328 THE OVIS AMMON. 



best of stalkers ; but all this only makes the pleasure of 

 success the greater. 



A full-grown Ovis Ammon (or Ovis Argali) stands about 

 twelve hands. The general colour of its pile which is short, 

 soft, and close is a kind of light brownish-grey, growing 

 much darker about the withers and fore-quarters, and slightly 

 so along the centre of the back. In autumn it becomes 

 darker all over, and more glossy. Under the chest and belly 

 it is much lighter almost white, in fact. The legs, which 

 are rather lanky and comparatively slight for a sheep, are 

 also nearly white, with brown marks down their front. The 

 stern and haunches are a pale yellowish-white. In old rams 

 the hair in front of the shoulders is much longer than else- 

 where, and stands out in a sort of greyish-white ruff. The 

 muzzle is whitish and fine. Of tail there is hardly a vestige. 

 The massive, deeply-creased horns are well arched upwards 

 and backwards, their points curling round to the front beside 

 the cheeks like cart-wheels. In weight the horns are not 

 exceeded by those of any other known animal of the sheep 

 tribe except the Ovis Poli, which inhabits the Pamir steppes 

 and other more northern parts of Turkestan. The horns of 

 the Ovis Poli are, however, not so thick, though they are 

 very much longer, and have more curl and a much wider 

 spread. About 40 inches long and 17 or 18 inches in cir- 

 cumference at the base, may be considered a fair average size 

 for a good Ovis Ammon ram's horns, though they often grow 

 bigger ; but in almost all large specimens the tips are broken, 

 which takes several inches off what the horns would be in 

 length if perfect. A head of about this size weighs quite 

 40 lb., yet it does not look disproportionately large, nor does 

 the animal appear to be at all inconvenienced by its ponderous 

 horns. The ewes are considerably smaller than the rams, 

 and rather lighter in colour. They carry comparatively short 

 and thin curved horns, and have no white ruff. Strange to 

 say, they are much less wary than the old rams, which is 



