278 Appendix 



APPENDIX V. 



CORRESPONDENCE IN 'THE FIELD' ABOUT THE 

 BUJNURD SHEEP. 



(1) EXTRACT FROM AUTHOR'S LETTER. 



. . . The object of this letter is to elicit some in- 

 formation as to what these wild sheep are. I have a 

 long and intimate acquaintance with Ovis vignei, which 

 I have shot under various native names in Ladak, Gilgit, 

 Chitral, the Punjab, and Baluchistan, and I am quite 

 certain that my latest acquisitions are not to be con- 

 founded with these. They are distinctly bigger than 

 Ovis vignei, and, indeed, to see them on the hillside re- 

 minded me far more of Ovis hodgsoni (or Ovis ammori) of 

 Tibet. I supposed at the time that they were Ovis 

 gmelini ; but on referring to Lydekker's 'Wild Oxen, 

 Sheep, and Groats,' I see that the typical horns of that 

 species curve back to approach one another over the 

 withers, whereas in my sheep they curve forward, and 

 have a tendency to a second curve. The following are 

 the measurements : 



TV- A . Length of Horn. Basal Circumference. 



*o. Approx. Age. * 



1 4J 27f 29 llf llf 



2 4J 33| 32 12 12 



3 5J 33| 32^ ll 11 



4 5| 37 38J 12 12 



5 8 38 38 11 lOf 



It will be seen that these measurements are greatly 

 in excess of average measurements of any of the varieties 

 of Ovis orientalis (or Ovis vignei}, especially those de- 



