. Two large solitary rams were seen in 

 May, and in July rams and ewes were found in separate bands on the moun- 

 tains of the high steppe northwest of Jyekundo. 



Kamchatka!! Bighorn 



Ovis NIVICOLA NIVIOOLA Eschscholtz 



Ovis nivicola Eschscholtz, Zool. Atlas, Heft 1, p. 1, 1829. (Mountains of 



Kamchatka.) 



SYNONYM: Ovis storcki Allen (1904). 

 FIGS.: Eschscholtz, 1829, pi. 1; Guillemard, 1885, p. 676,- fig. 1; Royal Nat. 



Hist., vol. 2, p. 216, fig., 1894; Lydekker, 1898c, pi. 17 A, p. 222, fig 42, 



and 1901, pi. 1, fig. 2, pp. 20, 22, figs. 5, 6; J. A. Allen, 1904, pp. 294, 296, 



figs. 1, 2, 4, 5. 



This sheep is "still very numerous in Kamchatka" (W. G. Hept- 

 ner, in litt., December, 1936) . 



Horns brown, trigonal, forming a circle, with the tips pointing 

 forward and outward ; hair yellowish gray on back, lighter on belly, 

 almost straw yellow on neck and head ; legs rufous in front, yellow- 

 ish gray behind ; hind part of thigh and caudal disk yellowish white 

 ( Eschscholtz 's description (1829, p. 1) of the type, an old male in 

 winter pelage). Height at shoulder up to 41 inches (Guillemard, 

 1885, p. 678) . "Good horns measure from 34 to 39i inches in length" 

 (Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 121). 



Sushkin (1925, p. 150) gives the range of this form as "Kam- 

 chatka." Ovis storcki Allen, from northwestern Kamchatka, is con- 

 sidered by Nasonov (1923, p. 11) to represent merely a very old 

 specimen of nivicola. 



Eschscholtz remarked (1829, p. 1) that this animal was killed 

 commonly in the mountains. 



In 1881, according to Dybowski, 300 of them were killed in Kam- 

 chatka (Kuntze, 1932, p. 47). 



In 1882 Guillemard (1885, pp. 675-678) found small herds, con- 

 taining three to nine individuals (exclusively males), on the sea 

 cliffs about 50 miles E. N. E. of Petropavlovsk. Here his party 

 bagged 13 individuals in the course of two days. He was informed 

 of others near Gunol, in the south-central part of the peninsula, and 

 also in the Bolcheresk Valley. 



Demidoff (1904, pp. 200, 216-217) speaks of this animal as plenti- 

 ful along the coasts of Kamchatka, and mentions "a precious medi- 

 cine" made by a native "of the dried hearts of wild sheep; these 

 he had roasted and ground into powder, which he said was a sure 

 remedy against any kind of disease .... He intended to sell the 

 powder in China, where he could obtain a high price for this quaint 

 medicine." 



Storck (in J. A. Allen, 1904, p. 293) remarks concerning the form 



