Marmots 



head and body. The general colour of the moderately 

 long and somewhat harsh fur varies from yellowish 

 tawny to bright orange red, with more or less of black 

 on the back, and the tip of the tail of the same sable 

 hue. A blackish patch also surrounds the eye, the rest 

 of the face being brown, while the under -parts and 

 legs are reddish brown. A good-sized specimen will 

 measure about 3 feet, or just over, in total length ; 

 12 or 13 inches being taken up by the tail. 



Marmots are unknown on the ranges south of the 

 Kashmir valley, and belong to the Tibetan rather than 

 to the proper Himalayan fauna. The red marmot is 

 found on all the ranges to the north and north-east of 

 the valley ot Kashmir, at heights varying from about 

 8000 to 14,000 feet, and extends northwards through 

 Astor to the bleak and inhospitable plateau known as 

 Deosai, or Devil's Plains. 



In Rupshu and Ladak, and thence northwards to 

 the Kuen-Lun and eastwards to Lhasa, at elevations of 

 from 13,000 to 18,000 feet or more, the place of this 

 species is taken by the Tibetan marmot {^A. Jmnalayanus)^ 

 ciistinguished by its relatively shorter tail and greyer 

 colour. On the other hand, in Sikhim, Nepal, Bhutan, 

 and the neighbouring districts of the Eastern Himalaya 

 there is the smaller Hodgson's marmot (yf. hodgsoni)^ 

 in which the proportionate length of the tail is still less 

 than in the last, not being quite one-third that of the 

 head and body. Even these do not exhaust the list of 

 species found in the area treated of in this volume, 

 since there is one species {^A. dichrous) in Northern 

 Afghanistan, and another {^A. robustus) in Eastern and 

 North-Eastern Tibet. 



It may be a question whether marmots should be 

 included among "game animals." Their skins, although 

 handsomely coloured, are too coarse and wiry to be 

 satisfactory from the furrier's point of view ; and 

 although they are collected by some sportsmen, they 

 are not regarded with favour by the majority. 



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