64 DE. J. E. T. AITCHISON ON THE ZOOLOGY OF 



[Blanford, torn. cit. p. 87. 



Locally named, the male Mai, female Mesh. 



This Wild Sheep (or Oorial of the Punjab) is very numerous on the higher ground 

 and lower ranges of hills throughout the Badghis, from 2000 feet and upwards. I saw 

 a skull and horns at a Ziarat or Shrine, on the 2nd December, 1884, between Kara- 

 kainta and Kushk. These horns, although both tips were broken off, measured 36 

 inches. Sir Peter Lumsden made over to me at Khusan a very fine head, in which the 

 horns are entire, and of which Mr. Thomas has given the measurements. — J. E. T. A.] 



15. Capra sibirica, Pallas. 



Blanford, Second Yark. Miss., Mamm. p. 87 (1879). 



a. Skull and horns ; Bala-morghab. b, c. Heads; Bala-morghab, 12/84. 



[Locally named, the male Thakka, the female Burz-i-kohi. 



The Ibex was very numerous, and frequently seen on the more rocky parts of the 

 Badghis, although only one was shot by any of the members of the Mission, and that 

 was at a drive, on the 23rd December, 1881, at the Kara-jungle Peak, and at which I 

 was not present. I am indebted to Major Rind for one of the above heads. The Ibex 

 occurs, along with the Oorial, on ground where one would never expect them ; but to 

 understand their peculiarities here, one must study the country. There are, of course, the 

 great extending rolling downs, varying in elevation from a few feet to a thousand, where 

 these waves suddenly come together, and a little more cover is formed by blocks of sand- 

 stone having been clean washed, of all their loam ; here the Oorial are very common, and 

 extend more or less along the sides of the more precipitous downs. The rocks in 

 localities such as the Sim-koh country and Karabao Pass, suddenly spring out distinct from 

 the rolling plains on all sides to a few hundred feet in height ; these sudden perpendicular 

 ridges are the ordinary haunts of the Ibex, but they are continually seen wandering 

 between such localities, making from one to another, and in doing so have to cross over 

 the ordinary Oorial ground. I once met a herd which I tried to ride down, and almost 

 succeeded. The total absence of human beings over the country I traversed is no doubt 

 the reason why these animals were so numerous, and occurred on such different ground 

 from that on which they usually resort. The largest flock of Ibex I saw was on the Do- 

 shakh range, close to the Puza-gish stream, upon precipitous limestone rocks up which 

 no human being could possibly have climbed. — J. E. T. A.] 



16. Gazella stjbgutttjrosa, Giildenstadt. 



a. Head and feet, ? ; Gulran, 29/11/84. b. Horns; Khusan. c, d. Two pairs of horns, and a large 

 number of odd feet, taken from a temple at Gal-i-cha. 



The separate head (specimen a) has a nearly perfectly white face, but there seems to 

 be no reason to suppose that this is more than an individual variation. 



[Blanford, Eastern Persia, ii. p. 91. 



Locally named Ahu ; the male Thakka-i-Ahu, the female Burz-i-Ahu. 



