PICAS AND HARES. i 9I 



9J inches. The general colour of the long and soft fur is greyish brown on the 

 upper-parts, although the individual hairs are of a deep grey near the skin ; while 

 beneath it is grey tinged with yellow. The feet are pale, suffused with brownish 

 yellow ; and the ears have white margins. The common Himalayan pica (L. roylei), 

 which ranges to elevations of from eleven thousand to fourteen thousand feet, or 

 more, is a much smaller species, measuring only 6J inches in length, with fur of a 

 dark brown or bay colour. Other species from the inner Himalaya, such as the 

 Ladak pica (L. ladacensis), are, however, larger ; the one named measuring 9 inches 

 in length, and inhabiting regions situated at an elevation of from fifteen thousand 

 to nineteen thousand feet above the sea-level. During the Pliocene and Miocene 

 divisions of the Tertiary period picas were common in Central and Southern Europe, 

 while in Sardinia they lived on into the Pleistocene. Some of these Tertiary picas 

 differed from the living forms in having only one pair of premolar teeth in the 

 lower jaw ; while in others there were but a single pair of these teeth in both jaws. 

 Picas inhabit only cold and desert regions, and, therefore, in the 

 greater part of their range, are found at great elevations, although in 

 Siberia they can exist at much lower levels. They either form burrows among 

 rocks, or live in the crevices between the rocks themselves; in the Eastern 

 Himalaya Lagomys roylei is, however, found in the pine-forests. Although mainly 

 nocturnal in their habits, picas will often venture abroad in the daytime, especially 

 if the sky be overcast ; and the writer has several times seen them in the Himalaya 

 darting about in the full glare of the sun. Their movements are so quick, that 

 they are exceedingly difficult to shoot. Their food consists of various plants, more 

 especially grasses ; and of these a large store is accumulated for winter use. In 

 Siberia this provender is piled up into heaps like small haystacks, which gradually 

 disappear during the winter ; unless they are plundered by the sable-hunters as 

 fodder for their horses. None of the picas appear to hibernate, although in most 

 of their haunts they must be buried deep beneath the snow for several months in 

 the year. Although often found in the Himalaya in pairs or small parties, picas 

 are generally more or less gregarious, sometimes associating in very large 

 numbers. In Northern and South-Eastern Mongolia, where they are exceedingly 

 abundant, their burrows consist of a vast number of separate holes, which may be 

 counted by hundreds, or even thousands. From the peculiar loud chirping or 

 whistling cries uttered by many of the species whilst feeding, picas are often 

 termed piping-hares ; but this habit does not appear to have been observed in the 

 Himalayan forms. 



All the picas drink but little. In summer some amount of rain falls in many 

 of the districts they inhabit, while in winter the snow supplies them with as much 

 liquid as they require ; but in spring and autumn there is scarcely even dew in 

 the Mongolian steppes, so that at such seasons they must exist entirely without 

 water. According to Pallas, the females give birth at the commencement of the 

 summer to about six naked young, to which she attends with the greatest care. 



In Central Asia picas have many foes, among which the most prominent are 

 the manul cat, the wolf, the corsac fox, and many eagles and falcons ; while in 

 winter they are harried by the great snowy owl. The fur-hunters of Siberia do 

 not, however, consider these creatures worth the trouble of killing. 



