653 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— THE NUMBER OF CUBS IN A TIGER'S LITTER, 

 In May 1911, I was out in the C, P. after tiger, when a tigress was shot. 

 On being skinned it was found that the uterus contained 4 foetus, within 

 a few weeks of being born. I took measurements and they were : — 

 Length of body . . . . 12 inches. 



Length of tails . . . . 6 inches. 



Total , . 18 inches. 



Their skin was properly formed, coloured and striped, and the bones and 

 teeth hard and firmly set. It was only the absence of preserving liquids 

 and jars that prevented me bringing them back. 



Another tigress I shot had a family of .3 cubs a few months old, but 

 although I often saw their tracks, I never got a glimpse of them. I have 

 also heard of many litters of three. I see W. S. Burke in his Indian Held 

 Shikar Book, says concerning cubs that " seldom more than two are 

 reared " ; does this mean that one or two always die or get killed, for as. 

 far as I have heard, 3 in a litter seems very common, while only 2 rather 

 unusual. 



0. R. S. PITMAN, 2nd Lt., 

 Alipobe, .l«y«Nf 1911. 27th Punjabis. 



No. II.— THE STOAT IN KASHMIR. 



On the loth August while ascending a high mountain, near Pahlgam,. 

 Kashmir, with a climbing party, and when crossing a snow patch at about 

 14,000 feet a coolie carrying the tiffin basket siiddenly drew my attention 

 to a stoat which was showing its head at the visible base of a point of rock 

 jutting out of the snow. It ran out on to the rock and I had a good look 

 at it through glasses, but the combined eff'ect of a defective cartridge and 

 an excited terrier prevented my securing it. 



From its size, however, its chestnut colour above, its yellowish white 

 underparts and the black tip to the tail I came to the conclusion it was an 

 example of Mustela erminea, the Common Stoat. If the lair was under the 

 rock where I saw it the situation was an extraordinary one, for the sur- 

 roundings were nothing but bare rock and snow. And what this little 

 carnivore could have found to live on in this inhospitable spot I could se& 

 no sign of, 



Kashmir, September 1911. H. A. F. MAGRATH, Majok. 



[It was unfortunate Major Mag-rath was unable to secure the specimen as it 

 would have been interesting- to see to what race this Stoat belonged, whether M^ 



irliitclicadi or 21. erminea. — Eds.] 



