NATURALIST IN INDIA. 277 



of the higliest peaks, I saw none, and became dead beat 

 long before we got half-way up. My companions also ex- 

 perienced the same unconquerable oppression. Young saw a 

 herd of nahoor or wUd sheep, and several herds of kiang. 

 The nahoor, if not identical, is very closely allied to the 

 burrel of the Borendo Pass.* It is called the naboo in 

 Ladakh, and is the sua of Tibet ; and, judging from the 

 quantities of its horns on the chaits and cairns of both 

 countries, it would appear to be their most common wild 

 ruminant. Mr. Blyth's disttactions between the two sorts of 

 burrel have reference chiefly to the form of the horn. He 

 says the burrel's is more rounded, the annual dents are better 

 marked, with larger bulgings between them. The outline of 

 the horn is more graceful, and the whole configuration of the 

 animal more imposing, I must confess I have not observed 

 these distinctions, although I have compared horns of the 

 nahoor with its more eastern congener ; and I question the 

 propriety of taking such equivocal points as a means of 

 separation. My own experience has taught me to place little 

 reliance on the shape of the horn, for both in this and the 

 other wild sheep and goats of the Himalayas the horn, as I 

 have had occasion to remark, is subject to considerable 

 variation in each species, both as to shape and appear- 

 ance. 



The argali, or Ovis amnion, is not uncommon in this 

 district, but is more plentiful on the northern ranges. A few 

 remain about the Tooskee Lake and neighbouring hills 

 during summer ; the majority, however, migrate to Nobra 

 as the snow melts. I had an opportunity of examining a 

 magnificent collection of skins and heads made in Nobra by 



» Proc. Zool. Soc. 1840, p. 68. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1841, vol. 

 vii. 249. 



