MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



675 



natural covert is burnt away by the sun, hares betake themselves in large num- 

 bers to sheltered bushy ravines. I saw a good instance of this once at Karaoli, 

 a small village between Agra and Fatehpore Sikri, where, exploring some disused 

 quarries overgrown with thorn bushes, I found them simply swarming with 

 hares. Lepus ruficaudatus often lies out on open ploughed land just like the 

 European hare. Somtiemes I have seen one go to earth in an anthill or fox 

 burrow. 



After the rains covert becomes everywhere abundant, and the hares then 

 scatter all over the country. When beating crops for quail one constantly puts 

 them up, and the broad belts of tamarisk along the banks of rivers are also 

 favoured haunts. I believe that the range of the Sind or desert hare (Lepus 

 dayanus) extends up to Rawal Pindi and Attock, for specimens which I shot in 

 those localities appeared to be of a more ashy colour, and to have softer fur 

 than ruficaudatus. The sandy and arid plains between Attock and Campbell- 

 pore are very similar to parts of Sind, so that it would seem natural enough that 

 the fauna of the latter province should extend to the northern Punjab. More- 

 over, I have obtained near Attock the desert form of the Indian fox (Vidpes 

 leucopus). I saw no hares in Kashmir, where they are either very scarce or do 

 not exist in the valley. There seemed, however, to be plenty of ground well 

 suited to them, especially the scrub covered hills on either side of the Jhelum.so 

 often explored by partridge shooters. 



Fleur-de-Lys 

 {From" The Field," 1th December 1907.) 



No. V.— ABNORMAL ANTLERS OF 

 SPOTTED DEER or CHITAL 



(CERVUS AXIS.) 



The accompanying photograph is that 

 of the skull and horns of a Chital stag 

 shot by me in March this year in the 

 Siwaliks near Hardwar. 



The abnormal tyne on the left antler 

 is 6 inches and that on the right antler 

 1 2 inches long, the length of the longest 

 horn (the right) is 32| inches. The stag 

 was otherwise normal. 



S. H. POWELL, Major, R. E., 

 1st P. W. O. Sappers and Miners. 

 Roorkee, 3rd April 1 908. 



