so.

I saw altogether fourteen Yaks, nine one day in one herd, three another, and two another day, all bulls. They were in the most retired places and I am told, and I think it true, that whenever they see a man, at whatever distance, off they pack, and do not stop anywhere within fifteen miles or I was led to believe they were very sagacious, but I found them easy enough to stalk, and stupid unwieldy animals after they were hit. I was also told they were very savage; and on my first meeting them, (nine of them,) and when by a judicious stalk I got within an easy distance, I certainly expected an adventure, but I was disappointed with all, except one, which charged me, but which I knocked over with a bullet through his head when within ten yards of me. I got three out of this herd of nine. They were, when I first saw them, lying down at an elevation of about 18,000 feet, on the snow.

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All the other Yaks which I saw were very nearly at as high an elevation. They seem to go down to grass about sunset, feed all night, and are up again at this enormous elevation by a little after sunrise. I am talking of the months of July and August. Doubtless in the winter months they go as low as they can; the lowest valleys in this country are about 14,000 feet above the sea. I have seen their traces very numerous as high as 19,000 feet, and in the valleys as low as 15,000 feet. Those at the latter elevation were always old traces, doubtless of April, May, and June, before the passes were open, and before a single man had arrived in the country. One of the six that I shot had a white mark on the back, and he is smaller than the others, shewing his descent (on his father's side) from a tame one. This specimen is now set up in the Edinburgh University Museum. In 1854, the only wild specimens of this animal in England were, one in the India House Museum, and one in the Crystal Palace.

"Wild Yaks are known to exist in the Karakorum mountains, north of Ladak, and south of Yarcund and Cashgar."

THE THAR, OR JEMLAH GOAT.

Hemitragus Jemlaicus, (H. Smith.)

This animal differs from the true Goats in the peculiar form of its horns, which are very short and deeply notched in front, in having no beard, and in some other points of structure. It was first described by Col. Hamilton Smith, in 1827, in Griffiths' translation of Cuvier's Regne Animal,' and named by him Capra Jemlahica. Dr. Gray has since instituted the genus Hemitragus, proposed by Mr. Hodgson, and placed it at the head of his sub-tribe Caprea. In Nepal it is known by the name of Jharal; in Cachmere, according to Mr. Vigne and Dr. Adams, it is called Krás. The latter gentleman informs me that it is abundant on the banks of the river Chenub, Kistuar, near Cachmere; that the female, whose horns are small,

has no mane; and that the kids are white, with a black stripe down the back.

Capt. Smyth adds the following:

"The Thar is found at an elevation of from 8,000 or 9,000 feet in winter, to 15,000 feet in summer. Thar stalking affords, I think, the best sport (certainly the most dangerous) in the Himalayahs. They are found on the face of the most frightfully precipitous ground, and it requires a good head and steady nerve to pursue them with any chance of success. The males are about three times the size of the females, and except in the rutting season (from beginning of October to middle of November) herd separately. From May to October the males are very difficult to find. As the snow melts on the heights, and the grass springs up, their grazing ground becomes more and more extended, until in August and September they are sometimes found as high as 15,000 feet. The females keep more together in the lower ground, and are seldom seen so high as 10,000 feet, so that with very little trouble, comparatively, one can get a good day's sport among them. I have known many Himalayah sportsmen who have killed heaps of Goral, Kakur (Barking Deer), Bears, &c., the summit of whose ambition was to kill one large male Thar.

"Between May and October the males only feed very early in the morning and at sunset; during the day they lie down in out-of-the-way places, and are very difficult to find, so that I have frequently been out after them in those months without seeing any. The one and two year old males herd with the females the whole year round. Towards the end of September a few females are often seen in the high grounds with the male Thar, these they entice down to the low grounds. This is the time to shoot the males. They are now in the best condition, very fat, and their coats beautifully black and glossy.

