PICAS AND HARES. i 9I 



9i 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 grej^ 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 6 h 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 !) 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 onlv cold and desert regions, and, therefore, in the 

 Habits. . " ° 



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 ar~e 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 jailed 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. 



