WILD SHEEP— IBEX— GORAL, SEROWS, AND TAKIN 229 



swiftly away with their heads lowered and their tails in the air, although very 

 often a wounded bull will turn and attack its assailant, when it is an opponent by 

 no means to be despised. In many districts of Tibet yak are used as beasts of 

 burden, and are also valued for their milk or flesh. In some districts these 

 domesticated yak are much smaller than their wild relatives, and their colour 

 departs from the original type by being more or less mingled with white. It is 

 from the domesticated breed that the white tails are obtained which in India are 

 used as fly-whisks under the name of " chowries." 



The districts inhabited by the yak, as well as the adjacent tracts, 



are also the home of several species and races of wild sheep. Fore- 

 most among these is the true argali (Ovis ammon) of the Altai, which is probably 

 the largest member of its tribe. In Ladak and Tibet this species is represented 

 by a distinct race, the Tibetan argali (0. ammon hodgsoni), characterised by the 

 large white ruff on the chest of the rams in winter. In Mongolia is a third race 

 (0. ammon mongolica), while the Sair Mountains and adjacent districts are the 

 home of another race (0. a. sairensis), and a fifth race (0. a. littledalei) inhabits the 

 Kulja district. Marco Polo's sheep (0. a.poli) of the Pamir is another well-marked 

 race, characterised by its still longer and more curving horns. Of quite a 

 different type is the bharal (Pseudovis nahura), which ranges across Tibet from the 

 Himalaya to the Kuen Lun, the Altyn Tagh, and Kan-su. In habits and structure 

 this species is between a sheep and a goat, but in external appearance it is some- 

 what more of a sheep. 



The goats are represented by the magnificent Siberian ibex 



(Capra sibirica), inhabiting the mountain-ranges of central Asia 

 from the Altai to the Himalaya, and including several local races. 

 Gorai, Serows The gorals are represented in Sze-chuan by the ashy Urotragus 



and Takin. cinereus, and by a second species, U. caudatus, in north China, 

 characterised by its long tail. Another species (U. swinhoei) inhabits Formosa. 

 Japan possesses a small serow (Capricornis crispus), of which there are two local 

 races ; and a race of the Sumatran species, as well as the large white-maned serow 

 (C. argyrochostes), are peculiar to Sze-chuan and Kan-su. Allied to the serows are 

 the larger ruminants known as takin (Budorcas), inhabiting the Mishmi Hills, north 

 of the Assam Valley, Bhutan, and western and central China. They are heavily 

 built ruminants, of the size of a Kerry cow, with curiously twisted horns, and long, 

 shaggy hair. The Mishmi takin (B. taxicolor) is mainly brown in colour, but the 

 Sze-chuan B. tibetanus is mostly yellowish or grey, with a black face, whereas the 

 Shen-si B. bedfordi is entirely golden yellow. The last species, which inhabits the 

 Tsin-lin Shan of southern Shen-si, the eastern continuation of the Kuen-Lun, has 

 a special interest on account of the approximation of its type of colouring to that 

 of the golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellanos) of Sze-chuan. The 

 Tsin-lin takin forms the culmination of a series of colour-changes which have 

 resulted in the transformation of a comparatively short-haired chocolate-brown 

 animal, with a tawny saddle patch and black limbs, under-parts, and head, into one 

 in which the coat is of great length and of a uniformly golden yellow. The dark 

 phase is represented by the Mishmi takin and its Bhutan relative ; the intermediate 

 stage by the Sze-chuan species, in which the greater part of the fur of the body is 



