4 6 SO UTH- WES TERN A SI A 



48 inches, and the total length about 80 inches, while the tail measures about 23 

 inches. The colour is darker at the ear-tips and round the hoofs, and the tip of 

 the tail is blackish. The typical race is the ghor-khar of Persia and the Caspian 

 area, which is replaced in Baluchistan and Sind by E. o. indicus, and in Syria by 

 E. o. hemippus, the wild ass of the Bible. 



The Asiatic wild ass, which inhabits desert and semi-desert plains, is generally 

 found in herds very difficult of approach, and subsists on such vegetation as is to be 

 met in those arid districts. An exceedingly swift animal, it is rarely overtaken by 

 a single horseman, and is generally caught when young by being tired out by a 

 number of horsemen taking up its pursuit one after the other. 



The group of hyraxes (Hyracoidea), although mainly African, 

 have an outlying representative (Procavia syriaca) in the Sinaitic 

 Peninsula, Palestine, and Syria. This little animal — the miscalled coney of the Bible 

 — is covered with rather soft shaggy hair of a yellowish or fawn colour, with a small 

 oval glandular patch of yellow hair on the back. Like all its kindred, it is very wary, 

 and must be patiently waited for at sunrise or sunset, when it appears in front of 

 its hole. The young, generally four in number, are born in a nest of hair and 

 grass. The flesh is dark-coloured like that of the hare, and although rather dry 

 and insipid is much appreciated by the Arabs, 

 squirrels and Many of the rodents of southern and western Asia are European 



Dormice. species, the common squirrel, for instance, ranging into Asia Minor. 

 There are, however, some eastern types. Thus a striped Indian member of the 

 group, the palm-squirrel (Funambulus palmarum), whose habitat extends from 

 southern India to Sind and Baluchistan, enters the Mediterranean region. Again the 

 Afghan marmot (Arctomys dichrous) inhabits the neighbourhood of Cabul and 

 other parts of northern Afghanistan ; and the European beaver has also a wide 

 distribution within this region. It is not improbable indeed that the latter rodent 

 occurs in Asia Minor, as it has been observed near Aleppo. Another European 

 rodent, inhabiting south-western Asia, is the larger dormouse which ranges into 

 Syria; and the tree-dormouse is represented in eastern Persia by a brighter- 

 coloured relative, the Persian dormouse (Glis picta). 



Mice. Rats, and The common house-mouse has reached many parts of the region, 



voles. especially in the neighbourhood of the coast ; but in Sind, Ladak, and 



hmir it is replaced by the nearly allied Mus bactrianus, whose range extends 



iioin north-western India to Egypt. In many respects resembling the European 



mouse, this species generally has a shorter tail, and is of a light sandy brown or 



lawn colour above, and white below. One of its relatives, the Persian field- 



mouse i .1/. aAanus), is distributed over central Asia, inhabiting Persia, eastern 



Turk, .stan and the centre of the Tian-Shan range. This mouse is a near relative 



of the European wood -mouse, and is found in fields and pastures close to forests, 



entering houses in winter. Reddish brown above and pale yellowish grey below, 



ji has a total length of rather more than 4 inches. 



In south-western Asia the black rat is represented by the Alexandrian rat 

 < .1/. rattus ah'.oindrinus), which is reddish and brownish grey above, and 

 yellowish white below, with a total length of 6£ inches, the tail measuring 7£ 

 inches. The original habitat of this rat extends from North Africa and the 



