76 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



the edge of a precipice. Once after a fray like 

 this I picked up half a horn broken off, fresh and 

 bleeding, and the horns of all markhor at this 

 season are generally much scarred and damaged ; 

 but it seems that they subsequently recover a 

 good deal from the rough treatment they have 

 been subjected to, for at other seasons I have shot 

 old beasts that must surely have been the heroes of 

 many hundreds of fights, but with flawless horns. 

 The rut lasts some twenty days, and the young 

 are born in May, usually one, sometimes two. 

 The kids are so carefully hidden away by their 

 mothers that they are not often seen. Eagles 

 are said to work havoc among the young of all 

 Himalayan game animals, and my Gilgit shikari 

 used to tell me of a curious ruse based on this 

 fact which is employed to catch the young of 

 markhor. This was for the shikari to get unseen 

 above a female with young. He would then fling 

 a crooked stick over their heads. The kid, he 

 said, taught by instinct, at once dashed for refuge 

 into the nearest cranny as it would at the sight 

 of an eagle, and the shikari would run down and 

 proceed to effect his capture. A young recently 

 caught markhor was once brought to me, and I 

 put her for the night in a room in the Singal 

 post. On going to see it in the morning, my 

 spaniel ran into the room, and the kid jumped 



