The wild Sheep of Afghanistan. 519 



him by the sheer novelty of his mode of fighting, always 

 closing at once with his adversary and catching him across 

 the face and nose with a sharp drawing cut or jerk of his 

 head, and then bounding out of the way before the blow 

 could be returned. 



His action was in general leisurely, and far less active than 

 the goats, though he would frequently at a bound reach the 

 top of a wall six feet from the ground, and then drop over. 

 When irritated, or in a frolicsome mood, he would throw 

 back his head, and bound along heavily with all four feet 

 off the ground at once, like the antelope, but with none of 

 the light and graceful ease, which is so beautifully charac- 

 teristic of the latter animal. 



The female I have not seen, but she is said to be similar 

 to the male in all respects, with the exception of the horns, 

 which are much smaller, and rise upwards and backwards. 



This animal is found to differ from the " Ovis tragelaphus" 

 of the French naturalists, in having no hairy appendages on 

 the shoulders, rior any tuft of hairs at the end of the tail ; 

 in wanting the medial dark line between the colours of the 

 upper and under sides, and in possessing a black line of 

 hairs along the throat and dewlap, instead of being, as in the 

 Egyptian species, of a brown colour, nearly uniform with 

 that of the body. 



It differs also very materially in the figure of its horns, 

 which are decidedly triangular, while in the other species 

 they are said to be quadrangular. 



The usual length of beard is in adult specimens about 

 five inches long, and it commences at the angle of the jaws, 

 where there is a strong muscular fold on the sides of the 

 throat ; from this the hair extends to the chest in a simple 

 black line, and terminates between the fore legs. In young 

 specimens this hair is not elongated, nor does it become so 

 until about three or four years old, but forms merely a black 

 line from which the beard afterwards springs, and gradually 



