525 



men have frequently assured me they have little sense of smell, and 

 can be approached down the wind ; but unless the hunter manages 

 to get above the herd, he has not much chance of succeeding in his 

 stalk, as they never anticipate danger from above, and always look 

 downwards when disturbed. The panther, wild-dog, and bearded 

 vulture prey extensively on this species. I killed one of the latter 

 that had the hoof of an Ibex in its stomach. 



50. Capra caucasica. 

 Scinde Ibex. 



The above name is given to a specimen of this species of Ibex 

 in the British Museum. 



It is found in the mountains of Beloochistan, and ranges to the 

 north and west of Scinde. 



51. HlRCUS MEGACEROS (Hutton). 



Markore (Snake-eater) of the natives of the W. Himalayas and 

 mountains around the Khyber Pass. 



Rass of the natives at the sources of the Oxus. 



The distribution of this species is somewhat peculiar. It is com- 

 mon on the ranges around the Valley of Peshawur, in Little Tibet, 

 and all down the banks of the Indus as far as Torbela, the Suliman 

 Range, westward of the Punjab as far as Mitenkote, at the junction 

 of the Indus and Sutledge, on the Southern Pinjal, Cashmere, 

 Hindoo Coosh, Afghanistan, Persia, sources of the Oxus, &c. I 

 have not heard of its being found eastward of the river Beas, and 

 scarcely think it ever frequents the eastern ranges of the Himalayas. 



No less interesting are the peculiarities in regard to the shape and 

 degree of curvature of the horns. All the males observed by me on 

 the Southern Pinjal, had the horns flattened, with few twists. I 

 killed probably one of the finest males ever procured ; the horn mea- 

 sured in length 52 inches (round the curvatures), and had one per- 

 fect and two imperfect twists, while that of old males from the Pe- 

 shawur and Suliman Mountains were rounded, straight, and twisted 

 like a cork-screw. One pair of horns in the Museum at Kurra- 

 chee, from Herat, resembled, again, the specimens from Cashmere, 

 only more rounded in their configuration, and had fewer twists. 



The Peshawur and Suliman specimens were perfectly straight, 

 and rose perpendicularly from the head, while the Cashmere and 

 Herat ones diverged backwards and outwards from the skull. I 

 have examined different skins from nearly all the above-mentioned 

 localities ; and after allowing for the changes produced by seasons, I 

 could not discover any differences worth mentioning. Mr. Blyth 

 thinks this species is only a variety of the Capra hircus; but I 

 cannot agree with him, and am inclined to the opinion, that the 

 Markore is more likely the original of the domestic species, than 

 that the latter should be considered its progenitor. 



The Markore is usually found in small herds, in habits closely 

 resembling the Ibex, feeding on steep and rocky mountains, ascend- 



