fore-legs also white between the lateral hoofs and the'knees; underparts
whitish.
This ibex is represented, in addition to skulls and unmounted skins, by
three mounted males in the British Museum, two-of which are from the
Thian Shan, while the third is from the Altai, the latter locality being
apparently the one from which the species was first described. They are
all in the winter pelage, which is of the yellowish-white colour tinged
with brown or grayish usually seen in specimens shot by English sport^w
men, most h# all of which are killedMrf the late spring.
From Baltistan a very dark-coloured ibex has been reported, but was
Considered by Dr. Scully to be merely the old male in winter"' pelage.
Twgtlskins from thfffsame locality have beenSubsequently described by
Mr. F. W. True, who writes as follows :— “ They are in winter pelage
and very dark. The colours of the two skins are almost identical, and the
markings are very sharply defined, in which latter feature they appear to
differ from ordinary specimens of C. sibirica.” The following is a description
of one of these skins^^S* Face, neck, breast, fore-legs,"shoulders, the lower
part of the flanks, the thighs, a line along the spine, and the tail^Strong
umber-brown. The hind-legs are also brown, but have a sharply-defined,
large, oblong, white (or cream-coloured) mark on the postero-external
part of the metatarsus, extending from the hock to the outer falsf^hoof,
and prolonged between the latter and the true hoof. A white mane.,
(tinged with brown at the extremities of the hairs) extends along the
spine from the middle of the nape to the shoulders. The brown of the
shoulders follows, and behind this the whole back is occupied by a large
elliptical white mark, or saddle (somewhat washed with brown), which is
bisected longitudinally by a dark brown spinal line, as already (((stated.
Belly whitish ; ears white at the base anteriorly, brown elsewhere. The
beard is blackish-brown, with a few soiled white hairs at its base. A
narrow white area surrounds the anal region. All the hairs are white or
whitish at the base— purest where the extremities are merely tinged
brown, and le|S(|ip where they are dark.”
In the white on the lower part of the hind-legs, as well as in the
whitish under-parts, these specimens agree with the British Museum
examples from thfkThian Shan and Altai, but differ by the much darker
upper-parts, on which the whitish saddle alone accords with the general
Eoloration of the latter. They agree, however, in their general darkness
with Dr. Radde’s description of an ibex in the winter pelage from the
Sajan Mountains of Eastern Siberia, which is undoubtedly the typical
C. sibirica.
The explanation of the difference appears to be as follows :—The
specimens described by Mr. True were shot, respectively, on the 19th and
21 st of December, and were thus in the comparatively early winter pelage.
There is no record of the season at which the Altai and Thian Shan
specimen^Slhe British Museum were killed ; but, as already said, practically
all the ibex shot by English sportsmen in the Himalaya and Baltistan
are killed in the late spring. Now it is ra well-ascertained fact that the
lighter-Jiloured portions of the winter pelage of the wapiti bleach considerably
as the season advances ; and it appears highly probable that a
similar fading takes place in the case of all the races of the present species.
In Mr. True’s descripRn it S t a t e d that the hairs,.'of many parts of the
body are merely tipped with brown; and nothing is more likely than that
such tips should bleach to a dirty white after exposure to the storms of
winter. Dr. Scully’s explanation that the dark individuals aregld males
in the winter pelage, although true to a certain?1 extent, is insufficient,
because the majority of specimens shot by English sportsmen are likewise
old males in the winter pelage, and yet are light-coloured.
Distribution.—From the Altai and Sajan ranges through the .Ilian Shan
to the Trans-Indus districts of Gilgit and Baltistan, not extending east of
Lake Baikal. The ibex obtained by the English Boundary Commission