NEW GAME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 264, 31 July 1908, Page 2

NEW GAME.

' " ■ ' -*. ■ AXIS DEEIt AND BLUE SHEEP. • By the Rimutaka, which arrived froS . London yesterday, there arrived four female I Axis deer, and four (two male and two fiV tualo) Burrheel sheep, which is known as the , blue sheep of Thibet. The' male Burrheel • •stands 3ft. high at tho -withers,'ahd has-'Sna curving horns 24in'. to 26in.' in length along the curve, with a basal girth of llin. Th< • upper Darts - of the 1 body are coloured 8 :• brownish grey, but more brbwn in summer, tending to slatey-grej'in winter, Bio underparts of the body are white. Specimens have ; been shot that measured a height of: from , 30Jin. to 32in. This animal partakes of tha natures of both the goat'and the sheep. It has been classed as a sheep,- however, by naturalists. The sheep'is hardy and prolific. The beast is a magnificent climber,, and is perfectly at homo, in planes that arc' hope-, lesslv inaccessible to. man. Tho; Axis or ' spotted deer is. a jungle loyerj, amative of ' Ceylon, and Southern India._ It is a relation ; of tho Sambur deer, and is already establislied in tjie Dominion. 1 _ The deer will'ho... liberated in the same district (Taupo)".as • thoso' already established in the country. ■ The animals weio' consigned by Mr. W. Jamrach, of Stoke Netvington, to tho Touris' . Department. ". .