ORDER ARTIODACTYLA I EVEN -TOED UNGULATES 627 



[The Persian Wild Goat (Capra hircus aegagrus Erxleben) ranges 

 "from the Daghestan district of the Caucasus through the mountains 

 of Asia Minor and Persia, including the Kopet Dagh, to the confines 

 of Baluchistan and Sind" (Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 158). Though 

 considerably persecuted, it has evidently survived, in at least some 

 parts of its range, in more satisfactory numbers than the Sind Wild 

 Goat. 



Another subspecies, C. h. neglectus Zar. and Bilk., has been de- 

 scribed from intermediate territory in Seistan, Persia. Ognev and 

 Heptner (1928, p. 266) consider this very close to, if not identical 

 with, C. h. blythi.] 



Astor Markhor 



CAPRA FALCONERI FALCONERI (Hugel and Wagner) 



Aegoceros (Capra) falconeri Hugel and Wagner, Gelehrte Anzeigen K. Bayer. 



Akad. Wissen. [Miinchen], vol. 9, no. 183, p. 430, 1839. (No type locality 



stated except as implied in incidental references to "Kashmir" and "the 



highest parts of the Tibetan Himalayas"; type locality restricted by 



Lydekker (1913c, vol. 1, p. 162) to "Astor.") 

 FIGS.: Schreber's Saugthiere, Supplementband 4, pi. 287 E, fig. 2, 1844; Hugel, 



Kaschmir, vol. 4, pi. facing p. 579, 1844; Lydekker, 1898c, pi. 25 and pp. 



289, 290, figs. 54, 55; Lydekker, 1900, pi. 4, fig. 3, and p. Ill, fig. 16; 



Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 163, fig. 40; Van der Byl, 1915, pis. 41, 44; 



Stockley, 1928, pi. facing p. 126. 



The Astor Markhor, like the several other subspecies, has declined 

 to at least some extent from overshooting; but detailed information 

 on its numerical status is not available. 



The size is large, probably fully equal to that of the Pir Panjal 

 Markhor; hair short in summer, long and silky in winter, with little 

 or no underfur ; in old males at all seasons a profuse beard extending 

 from chin to chest and sides of neck ; beard black in front, light gray 

 behind; general color in winter gray, in summer rich reddish brown, 

 but in old males whitish throughout. Horns of males forming an 

 extremely open spiral, more divergent than in any other race, and 

 perhaps never exceeding one and a half turns; length on outside 

 curve up to about 60 inches. (Lydekker, 1898c, pp. 286-291.) 



Statements in the literature indicate that the ranges of the Astor 

 and the Pir Panjal Markhors overlap or interdigitate in a most con- 

 fusing manner. Some of these statements are probably entitled to 

 no more than provisional acceptance until the taxonomy of the group 

 is better worked out. 



Lydekker (1898c, p. 288) gives the range of the present sub- 

 species as "Astor and Baltistan; apparently intergrading with the 

 next race [cashmiriensis] on the confines of Hazara and Gilgit." 



