842 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



This description applies to the markhoor of Kashmir and Astor; but in Afghan- 

 istan the animal inhabits bare and rugged hillsides, owing to the general absence 



of forest in that country. The ground 

 haunted by markhoor in many parts of 

 Kashmir territory is of the most loose 

 and rotten description which renders 

 stalking decidedly dangerous. Not un- 

 frequently markhoor are found with one 

 or both horns much broken, but whether 

 this is due to accidents from landslips 

 and avalanches, or to combats between 

 one another, does not appear to be ascer- 

 tained. As already mentioned, the 

 Suliman markhoor is frequently found 

 at a comparatively low elevation; and it 

 appears that in all localities this goat 

 does not bear extreme cold so bravely 

 as its cousin the ibex, and that in winter 

 it always descends to the more protected 

 valleys. This sensitiveness to cold is 

 doubtless correctly attributed by Colonel 

 Biddulph to the absence of under-fur, or 

 pashm, in the markhoor. 



The agile habits of this goat were 

 well exhibited by a buck formerly kept in 

 the L,ondon Zoological Gardens, which, in 

 spite of the weight of a heavy chain, 

 was found nearly every morning mounted 

 on the top of the high wall surrounding 

 his inclosure. In captivity markhoor 



breed freely, the number of young at a birth being either one or two. It does not 

 appear to be ascertained when the young are born in the Pir-Panjal range, but in 

 the districts of Astor and Gilgit they are produced in May and June. Markhoor 

 have frequently interbred with domestic goats; and it was formerly considered that 

 the spiral-horned varieties of the latter traced their parentage directly to this 

 species. In domestic goats, as already mentioned, the horns are almost invariably 

 twisted in the opposite direction to those of the markhoor, although Mr. Blanford 

 states that there are occasionally exceptions. It is, however, not improbable that 

 some races of domestic goats may have a larger or smaller proportion of markhoor 

 blood. 



The markhoor appears to be one of the oldest types of wild goat, since a 

 fossil species, which cannot at present be satisfactorily distinguished from the 

 living one, occurs in the Pliocene rocks of the Siwalik hills at the foot of the 

 Himalayas. 



HEAD OF MARKHOOR; PIR-PANJAL VARIETY. 



