194 



GREAT GAME OF THE WORLD. 



MARCO POLO'S SHEEP (Ovis poll). 

 [Sir VICTOR BROOKE, Bart., and Mr. BASIL BROOKE, P.Z.S. 1875, p. 514.] 



THE horns are very large, pressed in from the sides, the edges, with 

 the exception of the fronto-nuchal edge, being rounded. The orbital 

 surface is pressed in, and commences to get narrower only during the 

 last third of its length. The horn is more than four times the length 

 of the skull. The basal and terminal axes of the horns are not parallel, 

 the latter being directed more horizontally. All round the neck there 

 is a pure white mane, and there is a dark line along the spinal column 

 from the shoulders to the loins. The light greyish brown of the sides 

 shades off into white towards the belly. A pure white anal disk 

 surrounds the tail ; above this disk is bordered by a rather dark line, 

 but below it extends largely over the hinder parts of the thighs, 

 shading gradually into the brown colour of the legs. I did not dis- 

 cover any soft short hair under the long winter hair during the month 

 of October. 



Height, 46 inches ; length of horns, 57 inches. 



Habitat Central Asia, the Pamir, and Thian Shan of Turkestan. 



