Game Animals of India, etc. 



Cabuli from whom the specimen figured was purchased 

 said he believed that they came from Hazara — at the 

 time I thought that he meant British Hazara, but I now 

 believe he meant Afghan Hazara. I have often thought 

 that perhaps they come from Kafiristan, and that they 

 form a connecting link between the Pir Panjal and 

 Cabul races." 



On the other hand the intermediate character ot the 

 horns is suggestive of the Gilgit district. 



The markhor [Capra f ale oner i megaceros) inhabiting 

 the mountain ranges of Northern Afghanistan forms 

 another stage in the gradation from the Astor to the 

 Suleman race, its horns (fig. 20) being intermediate 

 between those of the latter and those of the Pir Panjal 

 race. In full-grown bucks, although nearly straight, 

 they form a slightly open spiral, or, in other words, 

 show a tendency towards the cork-screw type so 

 conspicuous in the preceding races. It is probable, 

 indeed, that a complete gradation may be found from 

 the Pir Panjal to the Suleman type by means of the 

 present form. 



Indications of such a gradation are afforded by two 

 heads the writer had an opportunity of seeing in 1906. 

 They were from animals shot by a British officer in 

 Chitral ; both being fully adult males, and members of 

 the same flock. Indeed, as regards colour and markings 

 they were so exactly alike that they might be brothers ; 

 but there is a most remarkable difference in their horns, 

 which in both cases are fine. In one specimen the 

 horns diverge in the form of a V and have a com- 

 paratively close twist, being, in fact, precisely similar to 

 those of the male from the same district figured by the 

 present writer in plate xxvi of the Zoological Society's 

 Proceedings for 1902, which undoubtedly belongs to the 

 Cabul race of the species. In the second specimen, on 

 the other hand, the horns are more divergent, with a 

 more open twist, and a tendency to be U-shaped. 

 They are, in fact, inseparable from the Pir Panjal race, 



128 



