PALLAS’S TUR 
(CAPRA CYLINDRICORNIS) 
r HIS animal, locally called Tur, and sometimes spoken of as 
Pallas's Tur, somewhat resembles the Himalayan burhel in 
the curve of his horns, but in very little else. 
I have never been able to weigh one accurately, but should 
estimate him to be quite double the bulk of the Ladak sheep. 
Whether he is really a sheep or a goat is not quite certain; 
he certainly has a short beard, but seems to me, in general appearance 
and habits, to approach nearer to the former than the latter. To 
whatever family he belongs, he is a fine beast to hunt, and carries a 
beautiful head. 
There is a specimen of this animal in the Natural History Museum 
at South Kensington, mounted whole, which intending hunters would 
do well to study. It was presented by the late Prince Paul Demidoff, and 
the horns, for beauty of curve and general proportions, would be very 
difficult to beat. 
In order to avoid shooting an immature animal, the hunter who has 
not previously seen the beast alive in its natural surroundings should 
endeavour to get as accurate a conception of it as possible by studying 
mounted specimens in museums and, if available, living ones in zoological 
gardens. 
The actual measurements of a fair head may be got from Rowland 
Ward’s book, “ Records of Big Game,” but by carefully looking at 
mounted heads some idea of the size of horn compared with the facial 
length may be got. The first time one sees an animal the horns always 
look bigger than they really are, and even old hands sometimes make 
mistakes and suffer a pang of regret when they come to put the tape over 
the horns. 
We cannot all shoot record heads, but the sportsman should endeavour, 
as far as possible, to avoid killing anything that cannot be regarded as 
a fair-sized specimen. 
The habitat of the Capra cylindricornis is the eastern half of the Cau- 
casus range, more especially on the southern side; and one of his pecu- 
liarities is that in the summer months, at all events, he is frequently to be 
met with quite low down in the thick forest. The timber line here is, 
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