On the high plateau of the Pamirs and the adjacent districts MARCO POLO'S SHEEP is found. The rams are only slightly less in size than the Siberian argali; the hair is longer than in that species, and the horns are thinner and more slender and extend farther in an outward direction. An adult ram may weigh 22 stone. The first description of this sheep was given by the old traveller whose name it now bears. He said that on the Pamir plateau wild animals are met with in large numbers, particularly a sheep of great size, having horns three, four, and even six palms in length. The shepherds (? hunters) form ladles and vessels from them. In the Pamirs, Marco Polo's sheep is seldom found at less than 11,000 or 12,000 feet above the sea. In the Thian-shan Mountains it is said to descend to 2,000 or 3,000 feet. They prefer the hilly, grassy plains, and only seek the hills for safety. On the Pamirs they are said to be very numerous in places, one hunter stating that he saw in one day not less than 600 head.
THE BIGHORN SHEEP OF AMERICA AND KAMCHATKA.
North America has its parallel to the argalis in the famous BIGHORN. It is now very rare even in Northern Canada, and becoming scarce in the United States, though a few are found here and there at various points on the Rocky Mountains as far south as Mexico. In habits it is much the same as other wild sheep--that is to say, it haunts the rock-hills and "bad lands" near the mountains, feeding on the scanty herbage of the high ground, and not descending unless driven down by snow.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. W. McLellan_] [_Highbury._
Sometimes called the Blue Sheep. They have a wide range both on the Himalaya and north of those mountains.]
The bighorn sheep are very partial to salt. Mr. Turner Turner, who hunted them in East Kooteney, says: "Wild sheep make periodical excursions to the mountain-tops to gorge themselves with salty clay. They may remain from an hour to two days, and when killed their stomachs will be found full of nothing but the clay formed from denuded limestone, which they lick and gnaw until sometimes deep tunnels are formed in the cliffs, large enough to hide six or seven sheep. The hunter, standing over one of these warrens, may bolt them within two yards of him. In the dead of winter sheep often come to the woods to feed on fir-trees. At such times they may be seen mixed with black-and-white-tailed deer, low on a river-bank. I have known them come within forty yards of an inhabited hut."