DIFFERENT TYPES OF MARKHOR. 1*75 



extraordinary length. I measured one that was 63 inches 

 following the twist, and considerably over a yard straight. 

 But this was an exceptionally fine specimen, and only a 

 single horn, which was purchased at a village. The mar- 

 khor found on the more northern mountains of the Cashmere 

 territory are in colour and size much the same as those of 

 the Pir Punchal, but their horns have fewer turns, although 

 they grow equally long, and, as a rule, more massive. 

 Markhor are there sometimes found on the same ground 

 with ibex. In the Dehrajat country, west of the Indus, the 

 markhor are somewhat smaller, with horns shorter, straighter, 

 and screwing more sharply, like a twisted ribbon. Those 

 found on the hills north and east of the Peshawar valley 

 appear to carry horns of a size and twist something midway 

 between the Pir Punchal and the Dehrajat varieties, judging 

 from the only two specimens I saw from that locality. 



A full-grown buck of the Pir Punchal stands about 44 

 inches at the shoulder. Like most other wild animals, the 

 appearance of its coat varies with the seasons. During 

 the spring and early summer the colour of its shaggy body 

 and of its face is a dirty yellowish white. Towards winter 

 it becomes more of a brownish grey. The legs are brown. 

 From the throat and all down the chest flows a dark-brown 

 beard or mane, sometimes so long as almost to sweep the 

 ground, which, with its huge V-shaped spiral horns, gives 

 this animal a truly majestic appearance. The average 

 length of really good horns ought to be nearly, if not 

 quite a yard, measured without the twist, but they occa- 

 sionally exceed this considerably. The circumference at 

 the base is sometimes almost a foot. The doe, which is 

 called " bukree," simply meaning she-goat, is not more than 

 half the size of the full-grown buck. She is of a uniform 

 light-brownish dun, and carries small spiral horns which 

 seldom attain a length of more than 15 inches. The young 

 bucks, called " rind," are not easily distinguished in a herd 

 from the does, with which they are generally found in com- 



