Game Animals of India, etc. 



The characteristics of the kiang, as distinct from the 

 chigetai, are as follows : — 



Profilesinuous,beingconcave belowtheeyes, andabove 

 the nose distinctly convex. Dorsal stripe always narrow, 

 chocolate in colour, without trace of white borders. 

 Tips of ears, mane (which is rather long), a narrow ring 

 just above each hoof, and tail-tuft dark brown or blackish. 

 General colour of upper-parts full rufous chestnut, 

 sometimes with a tinge ot greyish tawn on the neck, and 

 tending to sandy on the rump and legs ; muzzle, inside of 

 ear, side of neck, throat, chest, under-parts, inner surface 

 of legs, and a streak on the hind borcier of the thigh, 

 pure white, sharply defined from the rufous and fawn 

 areas. The light area of the under-parts may run 

 behind the shoulder so as to partially insulate the 

 rufous of the latter. The winter coat does not differ 

 markedly in colour from the summer one. 



In a mounted specimen in the British Museum the 

 height at the withers is 4 feet 3^ inches, the length 

 of the ear yf inches, the width of the front hoof 

 3^ inches, and that of the hind hoof 3I inches. 



The kiang inhabits the higher desert tracts of Ladak 

 and Tibet, from about 13,000 to 18,000 feet above the 

 sea, or even more ; and is found commonly in the 

 Chang-chenmo valley, as well as on the Indus itself, 

 some few days' march above the town of Leh. Here 

 it is generally met with in small troops, but sometimes 

 singly ; and in districts where it has not been much 

 disturbed displays but little fear, galloping in circles 

 round the mounted traveller as he approaches its 

 haunts. Young individuals sometimes display a 

 curiosity which overcomes all sense of fear ; one (ot 

 which the skull is now in the Museum of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons) having on a certain occasion 

 rashly ventured into the writer's camp in Chang- 

 chenmo. Across their rough native country these 

 animals are wonderful goers, their hoofs being as hard 

 as iron ; and could they only be properly domesticated, 



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