THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
great heat of late summer ought to be avoided, the most agreeable season 
for hunting being in the spring and autumn. On the whole the spring is 
probably the best season on account of the abundance of pasture, for 
this fact allows the domesticated flocks and their shepherds more room 
and therefore the wild sheep are less disturbed. 
In size and build the Asia Minor mouflon, or red sheep, is very like 
the urial or shapo of Persia and Northern India, the horns averaging 
almost the same length. The biggest known head, according to Rowland 
Ward’s records, is as much as 40| inches, but an average head of these 
days would be 28 to 30 inches. From the district to the east of Konia 
Mr E. N. Buxton obtained a head of 29| inches, and Mr R. Page one of 
28£ inches, while from the foothills of the Taurus, between Karaman and 
Eregli, a head of 30§ inches has been shot. It should be mentioned that these 
sheep differ from the urials in that the females have no horns at all. 
The mouflon turns up again on the eastern side of the Anti Taurus in the 
same form, ranging, in isolated habitats, as far north as Erzerum and as 
far south as the Karaja Dagh between Urfa and Mardin. This region is very 
little known to hunters and is probably well worth a visit. A line taken from 
Trezibond, on the Black Sea, to Aleppo or Adana might give the most 
interesting results. The high ranges to the south of Erzingan should be 
hunted. The Bimbogha Dagh and the Beirut Dagh, west and south-west 
of Albistan, is a good ibex ground, where the hunter will not be much 
troubled by trees. There is also a dry range to the south of Malatia, which 
is spoken of as full of ibex and seldom disturbed by the shepherds, who, 
for the most part, ruin the chances of the hunter in the high country during 
the only months he can get there. This journey should be undertaken in 
summer, for a great deal of the best country is impracticable before 
June. Moreover, the roads are likely to be impassable for weeks during 
the spring. Probably the quickest approach is by way of Aleppo, which 
can be reached in nine days from London, from which place carriage and 
pack horse, at a remarkably small cost of hire, will carry the traveller 
northwards to Aintab, Marash, Albistan and Malatia. From the latter 
town one can drive all the way to Trebizond. 
Mouflon are said to exist in this area, but I cannot find definite infor- 
mation as to the exact localities, except in the Hakkiari district, to the 
south of Lake Van. Ibex are on every summit that attains sufficient height 
or is uninhabited. In the big mountains, such as the Beirut Dagh, they 
inhabit the rock and shale area far above timber line— -the type of country 
16 
