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Show 362 ON W I L D S H E E P A N D ANTELOPE O F ALGERIA. [May 6, happened, however, that, though we were singularly unlucky hunting here, we saw them on several occasions within sight of the Station and within hearing of the railway-whistle. This was no doubt owing to the fact that there is a very lofty and broken cliff at that end of the mountain. On one occasion I saw with the telescope, from the neighbourhood of the Station itself, a small herd about 4 miles off, near the top of the mountain. Other ranges which we explored, and where we found the Sheep, were the curiously honeycombed Salt Mountain (literally of solid salt) to the east of El Outaja, a few miles south of El Kantera ; Bou Arif, 12 miles to the west of that place ; and the Ahmar Khadou, 40 miles to the east of Biskra, and forming part of the Aures Range. In fact, we found more or less of them in every precipitous range where we sought for them. The Sheep (Ovis tragelaphus) rejoices in a confusing number of vernacular names. In the Gardens of this Society it is known as the " Aoudad." The name is not recognized in Algiers, where it is called " Moufflon a Mauchettes " by the French, and " Aroui" by Arabs, or, in the case of the old males, " Feshtal." The Aroui are thinly scattered all over the above-named ranges, wherever they are rough and precipitous, and are doubtless to be found in similar spots on all the arid southern slopes of the Atlas from the Atlantic to Tunis. They are unknown further into the mountains, i. e. nearer to the coast, and I do not think are ever found out of sight of the desert1. After numerous inquiries 1 cannot hear authoritatively of any Englishman who has successfully stalked these animals until we did so, though I heard of two who have tried and failed. This is not surprising, for they are more difficult to find than any animal I have ever hunted. M y own experience will illustrate this. 1 hunted for twenty-three days, being nearly always out from before sunrise till after sunset, and I got shots at only four during that time. The reason for this is the extraordinary capacity for hiding itself shown by the " Aroui," in which it is assisted by its own nearly invisible colour, which is a pale rufous-yellow, and by the extremely broken character of the rocks, which, being for the most part of a soft limestone, readily decompose and are cut into numerous fantastic hollows and fissures, and are covered in many places with a rather extensive growth of scrubby Thuya bushes. The habits of the Arabs, continued for countless generations, have helped to form the habits of the Aroui. The nomad tribes pitch their tents necessarily within reach of one of the scanty springs of water, and daily lead their flocks of goats up the mountains, and no cliff or corrie is safe from their intrusion. The Aroui have thus no means of escaping from them, as every mountain within reach of water is similarly infested. They are constantly within sight and 1 The Arabs say that these Sheep never drink more frequently than once in five days; but though this, no doubt, enables them to traverse long distances in these thirsty slopes, I do not think they are often found at a great distance from water.-F. N. B. |
