Astor Markhor 



289 



the patches of forest only when driven thereto in order to escape the 

 torments inflicted by the swarms of gadflies during the hot months of the 

 year. In the winter, especially after heavy falls of snow, they are driven 

 down by the cold from the higher grounds to the cliffs overhanging the 

 main streams, or occasionally to even still lower levels, Colonel J. Biddulph 



Fig. 54. — Front view of Head of male Astor Markhor. (From Darrah's Sport in the 

 Highlands of Kashmir.) 



relating that he once captured an adult buck in the Residency garden at 

 Gilgit. The absence of the coat of under-fur, or pashm, is doubtless the 

 reason that the markhor is so much more susceptible of cold than its 

 relative the ibex. In May these animals once more ascend to join the 

 ibex, which in this district appear never to leave the higher pastures; and 

 in June both ibex and markhor may be seen feeding together — a somewhat 