During the rutting season the males are always fighting, and numbers of them are killed by falling down the crags. I have frequently come across their remains. An old Thar is a really fine animal, and one does feel a great deal of satisfaction in knocking one over; but no one should go after them who has not full confidence in his own powers of climbing, and the steadiness of his head. The ground is something frightful. I always used to take off my shoes; afterwards, to save my feet from thorns and rocks, I used to bind a lot of old cloth, &c., round my feet, and a network of string round all, tied tight about the instep and ankles. This I found most useful in climbing. A long rope is indispensable to let one another down, or haul one another up places otherwise impassable, so that two or three people should always go together. The natives are so fond of the flesh of a male Thar, that I have occasionally seen them rip open one I had just shot, and devour the liver, fat, &c., raw. I have eaten it cooked in various ways, but the flesh is too strong tasted to be agreeable. I do not know the weight exactly of a large Thar, but I remember the largest one I ever shot was in October. He was lying on the edge of a rock, on the face of an awful precipice. By taking off shoes and stockings I climbed down this precipice, to within about one hundred yards of him, and straight above

him; and my bullet broke his spine, close to the neck. He was paralysed, and could only move his head. This was fortunate, as if he had struggled he must have tumbled down this precipice, and been smashed to pieces 2000 feet below. As I wanted to make a specimen of him, I sent for seven of my coolies (porters). We cut down a small tree, tied him to it, and attempted to move him out of his perilous position. With our united efforts (eight of us) we could only move him about two yards. After he was butchered, there were six heavy loads of his carcase to bring up to

camp.

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At this season of the year they look, from a distance, like Black Bears, and are hardly smaller. In May, June, and July, before they get their new coat, they are of a rusty grey colour, and have a mangy appearance. They have long hair on the neck, almost like a mane. To make a good specimen, the best time to shoot one is towards the end of November. In October they are so fat it is impossible to get the fat out of the skin. Later in the winter the hair is thicker, but loses the gloss it has in October and November; and the long hair of the neck gets torn off by thorns and brambles. The female is in best condition, both for eating and to make a specimen of, in December.

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There is a smaller kind of Thar, (of which also I have a good specimen), inhabiting lower ranges, the males of which do not go up to the snow in summer, like the large males. Their origin is doubtless the same; and the difference of size is accountable from local causes, and the greater heat of the lower hills.

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A great many natives lose their lives in pursuit of the Thar, like the Chamois-hunters in Switzerland."

THE ARGALI SHEEP.

Caprovis Argali, (Pallas.)

This gigantic animal, better known as the Ovis Ammon, was placed by Linnæus with the Goats. Pallas subsequently proposed for it the genus Egoceros, and the specific name of Argali. Dr. Gray has adopted the generic name of Caprovis of Hodgson, but he divides this into two subgenera; Musimon for the Moufflon, &c., and Argali for the present species and the Big-horn of America, if really distinct. The hair of the Argali, like that of most rock-frequenting Ruminants, is short, harsh, nearly erect, waved and crisp, and attached to the skin by a very fine point. The color is chiefly pale brown, darker on the fore part of the limbs; the tail is white beneath, and there is more or less of white on the rump.

Dr. Gray, after carefully comparing specimens from the Himalayas, received from Mr. Hodgson, with others from Siberia, received through Russian naturalists, is unable to discover any points of difference, though

Mr. Hodgson says they are distinct. Dr. Gray agrees with Mr. Blyth in considering the North American species, termed the Big-horn, as probably identical with the Siberian.

Dr. Adams informs me that in Ladakh this species is called Naboo; he was only on the borders of its range, but was told that it grazed the country in immense flocks in Chinese Tartary. Dr. Hooker speaks of flocks of fifty on the borders of Thibet, visited by him, where they are known under the name of Gnow. They were very seldom seen, and always at great elevations.

