THE DESERT BIGHORN 137 



dred and fifty and one hundred and fifty 

 pounds respectively. 



Few animals support a head as heavy in pro- 

 portion to the size of the body. A head and 

 neck I have before me as I write weighed forty 

 pounds when taken. The cores of the great 

 horns are made of almost solid bone, and these 

 add greatly, of course, to the weight of the 

 rigidly built skull. Imagine if you can the 

 nature of the impact of such a battering organ 

 when driven forward by the strong body engine. 

 Is it strange that in the battles which take place 

 for the possession of the ewes necks are broken 

 and lives exacted? 



The growth of the horns of wild sheep is a 

 curious phenomenon which has attracted the 

 interest of naturalists for many years. The 

 bony vascular core borne on the frontal bone is 

 permanent, but its covering is renewed from 

 time to time by the growth of a new sheath of 

 cornified epidermis. This new cone of horny 

 tissue is formed on the surface of the bony core, 

 and as it thickens, the growth of the preceding 

 season is pushed outward toward the end of the 

 horn. Since the horn-sheath is not shed at any 



