ovis. 495 



div^erging very slowly, tips tui'ned very little outwards, and the 

 whole curve of each horn not equal to a complete circle. In 

 females the horns are short, erect, curved backwards and outwards, 

 thin and strap-like towards the ends. 



Colour greyish brown above, paler and whitish below. In males 

 the caudal disk surrounding the tail, the rump, throat, chest, belly, 

 and insides of the legs are white, crest and a stripe down the front 

 of each leg dark. Old males are grizzled on the back, white hairs 

 being mixed with the brown of the upper parts. A dark mark 

 above the tail, females have little or no mane, the white is less 

 pure, and the caudal disk is indistinct. The colour in winter is 

 probably paler than in summer. 



Dimensions. Height of old rams at shoulder 3 J to 4 feet, females 

 not much less. Length from nose to rump (skins), males 6 to 6| feet, 

 females 5| ; tail without hair 1 inch, with hair 3 ; ear G ; basal length 

 of male skull 13, breadth at orbits 7*5. Horns of adult males are 36 

 to 40 inches long round the curve, and the girth at the base is 16 to 17. 

 The greatest recorded measurements are said to be, length 53, basal 

 girth 24 or perhaps 25, but there appears a little doubt about these. 

 48 inches in length and 20 in girth have certainly been measured. 

 Female horns are said to attain 24 inches in length, but rarely 

 exceed 18. 



Distribution. The plateau of Tibet from Northern Ladak to the 

 country north of Sikhim and probably farther east. This sheep 

 does not range south of the main Himalayan axis ; it is not found 

 in summer below about 15,000 feet elevation ; in winter it may 

 descend to about 12,000 in places. 



Habits. This magnificent sheep, probably the largest of the genus, 

 inhabits the bare undulating Tibetan plateau in herds, keeping to 

 open valleys and low stony slopes. In summer the rams are found 

 in small parties of from 3 or 4 to about 15, apart from the ewes. 

 The rutting-season is in winter ; at this time the great sheep in- 

 habit the lower and more sheltered Tibetan valleys. The young 

 are born about May or June. 



No animal is more wary. Owing to its watchfulness, its keen 

 sight and acute sense of smell, its speed when on foot, and the open 

 character of the ground it haunts, the great Tibetan sheep is one of 

 the most difficult of all animals to stalk or shoot. 



Ovis IrooTcei (P. Z. S. 1874, p. 143 ; 1875, p. 521) has now 

 been ascertained to be a wild hybrid between a male 0. Iwdgsoni 

 and female 0. vignei (Sterndale, Jour. Bombay N. H. Soc. i, p. 35, 

 and P. Z. S. 1886, p. 205) — a male of the great sheep in Zaskar 

 having taken possession of a small flock of 0. vignei ewes, and bred 

 with them. The converse, a hybrid between the male 0. vignei and 

 female 0. hodgsoni has also been shot by Major C. S. Cumberland 

 (P. Z. S. 1885, p. 851). The hybrid in the latter case was found 

 with a flock of 0. liodgsoni. 



Ovis amnion, L. sp. {0. argali, Pall.), inhabits plateaus in 

 Northern Mongolia, and perhaps in Southern Siberia. It is nearly 

 allied to 0. hodgsoni, but appears to have no ruff. 



