XXXI. THE LARGE WILD SHEEP OF INDIA

(Oves Poli, Ammon, &c.)

In Central and Northern Asia there were at one time no fewer than eight recognised varieties of giant wild sheep, viz. O. Poli, O. Karelini, O. Heinsi, O. nigrimontana, O. Ammon, O. Hodgsonii, O. Brookei, O. nivicola.

Mr. W. T. Blanford, however, after inspecting a magnificent collection of heads, made by Hon. C. Ellis, which exhibit every gradation of curve between the two extreme types, declared in his paper to the Zoological Society in 1884 that he considered O. Poli and O. Karelini to be practically the same species, and the formidable list may be further reduced from a sportsman’s view by massing the varieties into three broad types, viz:

1. O. Poli with its little known varieties, O. Heinsi, and O. nigrimontana; for though these appear to differ somewhat in size (O. nigrimontana being a comparatively small animal), their horns are of the same wide-spreading type.

2. O. Ammon, O. Hodgsonii and O. Brookei; the difference between the first two is very trifling, and O. Brookei is considered by some authorities to be possibly a hybrid between O. Hodgsonii and O. Vignei (Shapoo).

3. O. nivicola, which more nearly resembles O. montana (the Bighorn of the Rocky Mountains).

The first type is found, according to M. Severtzoff, only in Turkestan, from the Pamir through the Thian Shan range as far eastwards as Tengri Khan; its varieties being located as follows: O. Heinsi in the Tockmack district west of Tengri Khan; O. nigrimontana in Karatan, near Samarcand.

The second type is not found in Turkestan. Its range is the Altai from Tengri Khan as far eastward as the sea of Baikal, and then southwards by the sources of the Hoang-ho and Yang-se-kiang rivers down to Ladak and the southern frontier of Thibet.

The third type is found in Kamtchatka.

In colour all these sheep are much the same; generally a rather rich greyish brown fading to greyish white towards the tail and belly, with, in the ram, a greyish white ruff on the neck. This is the chief distinguishing mark of a ram Ovis Ammon at a distance, the ewe having a brown neck; in fact, the ram looks as if his thoughtful spouse had insisted on his wearing a white comforter for fear of catching cold. The horns of the ram, large as they are, are of such a pale colour as to be hardly distinguishable in certain lights at long distances. The Ovis Poli appears to have little or no ruff, but has a dark line down the back, which the Ovis Ammon has not, and has also a more clearly defined white anal disc.

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Measurements (continued)

Old rams of the Ovis Ammon are by no means easy to bring to bag. The bare open downs they live on afford little or no cover for a stalk; the wind in Ladak, piercingly cold as it is, seems to take a delight in blowing from all points of the compass in turn, especially if there are any clouds about; the rams themselves are particularly wary and keen-scented, and the least suspicion of danger will set them marching steadily across country for miles without stopping. In the summer, like most hill animals, the old rams leave the ewes and young ones and form small flocks by themselves, selecting favourite valleys to which they repair year after year, and being rarely found on the same ground as the ewes at that season, i.e. after the middle of June. I have, however, seen a flock of five rams and ten ewes together as late as June 11 and secured a big ram out of it. Ward’s remarks about hunting Ovis Ammon are worth quoting:

Even supposing the sportsman to have everything in his favour, wind, cover, and the rest, there are pretty sure to be some kyang about, and these once disturbed, good-bye to the oves. The writer had once been watching two fine old rams from early morning till 2 p.m. before the wind would let him attempt the stalk; he had got within a quarter of a mile of the rams with absolutely nothing to do but walk straight on up to them, when suddenly a brute of a kyang jumped up from behind a rock where he had been lying hid, galloped straight up the valley past the oves, found seven devils worse than himself, brought them all back to show them the quaint manners of an infuriated man with a gun, and concluded the entertainment by galloping round and round him out of shot. The oves naturally took the hint, and not caring for an asinine circus, simply marched off to the next county.

Large bags of ram oves are consequently seldom made. Mr. O. Shaw got nine in 1877, including one of 47 ins.; the rest of the bag was, one bull yak, eight or ten burrel, one of 27 ins., eleven Thibetan antelope and one shapoo; this was an exceptional bag by an exceptionally hard working sportsman.

The native names for O. Poli are ‘Rass,’ ‘Roosh,’ ‘Goolga’ (the male), and for O. Ammon ‘Nyan.’

