THE PUNJAB SHEEP 
Oris cycloceros. 
Plate XXIY. 
Bbigadieb General Hearsey, when living at Sealkote, devoted much of his leisure to the study of Natural 
History, and knowing the desire of the Zoological Society to possess a collection of the wild Ovine Animals 
of India, applied himself to the difficult task of obtaining and transmitting to England living specimens of 
such species as might be attainable. By the co-operation of Lieut, Bartlett, of the Bengal Army, a male, and 
subsequently a female of the present fine species of Wild Sheep, were captured in the Punjab, and successfully 
sent home. The female was both young and delicate when she arrived, but good treatment soon re-established 
her vigor, and in 1858 she gave birth to the twins figures of which appear in the drawing. These animals 
were both females, as was also a second set of twins which she produced in the subsequent year. In 1860 
the same female gave birth to a single male lamb, which, however, unluckily died before it was many 
weeks old. 
The Punjab Sheep passed for several years in the Menagerie under the name Yigne’s Sheep {Oris rignii), 
being supposed to belong to the species described under that name by Mr. Blyth in the Society’s “Proceedings” 
in 1840 (p. 10). In a communication lately made to the Society, I have attempted to prove that we have 
misnamed the animal, and that it is really quite different from the Wild Sheep of Ladakh and Thibet, which 
should more properly bear the name Oris rignii. My attention was first called to this point by my friend 
Captain Speke, who, upon seeing the present animals in the Gardens, at once declared them to be very 
different from those which he had himself pursued and shot in the higher regions of Little Thibet. There 
seems to be little doubt that Mr. Blyth’s original name, Oris rignii, comprehends both of these Wild Sheep. 
ILe associates together, under the same scientific appellation, “the Sha of Little Thibet,” and the “Koch of 
the Sulimani range between India and Kliorassan.” His description is perhaps rather referable to the latter, 
being the animal which we have alive in our Gardens. But it seems better that the name Oris rignii should 
be restricted to the Tibetan animal for two reasons: first, because the Sheep discovered by Mr. Yigne in 
“ Little Tibet, where the river breaks through the chain of the Himalaya,” and dedicated to its discovei’er by 
Mr. Blyth, was doubtless the Sha ; secondly, because the present animal, the Koch, or Oorial of the Sulimani 
range, has already been well described by Captain Hutton, who has proposed to call it Oris cycloceros, from the 
nearly circular shape which the adult male’s horns take, as may be seen in Mr. Wolf’s admirable figure. 
Captain Hutton tells us that the “Bearded Sheep,” as he also calls this animal, from the fine black beard 
which adorns the throat and chest of the males, “inhabit the mountainous track of Kliorassan, being found 
throughout the Sulimani, Kijet Amraun, Hindoo Ivoosh, and Iluzarreli Hills, descending in winter into the 
plains and valleys in small flocks. They are pursued by the hunters for the sake of the flesh which is good 
and well-flavoured, while the horns are placed as trophies of success and proofs of skill upon tombs and 
temples.” 
Dr. A. Leith Adams, who has contributed many valuable notices of the habits and haunts of the 
animals of Northern India, to the Society’s “Proceedings,” informs us (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 526) that the Punjab 
Sheep “ frequents bleak and barren mountains, composed of low ranges, intersected by ravines and dry river 
courses, where vegetation is scanty at all seasons, and goats or sheep are seldom driven to pasture. It is found 
in small herds, and being fond of salt, is generally most abundant in the neighbourhood of the salt mines. 
Shy and watchful, it is difficult to approach, and possesses in an eminent degree the senses of sight and smell. 
It is seldom seen in the day time, being secreted among rocks, whence it issues at dusk to feed in the fields and 
valleys, returning to its retreat at day-break. 
“When suddenly alarmed, the males give a loud shrill whistle, like the Ibex. This is an invariable signal 
for the departure of the herd, which keeps moving all the rest of the day until dusk. Their bleat is like that 
of the tame species; and the males fight in the same way; but the form of the body and infraorbital glands 
simulate the Deer; hence it is often called the “ Deer Sheep.” It equals the Deer in speed and activity. 
“The female gestates seven months. The rutting season is in September. The young are often caught, 
but are difficult to rear. I attempted to rear several; and although they became very tame, and took to a 
she-goat, all eventually died of a distemper accompanied by a discharge from the nose, and cough. The lungs 
were found, after death, in an inflamed state, shewing in fact, well-marked cases of acute pneumonia. With 
care, however, they can be domesticated; and I have seen them become as docile and tame as any of the 
domestic varieties. The males, however, are apt to become pugnacious and unmanageable.” 
