Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/214

 time the female bears one, or, as an exception, two young ones; they soon follow the mother about everywhere, skipping from rock to rock after her, and if she be killed, hide close by, not stirring from their place of concealment until compelled. When accompanied by their young the females are generally seen in pairs, or in small herds guarded by males, which at all other times except the breeding season live in peace and harmony with one another. They are preyed on by wolves, which pursue them, and occasionally catch an inexperienced youngster; but this rarely happens with the full-grown argali, because they are swift runners even on level ground, and once among the rocks they will distance their enemy in a few bounds.

I have seen the males jump from heights of twenty or thirty feet, always alighting on their feet, and even trying to lessen the shock by sliding down the rocks; but the stories told of argali throwing themselves down steep precipices, and alighting on their horns, are pure fiction.

Besides the Suma-hada range the argali is distributed over the mountains bordering the northern bend of the Hoang-ho and those of Ala-shan; in Kan-su and Tibet it is replaced by another closely allied species.

The month of May, the best of the spring months in other regions, is far from agreeable here. The incessant gales from the north-west and south-west continued with the same violence as in April; the morning frosts lasted till the end of the month,