The Ghor-khar, or Baluchi Wild Ass 



or less decidedly grey ; in one instance distinctly 

 mouse-grey with sharply defined white areas. 



The cry of the Indian ghor-khar is described as 

 being a " shrieking bray," and therefore perhaps not 

 unlike that of the kiang ; but in the case of the Syrian 

 onager, and probably also in that of the true onager, 

 it is stated by the late Mr. E. Blyth to be more like 

 that of the common ass, to the wild forms of which 

 animal the present species approximates not only in 

 its narrow hoofs, broad dorsal stripe, and small tail- 

 tuft, but likewise in the distinctly grey colour of the 

 winter coat in at least one of the local races. 



The ghor-khar, or Indian race of the species, 

 inhabits the Indian desert (Bickanir, Jeysulmere, and 

 the Rann of Kutch), thence apparently ranging east- 

 wards into Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Southern 

 Persia to the north of the Khorasan Desert. 



Height at shoulder (from a wild specimen) 3 feet 

 10 inches. Profile of face straight. General colour of 

 upper-parts sandy in summer, with the light band on 

 each side of the dorsal stripe narrow, ill-defined, and 

 whitey-brown in colour ; anci the white on the rump 

 not pure. The coloration — presumably in the summer 

 coat — is described by Dr. P. Matschie as follows : 

 Upper-parts bright sandy ; throat, under-parts, etc., 

 white, the white extending to the flanks ; the broad 

 dark dorsal stripe bordered with white posteriorly, 

 and stopping short of the tail-tuft ; but in the 

 specimens I have seen the under-parts are dirty white. 



The Baluchi wild ass appears to be a much more 

 gregarious animal than its Tibetan relative, thirty or 

 forty head being frequently seen in a troop ; and 

 Dr. J. Aitchison, when on the Afghan Delimitation 

 Commission, states that in North-Western Afghanistan, 

 during the month of April, he encountered a troop 

 estimated to include about a thousand individuals. 



In the trans-Indus districts the mares give birth to 

 their foals during the summer, from June to August. 



49 E 



