284 THE NAPOO OR BUBKELL. 



30 inches, or even more, and are about a foot in girth. 

 The beautiful skin, with its thick elastic pile, is of a bluish- 

 grey, bordered with distinct jet-black and pure-white mark- 

 ings. In winter it is handsomest, when the colour becomes 

 more decidedly slate -blue. The ewes are rather smaller 

 than the rams, and their horns are much thinner and 

 shorter, their colour paler, and the black and white border- 

 ing less distinctly defined. They usually produce two lambs 

 in spring. Towards autumn burrell often assemble in very 

 large flocks, but in spring and summer they are generally 

 found in much smaller batches, sometimes only two or three 

 together, the large rams, as a rule, herding separately. The 

 flesh of a young male or ewe is, in autumn, as fat, tender, 

 and better flavoured than domestic mutton. Although the 

 favourite haunts of the burrell are open and comparatively 

 gentle slopes of short grass just under the snow-line, these 

 sheep are quite as sure-footed and agile as the wild -goat 

 tribe on precipitous rocky ground, which is never very far 

 distant from the slopes where they feed, and to this they 

 usually resort when scared. They have the most acute 

 sense of smell, so it is always necessary to take this into 

 account before arranging a stalk. If burrell have sighted 

 you, it is generally useless to follow them. They at once 

 commence moving off, slowly and deliberately at first, feeding 

 as they walk, leading on an inexperienced sportsman for 

 miles, until they have fooled him sufficiently, when they 

 gallop away, and seldom stop before they are lost to view 

 among the eternal snows and glaciers. When disturbed the 

 burrell gives a shrill double whistle, which alarms every 

 other animal within sound of it ; and you will seldom, if 

 ever, get a shot after hearing it. Early in summer the 

 best of burrell-shooting can be got on the upper ranges of 

 the mountain provinces of Kumaon and Gurhwal, without 

 having to cross the passes into Tibet for it. 



As the ground for napoo in this vicinity was so limited 

 as only to admit of one of us shooting over it, and a 



