OCR Text |
Show 1875.] ON ASIATIC SHEEP. 513 rounded edges; frontal surface very prominent; orbital surface rather flat, narrowing only in the last third of its length. The horns are three times as long as the skull. The basal and terminal axes of the horn rise parallel with each other; . . . the median axis is parallel with the axis of the skull. . . . The neck is covered by a white mane, shaded with greyish brown. The light brown of the back and sides is separated from the yellowish white of the belly by a, wide dark line. The light brown of the upper parts gets gradually lighter towards the tail, where it becomes greyish white, but does not form a sharply marked anal disk. On the back there is a sharply marked dark line running from the shoulders to the loins. I did not find any soft hair under the long winter hair in October. . . . Height at the shoulder 3 feet 6 inches, length of the horns from 44" to 4 5 V Bange.-" Oris karelini inhabits all the Semiretchinsk Altai, and also the Sapliskey Altai, but is not so common there as in the mountains between Tamgali (?) and Kaskelen ; but it is partly driven from this latter locality by the Cossack sportsmen, and has gone to a higher elevation, namely the Kebin Steppe, above the range of trees. East of Tamgali (?) (Turgeli ?), on the bare mountains and plains near the rivers Chilik and Kelen, Ovis karelini is very abundant, but not on the mountains covered with trees ; it extends from this locality as far as Santash. Further it inhabits all the neighbourhood of Issik Kul; is rather rare on the northern parts of the Thian Shan, which are thickly wooded. I also met with numerous flocks in the steppes of the Narin, where they find abundance of food and shelter at an elevation of about 12,000 or 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. This species is also met with on the mountains separating the Narin from its tributary the Atpash, as far as the plains between the rivers Kurtka and Chatir Kul; but from the eastern sources of the Atpash as far as the Chatir-Kul it is found only in company with Ovis polii." Habits.-" Ovis karelini, like other Sheep, does not live exclusively amongst the rocks, as is the case with the different species of Capra. It is not satisfied, like the latter, with small tufts of grass growing in the clefts of the rocks, but requires more extensive feeding-grounds ; it is therefore more easily driven from certain districts than is the case with Capra. In the neighbourhood of Kopal, for instance, the Goats are abundant in the central parts of the steppes of Kara, whilst the Sheep have been partially driven from these places, only visiting them in autumn. " O n the southern ranges of the Semiretchinsk Altai, in the vicinity of the river Hi, wherever good meadows and rocky places are found, Ovis karelini occurs at elevations of from 2000 to 3000 feet; at the sources of the rivers Lepsa, Sarkan, Kora, Karatala, and Koksa it goes as high as 10,000 feet, and even to 12,000 feet in the neighbourhood of the Upper Narin. In winter it is found at much lower elevations." W e have no hesitation in referring the specimens obtained by the Yarkand Mission to the south of Chatir Kul, on the Thian Shan, to PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1875, No. XXXIII. 33 |