WILD SHEEP OF ASIA AND AMERICA 287 



rump-patch. The horns of ewes are small and 

 upright. 



The typical Rocky Mountain bighorn (pi. xxiv. 

 fig. i), which stands about 38 inches at the shoulder, 

 has moderately long and pointed ears, with short 

 hair, and the horns of the rams, which are very 

 thick and heavy, form about one complete turn 

 of a circle, diverge but little outwards, and very 

 generally have the tips more or less broken. The 

 body is heavy and covered with closely adpressed 

 hair, showing no signs of a throat-ruff. The general 

 colour is greyish brown in summer, darker on the 

 back than elsewhere ; but the under-parts, the inner 

 sides of the limbs, the upper portion of the throat, 

 and a patch on the rump and round the root of the 

 tail are whitish : in winter the general colour is 

 lighter and greyer. The maximum recorded horn- 

 length is 44 inches, and the maximum girth some- 

 thing over 1 7 inches ; but any horns of 40 inches 

 or more in length, with a basal girth of from 1 5 to 

 1 7 inches, may be considered good. 



The typical bighorn is a native of the higher 

 mountain ranges from British Columbia to Arizona. 



Dr. Allen and other American naturalists recog- 

 nise rather more than half-a-dozen local phases or 

 races of the American bighorn, some of which differ 

 mainly in colour, while others display differences 

 from the typical animal in the length of the ears 

 and the form of the skull and horns. 



