THE WILD GOATS OF CASHMERE 



THE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF MARKHOR 

 (Capra Falconeri, vel Megaceros, vel Jerdoni) 



Of all the wild goats in the world, the markhor 

 carries by far the finest trophies. This splendid 

 animal varies, not only in appearance and size, but 

 also in habits, in the different localities wherein he 

 is found ; so much so that General Kinloch con- 

 siders that the two most divergent types, viz., the 

 spiral-horned and the straight-horned, even if they 

 possess a common origin, are now entitled to be 

 considered different species. 



In his winter coat, the general colour of the 

 markhor is dirty bluish grey or bluish white. He 

 carries a long, black beard, and his shaggy, white 

 mane, extending down to his knees, enhances his 

 imposing appearance. In summer his coat has a 

 reddish tinge. He is a powerfully built animal, 

 standing about 1 1 hands at the shoulder. 



General Kinloch, besides the two widely diver- 

 gent types mentioned above, describes also two 

 intermediate forms. 



His classification is as follows : 



i. Spiral-horned. Extreme type the Kashmir 

 Markhor (Capra megaceros] : horns " flat and 

 massive, and rising in a fine open corkscrew form 

 with widely diverging tips to a length of upwards 

 of five feet measured along the spiral, and with 

 three or four twists." (This variety he considers 



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