Captain Smyth's remarks are:

"The Ovis Ammon of the Himalayahs is found in the country on the North slopes of those mountains, and on the low ranges of hills rising from the plains of Thibet; it is also sometimes, though rarely, seen on these level plains. These plains are at an elevation of from 14,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea, and the hills on which it is found rise 2,000 or 3,000 feet higher. It is a splendid animal; the ram, which stands about as high as a donkey, is very much if not the same animal as the Ovis Argali of the Rocky Mountains. The head of the ram, with the horns, will sometimes weigh as much as forty pounds. The shape and curve of the horn is exactly that of the domestic ram. The largest one I have shot measures in length, taking the outside of the curve, forty-one inches, and in circumference seventeen and a half inches. The female is much smaller than the ram, the horns are small and flat, eight or ten inches long, and generally curving outwards towards the points. Males and females herd separately, and as far as my experience goes, are seldom to be found any where near together. They are not numerous, and unless one has information of where they are to be found, a great deal of time will be wasted in looking for them. They haunt localities, males one place, females another, which are very far separate. They have seldom been shot by Englishmen, as their haunts are very far away in the interior of an inhospitable country. I do not think a full-grown ram was ever shot by a European in this country till about five or six years ago, (and very few have been killed since), Several females had been killed previously. Their feet are formed differently from the Burral's, and they cannot go into precipitous ground. I have always found them more difficult to stalk than any animal in the Himalayahs. The ground where they are found is so open, and they are so particularly wary and sensitive of smell, that I have been out after them, day after day, without getting a shot, though seeing sɔme every day.

"Ovis-Ammon stalking is, I think, the most fatiguing work of all. To walk any distance on level ground at such an elevation is exertion enough; but walking up and down hill at an elevation of from 15,000 to 17,000 feet, is killing work for a man not in first-rate condition. Unlike most other wild animals, they do not seem to care about being near water; while the grass is green, (i. e., until September, when it begins to be bitten by severe

frosts), they only drink once in four or five days, and one is as likely to come across them ten or twelve miles away from the nearest water as anywhere. I once camped about a mile away from the only water in a neighbourhood where I knew Oves Ammon were, thinking it likely I might come across them as they came to drink, but I never met them near the water, though I often saw them four or five miles away from it. In 1852 I wasted about a month in looking for Oves Ammon in a country I knew very little about, though I knew they were to be found there, and during all that time I only saw one small flock. I had no person with me who knew their haunts, and I would strongly dissuade any other sportsman from following my example. He may, of course, stumble upon them, but the chances are he would be as unfortunate as I was then. In 1853, profiting by experience, I took two men with me, who knew most of the Ammon ground in this country of Hoondes,' and was very fortunate in consequence, bagging nine of them. It is evident that the rams frequent different places at different seasons of the year. In winter, numbers of them die; in some places I have come across a great many skulls and carcases of them, where I have never seen the animals themselves. I have seldom found the carcases of the females. The ram Ammon is a splendid animal, and I know nothing so exciting as Ammon stalking, chiefly on account of the difficulty of meeting with success. The skin and hair of the Ovis Ammon

is very much like that of the Burral, and they, as well as the Burral, and all animals (wild and domestic) of this elevated country, are provided with a fleece of fine 'pushm' wool, as a protection against the severe cold."

THE BURRHEL SHEEP.

Pseudois Nahoor, Hodgson. Ovis Burrhel, Blyth.

The Burrhel Sheep was first described as such by Mr. Blyth, in 1840, from a specimen in the Museum of the Zoological Society of London, shot in the great snowy range near the Burenda Pass (lat. 31° 23′; long. 78° 12'), at an elevation of from 15,000 to 17,000 feet, by Thos. Smith, Esq., 15th Native Infantry. Mr. Blyth believed its smaller size and smoother and darker horns to prove it undoubtedly distinct from the Ovis Nahoor, several years previously described by Mr. Hodgson as inhabiting Nepal. Mr. Hodgson, however, subsequently claimed the Burrhel as no other than his Nahoor, the common name by which it is known to the Nepalese. On this question Capt. Smyth says, "I have seen an immense number of Burral in my time, and have several times shot two out of the same flock differing in size, color, and shape of horns considerably, and I do not see any necessity for making two species of them."

The Burrhel is distinguished from the true sheep by the want of the crumen or eye-pits on the front of the face; by rounded uncom