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.