240 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



beest, zebras, gazelles, ostriches, antelopes and giraffes 

 all spread over an almost treeless plain. The whole 

 landscape was literally covered with herds of these 

 magnificent creatures. Yet here, in all this luxuriance 

 of Himalayan vegetation, we see scarcely a single 

 mammal. How true is the remark of Darwin that 

 " among the mammalia there exists no close relation 

 between the bulk of the species and the quantity of 

 the vegetation in the countries which they inhabit." 



I will mention a few observations on some of the 

 more common species. For many months I kept 

 in my possession a Himalayan flying squirrel, Petau- 

 rista inornatus, and never have I seen a tamer or 

 a more engaging pet. It showed not the slightest 

 fear of man, but took an unbounded pleasure in 

 scrambling over his body and playing with his 

 hands and face. It looked on man as a playmate 

 rather than as a foe. The contrast between the 

 tameness and wildness of undomesticated animals 

 when brought into a state of captivity is a very curious 

 subject and one difficult of explanation. The cele- 

 brated Sir J. Sebright states that the wild rabbit and 

 the wild duck are the most untameable creatures he 

 knows. So powerful is their instinctive sense of 

 wildness that, even when taken from the nest, they 

 defy all attempts to make them gentle and familiar. 

 How different is the flying squirrel which, when 

 captured in the adult state, soon becomes intimate and 

 tame. Few creatures are more persecuted by man 

 than the wild duck and the wild rabbit, few so seldom 

 as these flying squirrels. I suspect that, in the case 

 of the duck and rabbit, persecution by man has 

 generated a sense of wildness from the fear of man, 



