1 841.] A Monograph of the species of Wild Sheep. 869 



not so much difference in size. Length, of the unique stuffed specimen 

 in the Museum of this (the Zoological) Society, from nose to tail, 

 54 inches, but a foot less would probably give the dimensions 

 of the recent animal, as the skin is evidently much stretched ; 

 height of the back 32 inches, from which also about 2 inches 

 might be deducted ; from muzzle to base of horn 8 inches, and ears 

 31 inches. The horns measure 20 inches over the uppermost ridge, 

 and 10 round at base, having their tips 25 inches apart ; but those of 

 a specimen noticed in the Bengal Sporting Magazine, (for 1839, p. 295.) 

 were 25 J inches long, with a girth of 11^ inches ; and a horn of this 

 same species, which I examined at Mr. Leadbeater's, had attained 

 a length of 2 feet, and circumference of 1 I inches at base, having 

 a span of 14 inches from base to tip inside, and numbering at least ten 

 indications of annual growth, and probably at least one more towards 

 the tip, which could not be made out with certainty. The respective 

 lengths of these were successively lOJ, 21, 2^, 1 j, 1|, l-J, 1, 1, J, and 

 the basal i inches. The coat of the Burrhel Sheep is rather long, and 

 harsher than that of the Nahoor, having less wool concealed beneath it 

 than in the Moufflon and Rocky Mountain species. The female is 

 undescribed, and I have met with no other specimens than are here 

 mentioned. 



In the description of the preceding species, the principal differences 

 are stated which distinguish the horns of that animal from those of the 

 present one. The Burrhel's horns have all the ridges rounded off, though 

 still sufficiently distinct, and the marks of annual growth are deeply in- 

 dented, the horn bulging a little between them. Upon a front view the 

 backward curvature of the tips disappears altogether, and the animal 

 has an imposing appearance, finer than that of the Nahoor. Its colour 

 is much darker than the summer dress of the Moufflon Sheep. 



The Burrhel would seem to inhabit a much loftier region of the 

 Himalaya than the Nahoor, where it bounds lightly over the encrusted 

 snow, at an altitude where its human pursuers find it difficult to 

 breathe. It has the bleat of the domestic species, as indeed they all 

 have, and is very shy and difficult of approach. Flocks of from ten to 

 twenty have been observed, conducted by an old male, which make for 

 the snowy peaks upon alarm, while their leader scrambles up some crag 

 to reconnqj^e, and if shot at and missed, bounds off a few paces fur- 