XXXII. BURREL (Ovis Nahura vel Burhel)

Native names: ‘Baral,’ ‘Barut’; in Ladak ‘Napo’ the male, ‘Namoo’ the female; Zanskar, ‘Snapo,’ ‘Snamoo’; on the Sutlej ‘Wa’

Sterndale appears to have fallen into a curious mistake about this sheep. He says: ‘The name Ovis Nahura is not a felicitous one, as it was given under a mistake by Hodgson, the nahoor being quite another animal. I think Blyth’s name of Ovis Burhel should be adopted.’ On reference, however, to Blyth’s account in the ‘Proceedings Zoo. Soc. 1840,’ it will be found that he calls the animal generally known as burrel the ‘nahoor,’ and says of Ovis Burhel, ‘It is smaller and more robust than the nahoor, with shorter ears and very dark horns, having no white about it; and general colour dark and rich chestnut brown, with the ordinary black markings upon face, chest, and front of limbs very distinct.’ The specimen came from the Boorendo Pass, but as no more specimens have been obtained from that locality or elsewhere, it appears to be quite possible that Blyth was misled by a native-cured skin. Discoloration by curing is common.

The burrel has a very extended range, reaching from Ladak on the west (it apparently does not extend into Baltistan) to East Thibet, as Père David found it in Moupin. Its southern limit is the line of the Himalayas; it extends up north to the Kuenluen ranges, and was obtained by Prejevalski on the Altyn-Tagh. It seems to require an altitude of at least 10,000 ft., and many of the shooting grounds are quite 17,000 ft. above the sea-level.

Its general colour is a light slaty grey. The ram has black marks on the chest, side, and legs, and these are the points to look for in a distant flock to distinguish the sex; the ram’s horns being of a very pale colour, are often hardly distinguishable.

The old rams in the summer generally live apart from the ewes, and on some grounds, notably about Chumatung on the Indus, the rams seem to take themselves off to separate valleys; usually they keep to another part of the same valley, and occasionally intermix.

Burrel are quite the hardest animals to see on a hillside unless they are moving; their colour so exactly matches the blue shale of Ladak, that when they are lying down a flock may be easily overlooked by even a careful man with glasses. Being pretty plentiful where they are found at all, and as a rule, where not much shot at, fairly easy to approach, a visitor to Ladak, if he works at all, must indeed have been behind the door when the luck was served out if he cannot get a few burrel heads. Ordinarily they are found on fairly broken ground, and usually not very far away from rocky cliffs of some sort; they are capital climbers, no sheep better, and a wounded ram is by no means an easy beast to recover. If a burrel had only the horns of an ibex he would be the most charming beast to hunt in the whole of the Himalayas. An old ibex when he is shot stinks appallingly, and is practically uneatable. A burrel on the other hand, no matter how old a ram he may be, is always excellent; his head, pretty trophy as it is, is his weak point. The writer has seen burrel and ibex on the same ground, though never actually feeding together; a friend in 1866 saw burrel and ther feeding together between Joshimath and the Niti Pass, and General Macintyre also notices this on the same ground.

As with ibex, several shots can generally be obtained at a flock of burrel before they get out of range, provided the stalker keeps hidden; but he should take pains to stop his cripples, if he does not want a stiffish task set him afterwards in recovering them. Major Ward recommends using Baltistan dogs, and if procurable, good dogs no doubt would be invaluable; but the mere fact of having dogs out, unless they are exceptionally good and led by a native of more than ordinary intelligence, generally so multiplies the chances against a successful stalk that one is better without them. English dogs, he says, are useless among rocks and cannot stand the rarefied air.

I remember having a capital day with burrel. I sighted a flock of eight good rams in the morning, but could not attempt to close with them till the afternoon on account of four kyang who persistently kept in the way. At last the kyang fed away, and after a longish détour the burrel, who were lying down, were approached by my sliding down the hillside on my back. Having got within fifty yards of one whose horns were just visible, the expedient of shuffling among the loose stones with the hand was tried to get him to stand up, but this only brought the tips of an ear in sight by the base of the horn. Another shuffle and the ram stood up, but only showed about a couple of inches of the top of his shoulder. Foolishly firing at this instead of at his neck, the shot missed, the whole flock bolted at once, and a running shot with the left barrel also missed. Reloading at once, the chase was carried on down the hillside, and the burrel were again found, standing looking at their pursuer about a hundred and fifty yards off. Picking out the biggest ram, a shot from the shoulder rolled him over, but a snap-shot at the hind-quarters of another disappearing down the hill missed. Another run of about three hundred yards afforded another chance, as when within one hundred and eighty yards of the flock it again halted, and a second ram fell to the shot. The rest went about three hundred yards and stood again. I still followed, and at two hundred and fifty yards broke the forearm of a third ram close to the body. By this time rest was the first necessity, but after a short pause the wounded ram was followed up and bagged with another shot. The first was ten years old, horns 25½ ins. by 14 ins. thick; second eight years, 23 ins. by 12 ins.; third eight years, 22 ins. by 10½ ins. Bad shooting but good fun.

