HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE 

 ACCOUNT 



OF" 



BRITISH INDIA. 



ZOOLOGY. 



CHAPTER I. 



Introductory Observations. 



The great Asiatic division of our globe, when considered 

 under its zoological relations, may be partitioned into 

 several different departments. The Siberian or most 

 northern portion, in consequence of the severity of its 

 winter season, possesses even in its southern districts many 

 attributes of the arctic regions ; but, at the same time, its 

 inland valleys and the upper basins of its numerous and 

 far-flowing rivers are enriched, during a brilhant though 

 short-hved summer, with many of the more gorgeous 

 features both of animal and vegetable hfe. Another vast 

 and imperfectly known region of Asia is bounded to the 

 north by Siberia, and to the south by those highly-elevated 

 table-lands which terminate among the Himmaleh moun- 

 tains. This division still presents several features which 

 prove its assimilation in some respects to the characters 

 which distinguish animal life in Europe ; for although it is 

 undoubtedly characterized by numerous peculiar forms of 

 existence, yet many of its genera and species are either the 

 genuine types of groups which occur in countricB with which 



