KIANG AND ONAGER GROUP 179 



The kiang (pi. xv. fig. i), which has a shoulder- 

 height of about 13 hands, has been regarded as a 

 local race of the chigetai, but it differs from that 

 animal by the redder colour of the upper-parts, and 

 the sharply-defined demarcation between this red 

 area and the white of the muzzle, under-parts, 

 buttocks, and limbs, thus giving a kind of skewbald 

 appearance, which is most marked when the animal 

 is in its short summer coat ; the long and shaggy 

 winter dress tending to obscure the difference 

 between the dark and the light areas. The ears 

 are characterised by the presence of a dark patch 

 at the base, and another at the tip. 



The kiang was first brought to scientific notice 

 by Moorcroft, one of the early explorers of Kashmir 

 and Ladak, whose travels, which contain an excellent 

 account of the habits of the animal, were published 

 in London in 1841. In Ladak the kiang is to be 

 met with a few marches to the eastward of the city 

 of Leh, and abounds in the great Chang-Chenmo 

 plain and the arid country around the wonderful 

 Pangong lake, the home of the chiru or Tibetan 

 antelope, and formerly, the yak. Thence it extends 

 northwards to the Kuen-Lun and eastwards into 

 Tibet, where the limits of its range are still un- 

 known. Scant as appears to be the nutriment 

 in these barren countries, which in summer are 

 scorched at midday by a burning sun, but become 

 bitterly cold at night, it suffices to keep these 



