Game Animals of India, etc. 



length, and may be less than 5 feet, although General 

 Kinloch and General Macintyre record old animals 

 measuring about 7 feet to the root of the tail, and 

 Dr. Leith-Adams has stated that, as an exceptional 

 instance, he saw one whigh measured 7^ feet. 



In the Himalaya the brown bear ranges from 

 Afghanistan at least as far east as Nepal, but is unknown 

 in the outer portions of the range, as it is in the arid 



districts to the north of the forest-region of Kashmir 



o 



and adjacent districts. It extends, for instance, into 

 the Tilel valley, and so on to Astor and Gilgit, btit is 

 unknown in Dras, Suru, Zanskar, and Ladak, as it 

 apparently is in Upper Baltistan. In Kashmir it is, I 

 believe, not found in the Pir Panjal range, or on the 

 southern flank of the Kajnag. Westward of Afghanistan 

 this race probably passes into the Syrian brown bear 

 (Ursus arctus syriacus)^ which is found in the mountains 

 of Persia, as well as in the country from which it takes 

 its name, and is of greyer tone of colour. 



For the most part the brown bear in Kashmir and 

 the adjacent valleys lives at a considerable elevation, 

 frequently hibernating in the zone of birch -forests, 

 which grow at a higher elevation than pines ; and in 

 summer its feeding-grounds are generally on the open 

 grassy hills above the forests, where it may be seen 

 grazing (for these bears do graze) close to flocks of 

 sheep and goats. In autumn it will, however, often 

 descend to the higher villages for the sake of feeding 

 on grain and walnuts, and will sometimes come even as 

 low as the valley of Kashmir itself, especially in the 

 Lolab district, which forms the north-western extremity 

 of the valley. General Macintyre mentioning that in 

 the Kashmir valley he once shot an old bear making a 

 meal off^ the putrid carcase of a cow. These bears also 

 C9me low down into the valley in spring, when the 

 mulberries, of which they are remarkably fond, are ripe. 

 Whether at the level of Kashmir itself these bears 

 remain active all the year round is difiicult to ascertain, 



372 



