Game Animals of India, etc. 



Salt Range urial. This sheep, together with the 

 straight-horned markhor goat of the trans-Indus 

 Suleman Range, Hkewise serves to connect the Punjab- 

 Persian fauna with that of Central Asia, which also 

 forms a part of the Holarctic region. 



It has been already mentioned that the animals of 

 the Eastern Himalaya display a marked resemblance 

 to the Malay type. Passing westwards along the chain, 

 this Malay element practically disappears west of 

 Nepal ; and from thence the Himalayan fauna as 

 far north as the forests reach is to a great extent 

 transitional between that of Peninsular India on the 

 one hand and that of Central Asia on the other. 

 Kashmir, which comes within the limits of this 

 intermediate zone, exhibits the transition between the 

 Oriental and Central Asian faunas very markedly, with 

 some indications of a Persian element. The Himalayan 

 black bear is a very characteristic animal of this zone, 

 as are also the tahr and the goral. 



With the high Himalaya and the arid districts of 

 Gilgit, Ladak, etc., we enter the area inhabited by the 

 Tibetan fauna, which is more or less markedly distinct 

 from that of the rest of Central Asia. Amonp; these 

 pecuHar Tibetan types may be cited the yak, the chiru 

 antelope, the goa gazelle, and the Tibetan wild ass or 

 kiang, together with various wild sheep, all of which 

 are inhabitants of dry and elevated country. Farther 

 eastwards, in the Lhasa district, we enter the limits 

 of a subdivision of this fauna adapted to live at a 

 lower elevation in a more humid climate ; amone 

 the members of this group being the short -tailed 

 panda, the takin, Thorold's deer, and the Tibetan 

 blue bear. 



Passing on to Turkestan and the Altai country, the 

 home of Marco Polo's sheep, the true argali, the 

 Eastern Asiatic wapitis, and the Siberian roebuck, we 

 reach the tract inhabited by the typical Central Asian 

 fauna, lying beyond the limits to which this volume is 



. 4 



