CHAPTER XIII 



OBSERVATIONS ON MAMMALS 



Comparative scarcity of mammals Observations on flying squirrel 

 Habits and instincts of Himalayan monkeys Emotional expression 

 intheleopard Contentment Fear Anger Distress Eagerness 

 Attention Affection. 



THE mammals that frequent this valley attract but 

 little attention, and I have few remarks to make upon 

 them. In the forest their scarcity is remarkable. For 

 days we may wander over the pine-clad hills yet only 

 on rare occasions are any mammals seen. A troop of 

 monkeys in the trees, a fox or a civet sneaking 

 through the jungle, a marten disappearing behind a 

 rock or a flying squirrel at dusk gliding from tree 

 to tree, are amongst the few species we may hope 

 to meet. At intervals the report is spread of a bear 

 or leopard in the woods, but these larger mammals are 

 seldom seen. 



It is not in the thickest jungles but in the barren 

 valleys of the Western Himalaya that we find the 

 largest animals. The markhor and the ibex frequent 

 the main Himalayan axis or the bleak ranges of the 

 Karakoram and the Hindu- Kush ; the great sheep 

 of Marco Polo is confined to the treeless plateau of 

 the Pamir. So it is when we look more widely over 

 the globe. I have never seen the larger mammals 

 collected in such multitudes as on the grassy lands 

 of East Africa. At one time I saw hartbeest, wilde- 



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