HABITS OF THE AiXIMAL. 141 



and begins grazing with them ; in the Suma-hada 

 mountains, however, they are so confident of security 

 as not always to observe the precaution of posting 

 sentinels, and they may be very easily stalked. After 

 their morning meal they usually lie down among the 

 rocks, where they remain till evening. 



The report of a gun startles a herd, and they go 

 off at full speed in an opposite direction, but after 

 running a little way they stop to see where the 

 danger lies, giving the sportsman ample time to 

 reload. The Mongols told us that if they placed 

 some conspicuous object, such as a piece of clothing, 

 to attract their attention, they would remain motion- 

 less while the hunter stalked them without difficulty. 

 I myself successfully tried the experiment by sus- 

 pending a red shirt on the top of a ramrod, which I 

 stuck into the ground, and in this way arrested the 

 attention of a frightened herd for more than a quarter 

 of an hour. 



They are very tenacious of life, and I have known 

 them run, with a bullet through the chest and pro- 

 truding entrails, for several hundred yards, and then 

 only drop down dead. If one of a herd fall lifeless, 

 its companions remain beside it, regardless of the 

 hunter's approach. I never heard them utter a 

 sound. The Mongols told us that the coupling season 

 began in August, but I do not know how long it 

 continues. While it lasts the males fio^ht furioush', 

 making terrible use of their long horns, a pair of 

 which weigh 36 lbs. and upwards. The period of 

 gestation is about seven months, at the end of which 



