358 



NOTES ON SMALL MAMMALS IN KASHMIR AND 

 ADJACENT DISTRICTS. 



By Colonel A. E. Ward. 



(Redd before the Bombay Natural History Society an 16th March 1905.) 



I am asked to contribute a short paper " showing what has been 

 done and what remains to be done in research after the small 

 mammals of Kashmir." I scarcely know what to write, for very little 

 has been accomplished ; a few definite results have been attained, but a 

 good deal of the nomenclature is provisional, and it is hoped that our 

 knowledge may shortly be supplemented. 



The drawback to rushing into print at this stage is that much may 

 have to be unsaid. To clearly point out how backward our collections 

 are I take the lib ?rty of quoting a letter sent to me by Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas last September ; in it he writes : — "I doubt if you realize that 

 we have no specimens except yours of the commonest Kashmir 

 species, or indeed of India generally (except from Wroughton) and, 

 therefore, we have none with the data measurements, &c, that now-a- 

 days make the chief value of specimens, &c." 



It is not very difficult to collect animals that live above around, 

 but burrowing mammals are hard to deal with, hence progress is very 

 slow. 



We have practically settled that Mus vicerex is the common rat of 

 Kashmir. It belongs to the rufescens group, and is described by 

 Mr. Bonhote — "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," Ser. 7, 

 Vol. XI, May 1903. 



Mus mettada has been identified and was caught in Eastern 

 Kashmir at elevations varying from 7,000' to 8,000', and other speci- 

 mens are now under consideration ; this rat is described in the " Fauna 

 of India." I was much surprised to find the Metad at high elevations. 



Mus decumanus. All the Kashmir specimens which we had provi- 

 sionally marked as such, turn out to be vicerex, but the brown rat is 

 to bo found in Poonch and in many other parts. Nesocia hardwickei 

 (the short-tailed mole rat) is fairly common in the outside ranges and 

 has been procured in Poonch. 



Mice are at present engaging attention. The common mouse which 

 swarms in the rice fields in autumn, and also lives in the villages, has 

 been provisionally admitted as bactrianus (the Persian Field-mouse). 



