ale darker coloured than the male, and may often be distinguished,
when too far to see the horns, by the dark hue of the neck." Both
male and female are horned; the horns of the former are very large,
some are reported as being as much as four feet long, and 22 inches
in circumference at the base. Dr. Jerdon quotes Colonel Markham in
giving 24 inches as the circumference of one pair. They are deeply
rugose, triangular, and compressed, deeper than broad at the base,
forming a bold sweep of about four-fifths of a circle, the points
turning outwards, and ending obtusely. The horns of the female are
mentioned by various writers as being from 18 to 22 inches, slightly
curved; but the correspondent of the _Civil and Military Gazette_
above quoted gives 24 inches as his experience.

SIZE.--From 10 to 12 hands, sometimes an inch over.

[Illustration: _Ovis Hodgsoni_.]

A very interesting account of this animal, with a good photograph
of the head, is given in Kinloch's 'Large Game-shooting in Thibet
and the North-west.' He says: "In winter the _Ovis Ammon_ inhabits
the lower and more sheltered valleys, where the snow does not lie
in any great quantity. As summer advances, the males separate from
the females, and betake themselves to higher and more secluded places.
They appear to be particular in their choice of a locality, repairing
year after year to the same places, where they may always be found,
and entirely neglecting other hills which apparently possess equal
advantages as regards pasturage and water. Without a knowledge of
their haunts a sportsman might wander for days and never meet with
old rams, although perhaps never very far from them. I have myself
experienced this, having hunted for days over likely ground without
seeing even the track of a ram, and afterwards, under the guidance
of an intelligent Tartar, found plenty of them on exactly similar
ground a mile or two from where I had been. The flesh of the _Ovis
Ammon_, like that of all the Thibetan ruminants, is excellent; it
is always tender, even on the day it is killed, and of very good
flavour, possibly caused by the aromatic herbs which constitute so
large a portion of the scanty vegetation of those arid regions.

"No animal is more wary than the _Ovis Ammon_, and this, combined
with the open nature of the ground which it usually inhabits, renders
it perhaps the most difficult of all beasts to approach. It is however,
of course, sometimes found on ground w