CAPRA MEGACEROS. 291 



are found, in our limits, on the Himalayas and the Punjab, one of them a 

 true wild goat of the same type as the domestic goat, the other an ibex. 



234. Capra megaceros. 



HUTTON,* Calc. J. N. Hist. II. 535, pi. XX. (the horns). BLYTH, Cat. 

 545. C. Fakoneri, HUGEL. MarJcbw, i.e. snake-eater, of Afghans, 

 Kashmir, &c. Rd-che or Rd-pJio che, in Ladak, i.e. the great-goat. 



THE MARKHOR. 



Descr. Horns very long, massive, straight, angular, with two to three 

 spiral twists, closely approximate at the base, and diverging outwards and 

 backwards, quite similar in character to those of many domestic goats, but 

 of gigantic size. Colour in summer light grayish-brown, in winter dirty 

 yellowish- white with a bluish-brown tinge ; the adult male with a long 

 black beard, and the neck and breast also clad with long black hair 

 reaching to the knees ; the hair generally long and shaggy ; the fore-legs 

 chestnut-brown. Stands 11 hands high. The females have a short black 

 beard, but want the long mane. 



The horns of a large old male have been seen as long as 52 inches ; not 

 uncommonly 4 feet ; and the tips distant 34 inches. One recorded by 

 Cunningham was 3 feet 9 inches long, 1 1 inches in circumference at the 

 base, 3 feet 2 J inches distant at the greatest interval, and the tips 2 feet 

 8 \ inches apart. The longest horns have three complete spiral twists. 

 Specimens from the hills west of the Indus have the horns rounder, 

 straighter, and with a uniform spiral twist, like that of a corkscrew, 

 but are said not to differ otherwise. 



This magnificent wild goat is found on the Pir Panjal range of the 

 Himalayas, to the south of the valley of Kashmir, in the Hazara hills, and 

 the hills on the north of th* Jhelum, and in the Wurdwan hills separa- 

 ting the Jhelum from the Chenab river ; not extending, it is stated, further 

 east than the sources of the Beas river, and certainly very rare further 

 east than the Wurdwan hills. It is also abundant on all the hills to the 

 west of the Indus, the Sulirnani range as far south as the junction of the 

 Sutlej with the Indus, and extending north into Afghanistan. It is also 

 found in Ladak, but not apparently further east. 



The Markhor associates in small herds, frequenting steep and rocky 



* Cunningham, I see, also suggests the same specific name. " Travels in Ladak." 



U2 