Amongst other varieties of burrel are the Barbary burrel (Ammotragus Tragelaphus), of which there is a skeleton in the British Museum which stands 33½ ins. at the shoulder, and a pair of horns measuring 26 ins. in length by 11 ins. in girth; also the Caucasian burrel (Capra Pallasi), of which there is a specimen in the same museum, whose horns are 29 ins. long by 12 ins. in girth; but the animal looks more like a goat than a sheep, having a rudimentary beard, and the horns are more like those of Capra pyrenaica than Ovis Nahura.

XXXIII. SHAPOO (Ovis Vignei)

Native names: ‘Shapoo’ the male, ‘Shamoo’ the female; in Astor, ‘Oorin’

Shapoo and oorin, though by some naturalists classed as separate varieties, may practically be considered identical; the writer has hunted both, and is unable to distinguish any difference in appearance or habits. The annual winter migration of oorin to the Boonji Plain is probably attributable to the snowfall in Astor being heavier than that of Ladak.

The only other difference (giving the result of individual experience) is that oorin are not nearly so restless as shapoo, being pretty regular in their feeding hours, and lying down throughout the heat of the day. Shapoo, on the other hand, are perpetually on the fidget. In colour they appear identical, generally a pale reddish grey fading into white below. The profuse black beard of the Ovis cycloceros is entirely absent, the shapoo in his winter coat having only a short stubbly brown beard, and in summer a dark line on the throat. The different points of Ovis Vignei and Ovis Cycloceros are briefly as follows, according to Mr. Sclater (‘Pro. Zoo. Soc.’ 1860):

The two varieties are much of the same size, but are entirely different in colour and habits. The horns of the shapoo are generally more massive than those of Ovis cycloceros, but the horns of both so vary in type and so closely resemble those of Ovis Gmelini from Asia Minor, that it is almost impossible, except for a highly trained scientific eye, to decide from this point alone to which of the three varieties a specimen belongs. Shapoo seem only to be found in the valley of the Indus, from a few miles above Leh down to the junction of the Astor river. How far below that they extend the inhabitants of Chilas only know, and they are not famed for hospitality or for communicating their knowledge. There appears to be a gap in the continuity of the species about Shigar and Rondu, which separates the shapoo from the oorin. The writer has never heard of shapoo being obtained there, and it would be interesting to know how far below Leh they are found. Shapoo seem to be very fond of wild thyme, which almost invariably grows plentifully on the ground they frequent. The venison is inferior to that of either Ovis Ammon or burrel.

The ram shapoo is a very game-looking beast, and the horns, standing well out from his head, show off to great advantage; but there is not an animal in the whole of the Himalayas so vexatious to hunt. Markhor are bad enough in all conscience, but even markhor are less heartbreaking to deal with than shapoo.

The writer once met a real typical shapoo, a true son of Belial. The beast started out of a ravine, galloped as hard as he could lay legs to the ground for four hundred yards, and then calmly lay down to think. After about a quarter of an hour he rose, strolled leisurely over a ridge, and then cantered off to some rocks about three-quarters of a mile away, where he lay down again. This necessitated a climb to the top of the hill, whence, wind and cover being perfect, the stalk would be easy enough. He remained there just long enough to enable the pursuer to begin the easy part of the stalk, when up he got, cantered gracefully back across the valley, and lay down on the opposite hill, in another very tempting position. This move entailed a détour, so as to cross the valley out of sight, and another climb up the far hill; half an hour was spent in reaching the desired spot: but though from there a magnificent view could be had of all the country round, there was not a sign of the shapoo, and the ground was too dry to show his tracks. Verily, shapoo are only shot when they give themselves away.

Shapoo are very tough beasts. The writer once regularly raked a ram galloping straight from him at thirty yards; the bullet, from a .500 Express, caught him on the rump, and the base of it was afterwards cut out in front of the liver; yet the ram ran some two hundred and fifty yards, stopped for about a minute to look round, and then started off again at a gallop, but after going a hundred yards fell over dead. The writer remembers no other instance of an animal stopping to gaze in its death gallop.

XXXIV. OORIAL (Ovis cycloceros)

Generally ‘Oorial,’ ‘Kuch,’ in the Suleiman range

This sheep is found in the Salt range near Jhelum, and wherever there are any suitable hills on both banks of the Indus from about Peshawur down to Beloochistan, where it is replaced by the next variety, Ovis Blanfordi. The ram has a long ruff of grizzled black hair which, flowing from his throat and chest down to his knees, emulates the grand beard of a markhor; this beard drops off in the summer, but begins growing again in August, and is at its full length during the rutting season late in September, which is about the best time for procuring good heads.

Measurements