THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
to spy, to learn how to pick out the long horns, and does not waste his 
chances on the hosts of average heads that are always to be shot. The 
actual record length of horn is 58 inches, shot by Colonel H. Appleton; 
there are several of 57 inches recorded by Messrs Rowland Ward in the 
new edition of “Big Game Measurements 53 to 54 inches seems to be 
the size of a fair average head which contents most hunters. They are all 
wonderful trophies to the man who has laboriously hunted ibex elsewhere 
in Asia; the Tian Shan certainly spoils one for anything else. 
The wild sheep of the Tian Shan are more local in their distribution 
than the ibex, and, although always to be obtained, need more careful hunt- 
ing and perhaps even call for more extensive journeys. In the main Tian 
Shan, to the south of Kuldja, they are to be found chiefly in the vicinity of 
Karagay Tash, at the head of the Kok-su Valley, where they inhabit a 
comparatively small, rather rugged country as compared with the 
majority of extensive plateau -like sheep grounds. Heads of a very good 
size exist there, however, and the sheep themselves are fairly numerous. 
Their main resort is the Yulduz Plateau, which lies on the southern side 
of the main water-parting, and which is reached from the Jirgalan Valley 
on the north by crossing the Jamby Pass and Karagay Tash Pass. 
From the south it is easily approached from Kuchar. This is a typical 
sheep country, composed of rolling, grassy downs at an average altitude 
of 9,000 to 10,000 feet. The surroundings and the habits of these sheep 
are very like those of the Ovis poli already described, to which they are 
closely allied. In fact, all the sheep grounds of the Tian Shan are very 
similar, and only differ from the Pamirs in that they are miniatures of those 
immense and high-lifted upland valleys. 
The Yulduz or the Upper Kok-su districts should give the hunter the 
few trophies of wild-sheep that he desires, but it must be remembered that 
they are becoming more difficult to get, the chief reason being that the 
natives are advancing with their innumerable flocks on to what used to be 
uninhabited country, completely given over to wild game. The sheep do not 
here run in the big herds that gather on the more extensive plateaux 
to the west. The rams are generally to be seen in groups of five to ten 
individuals. They attain a good length, 55 inches being a very fair head and 
one often obtained; they run to as much as 58 inches in these localities, 
and one phenomenal head of 70 £ inches has been picked up. There are 
many other sheep grounds, some of a very extensive nature, in other parts 
of the Tian Shan, which a sportsman keen on sheep hunting would do well 
142 
