404 SPORT IN EUROPE 



walk up at night on the hills ; on the morning- of the third day, 



when the tur are supposed to be concentrated in a comparatively 



narrow stretch of ground, the guns are posted along a ridge, and 



the beaters come slowly up. I believe the results of this performance 



seldom correspond to the efforts made, while the animals are scared 



for many months after. In Russian Turkestan the hills round 



Krasnovodsk contain a species of sheep, Ovis vignei, as well as 



Capra t^gagrus ; but very little is known of shooting in those parts 



excepting from native accounts, which are very untrustworthy. The 



Tiflis Natural History Museum contains several specimens of sheep 



from the Krasnovodsk country, and I believe Dr. Radde assigns 



them to the vignei type. I will not dwell on the 

 Ovis Poli. 



Pamir sheep [Ovis poll), of which so much has already 



been written.* Suffice it to say that they are distributed all over 

 the Pamir plateaus, from Lake Karakul, where Littledale first found 

 them, and the sources of the Oxus to Hunza, the Alichur and 

 Tagdumbash Pamirs being their favourite haunts, f They live at 

 high altitudes among large rolling boulders, and seldom take to rocks 

 unless scared. This, I believe, is a feature common to most wild 

 sheep, which rely more on their wonderful eyesight than on conceal- 

 ment. Ovis poli affords capital sport, though very difficult to 

 approach, and shots have usually to be taken at long ranges. 

 Their horns, though not as massive as those of Ovis ainmon of the 

 Altai, are as a rule wider spread and attain greater length, as may 



Sport on the Pai/nr Steppes, by Major Cumberland. 

 t Article by St. (iEORGE Littledale in the Badmintoft Library. Lord Dunmore's 

 book on the Pamirs. 



