THE URIAL 
(OV/S VIGNEI PUNJABENSIS) 
T HE urial of the Salt Range is a very similar beast to the Sharpoo 
of Ladak and Astor, though it lives in a warmer climate and at a 
lower elevation. There are now, alas! few good heads to be got 
in the Salt Range, which is a delightful country to hunt in during 
the cold weather, but too easily accessible. The finest specimens 
of this sheep now come from Waziristan. 
As regards the beard of the urial, Mr R. Lydekker has made some 
interesting comments in “ Country Life,” from which it appears that that 
appendage may be a matter merely of age and not of season, as specimens 
with and without beards have been shot out of the same herd. 
One year in the Salt Range I secured a good ram in the last ten minutes 
of daylight on my final day. The circumstances of the hunt were somewhat 
unusual, as the ram was sighted with a herd of ewes too late in the day to 
make a stalk with due regard to the wind. The head shikari’s suggestion 
to attempt to move them towards me with his two assistants seemed the 
only feasible plan. Their mode of procedure was somewhat curious, as 
they started off in full view, singing as they went, and pretending to pick 
up firewood as they moved along. The urial, being so used to seeing 
villagers act in this manner, took hardly any notice and allowed the men 
to get right round them and drive them in my direction. They came along 
quite slowly, pausing every now and then to snatch a mouthful of grass, 
till they passed within a hundred yards and offered a fatal shot. 
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