ABERRANT WILD SHEEP 305 



the great length of the tail in both sexes the arui 

 differs from all other wild sheep, as it also does from 

 wild goats. 



Unlike the arui, the bharal [Pseudots nakura) is 

 a parti-coloured ruminant, readily distinguished from 

 all other wild sheep by this feature, combined with the 

 peculiar character of the horns of the rams, which 

 are rounded or subquadrangular at their bases, and 

 are directed at first backwards and outwards, and 

 then inwards and upwards in an S-like curvature, with 

 the surface nearly smooth, except for the transverse 

 rings of growth. The horns of the ewes are also 

 distinctive, being short, approximated at the base, 

 much compressed from back to front, and bending 

 upwards in a somewhat scimitar-like style. The 

 tail is rather longer than in ordinary wild sheep. 

 Equally characteristic is the colouring, which in 

 adult rams displays a conspicuous black flank-band 

 dividing the fawn of the back from the white of the 

 belly, as well as black stripes down the front of all 

 four legs, a dark streak down the face, and a black 

 tip to the tail. In size the bharal stands about 36 

 inches at the withers ; the build is rather heavy, the 

 head long and narrow, the ear short, and the coat 

 thick and close, without a mane on the neck or a 

 ruff on the throat. The general colour of the hair 

 on the rest of the upper-parts is brownish grey with 

 a tinge of slaty blue, tending more to brown in 

 summer and more to slaty grey in winter ; but the 



