84 THE GOEAL. 



chamois. It has the same short goat-like feet, the same soft though 

 fuzzy hair and mane, the same large ears and the same wonderful 

 agility and climbing powers. The h'orns, though of the same type, 

 are, however, straighter and do not have the sharp hook of those of 

 the chamois. Again, whereas the chamois goes about in herds, the 

 goral is more of a solitary animal. The chamois inhabits the mountain 

 summits and open ridge tops, while the goral keeps more to the steep 

 precipitous sides. 



The goral, together with the chamois, the serow and the remark- 

 able takin, form a connecting link between the true goats and the 

 antelopes. They are all mountain inhabiting animals, and are mainly 

 characterized by their smooth, cylindrical horns, usually annulated at 

 the base, their goat-like forms arid their absence of beards. Two species 

 occur in the Himalayas. These are Urotragus goral and 17. bedfordi. In 

 Eastern Thibet occur two others U. cinereus and U. griseus. Heude has 

 described several from different parts of China, but as the status of some 

 of these is' questioned, we will not bother with them. In this chapter we 

 need be concerned with only two distinct species, one U. gale anus 

 from South Shensi, and the other U. caudatus from North Chihli. 

 The latter was originally described by Milne-Edwards as Antilope 

 CQAidata. 



It is just possible that U. cinereus one of the Thibetan forms may 

 extend into Western Kansu, and so come under our heading of North 

 China fauna. 



U. galeanus is a dark grey-brown animal having a broad cream- 

 coloured patch on the throat; legs cream-coloured from the knee and 

 hock joints downward ; a slight suggestion of a median dorsal line ; and 

 a long, curled, black tail. The insides of the ears are also cream- 

 coloured. It stands about thirty inches at the shoulder and has horns 

 of from four to six inches in length. These slope back sharply and 

 are very pointed, with but a slight curve. 



The length of the tail is due chiefly to the great length of the 

 hairs, which protrude beyond the last vertebra for five or six inches, 

 and have a strong upward curl. The long tail, arched shoulders and 

 head held low, together with the stealthy cat-like movements, or the 

 quick, erratic bounds from rock to rock give the goral a most peculiar 

 appearance. 



U. caudatus, so called on account of its unusually long tail, is much 

 browner in colour than the foregoing species. It has a less conspicuous 

 patch on the throat, a more pronounced median dorsal line, and has 

 the same cream coloured legs. It inhabits the mountains of North 



