626 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



It is smaller than the Persian Wild Goat (C. h. aegagrus) ; the 

 front edge of the scimitar-shaped horns of the males either totally 

 devoid of knobs, or with only a very few and these very small; 

 ground color very much paler, but the face markings darker and 

 more sharply defined; the bucks often showing a large patch of 

 dirty white on each side of the neck, and having the greater part 

 of the body behind the dark brown shoulder collar nearly pure white 

 (Lydekker, 1898c, p. 264, and 1900, p. 100) . Length of horn on front 

 curve up to 52| inches (Ward, 1935, p. 274) . 



"Within Indian limits, this wild goat is found on the barren hills 

 of Baluchistan and Western Sind, but not east or north-east of the 

 Bolan Pass and Quetta, as it is replaced by C. falconeri." It occurs 

 "in herds of varying numbers." (Blanford, 1891, p. 503.) The 

 northwestern limits of this subspecies, where it presumably inter- 

 grades with C. h. aegagrus, have not been accurately determined, but 

 they may lie somewhere in Persia. The Ibex that Kennion (1911, pp. 

 34-61) found rather common on the ranges of Seistan, in eastern 

 Persia, are apparently intermediate between aegagrus and blythi. 



C. H. Stockley writes (in litt., December 12, 1933) of a recent 

 visit to "the Kirchat preserve in W. Sind. I have been to it three 

 times before, since the War, and estimated that there were between 

 400 and 500 Sind Ibex . . . and 80 to 100 oorial on the preserve, 

 which is about 90 miles north of Karachi. I have met and conversed 

 with others who were there in 1927 & 1929, and they said that the 

 stock was then fully up to this level. In 1931, for motives of econ- 

 omy, the watchers were all discharged, though the place nominally 

 remained a reserve, and the local native gentry swarmed in and 

 slaughtered the animals. ... I reckon the stock is now under 

 200 ibex and 30 oorial. There is not a full grown buck ibex on the 

 ground (except perhaps one ...).... They are supposed to 

 carry a gall bladder of exceptional medicinal value. 



"The Kirchat preserve could be efficiently keepered by 4 men @ 

 15 rupees per month, which equals 54 per annum." 



The Bombay Natural History Society writes (in litt., December, 

 1936) : "In the Khirtar range in Sind the animal has been seriously 

 reduced in numbers particularly in the Karachi Dudu section of the 

 range where it is being rapidly exterminated. In the Kohistan 

 section conditions are better mainly owing to rigid protection by 

 private agency. . . . The Khirtar range lies outside forest admin- 

 istration and though some efforts have been made to stem the 

 destruction of these animals in British Territory, they have not 

 been successful. This species was particularly recommended for 

 protection by the All India Wild Life Conference. Effective warding 

 supported by special legislation is necessary to protect the animals 

 in this zone." 



