254 UNGULATES. 



already mentioned, the horns are almost invariably twisted in the opposite 

 direction to those of the markhor, although Mr. Blanford states that there are 

 occasionally exceptions. It is, however, not improbable that some races of domestic 

 goats may have a larger or smaller proportion of markhor blood. 



The markhor appears to be one of the oldest types of wild goat, since a fossil 

 species, which cannot at present be satisfactorily distinguished from the living 

 one, occurs in the Pliocene rocks of the Siwalik hills at the foot of the Himalaya. 



THE TAHR AND THE NILGIRI GOAT. 

 Genus Hemitragus. 



The Himalayan goat, known as the tahr (H. jemlaicus), together with an allied 

 species from Arabia, and a third from the Nilgiri hills of Southern India, differ so 

 markedly from the true goats that Mr. Blanford considers they should be placed 

 in a genus by themselves. All these goats are utterly devoid of a beard, and also 

 distinguished by having the extremity of the muzzle naked. Their skulls are 

 longer and narrower than in the true goats, with the sockets of the eyes less pro- 

 minent ; and the horns are relatively short, and but little smaller in the does than 

 in the bucks. In form the horns are compressed and angulated in front, with 

 their bases quite close together ; and they curve backwards from the plane of the 

 forehead. Neither of the species have glands in the fore-feet. 



The Himalayan tahr, which is represented in our illustration, is 



readily distinguished by the form of the black horns, which have 

 their lateral surfaces flattened and shelving regularly up to the sharp and beaded 

 keel on the inner front border ; they diverge regularly from their bases, at the same 

 time curving sharply backwards, with a slight inward inclination at the tips. On 

 the head the hair is short, but it becomes longer on the body, and in old bucks is 

 so lengthened on the neck, chest, and shoulders as to form a long shaggy mane 

 reaching below the knees. There is considerable individual variation in. colour, 

 but the general tint of the hair is dark or reddish brown ; old males being gener- 

 ally very dark, although pale-coloured individuals of both sexes are not unfre- 

 quently met with. The face and the front of the limbs are very dark, in some 

 instances almost black; and old males have an indistinct dark line down the 

 middle of the back. In young animals the colour is a uniform greyish brown ; 

 and the kids are reported to be very pale coloured. The female tahr differs from 

 all other goats, as well as from sheep, in having four teats. 



In height the male tahr varies from 3 feet to 3 feet 4 inches at the shoulder ; 

 the does being much smaller. Good specimens of the horns vary from 12 to 15 

 inches in length, measured along the curve ; but a pair has been recorded with a 

 length of 16 J and a basal girth of 10 J inches. In the does the length of the horns 

 is seldom more than 10 inches. 



This goat is found throughout the higher forest-regions of the 



Himalaya, from the Pir Panjal range on the outer side of the valley 

 of Kashmir in the north-west to Sikhim in the south-east, but is unknown in the 

 arid Tibetan districts of the interior. Tahr is the native name by which it is 



