MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
1127 
has always been finished by then ; the old rams having mostly separated into 
small parties unaccompanied by ewes. It seems certain therefore, that the rut 
falls normally between the first week of October and the last in November. 
The present close season is therefore based on, zoologically, incorrect data. 
1 have always seen the first lambs in the first week in April and some are bom 
in the first half of May. The period of gestation therefore appeals to be 5^ 
months. 
Ewes are said to come into bearing in their fourth year, but it is possible that 
the third year is correct. Data on a point like this are verj' hard to obtain, and 
observations based on animals in captivity are not always applicable to wild 
animals. 
It seems certain that a ram is not fully mature till his eighth year, at which age 
his horns should measure from 24 to 27 inches according to the conditions of 
grazing in his youth. 
I would here emphasise the fact that oorial are grazing and not brow'sing ani- 
mals, and that during the recent drought the want of grass was a strong factor in 
the reduction of their numbers. 
Preservation . — It has always been found that on grounds where the old 
males have been shot off, that the heads never recover their strength, even 
with several years complete preservation, e.g. Red deer in Scotland and ibex in 
the Sind Valley in Kashmir. Once the immature rams have no difficulty in 
obtaining ewes, the stock weakens. There are at present a few old rams 
amongst the oorial, and a very promising stock of five to seven-year-olds. If these 
old rams are killed off now the stock bom next year will be weak and a danger 
to the race. Then, if as they mature, the others are killed, the competition for 
ewes will cease and the race may even die out altogether. 
A po.ssible alternative to complete cessation of shooting for five years is clos- 
ing for two or three years and then reopening to limited shooting with a 
higher size hmit : I would recommend 26 inches. Nature has a way of compen- 
sating for the unusual, and it may be found that next spring the ewes will mostly 
have bom twfins instead of the usual single lamb. 
As far as relative damage by sportsmen and villagers is concerned, it must be 
remembered that the modem young officer has still to be educated in the ethics 
of sport and the principles of preservation. There is a great deal of poaching 
carried out by Europeans in rukhs near the railway : notably Nili and Lehri 
Godari. I heard of three British officers basing their operations on Tarki railway 
station in the middle of last October, and killing 14 rams between them. I have 
personal knowledge of two other cases when officers from Rawalpindi motored to 
Sehawa and shot oorial under direction of a doctor (or veterinarj' officer) of a 
camel corps stationed there, he himself having no license. I found that much of 
this was due to ignorance of the shooting regulations, and after getting the Com- 
mandant of the Musketry School at Rawalpindi to post a notice on the subject, 
the practice ceased to a large extent. When I v/as in occupation of NUi rukh 
in the first half of December 1920, I twice saw Europeans shooting in my block, 
but was unable to come up with them on either occasion. 
I would suggest that the regulations on the subject bo posted in every club. 
Villagers' dogs are a fmitful source of damage, as they chase ewes heavy with 
young, and frequently destroy the new-born lambs. I recommend their absolute 
exclusion from rukhs. 
The' occasional visit of a sportsman to a rakh is an excellent thing, as it often 
reveals an outbreak of poaching or of slackness of a watcher, and certainly acts 
as a deterrent. During the war the game in the remoter portions of Kashmir 
is reported to have decreased considerably owing to the want of any check on 
the Game Watchers and the consequent increase of poaching. 
The proportion of rams to ewes should bo about 50 per cent, of all ages : 
this gives about 10 ewes to every fully mature ram. Any increase of this 
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