JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 



Vol. LXVIIl. Part II.— NATURAL SCIENCE 

 No. II.— 1899. 



Notes on the Fauna of the Gilgit Distriet. — By Capt. A. H. MgMahon, 

 F.Z.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S., C.S.I., CLE. 



[Reed. 20th Feb. ; Read March 1st, 1899.] 



By tlie term Gilgit I mean tlie country included within tlie geo- 

 graplaical limits of the present Gilgit Political agency. It comprises- 

 besides Gilgit proper the states of Hunza, Nagar and Yasin ; the 

 Astor and tributary valleys ; Chilas ; and the tipper Indus valley with 

 its tributary valleys from Haramosh as far south as Hodur. Briefly, I 

 refer to the country bounded on the I^Torth by Wakhan and the Pamirs ; 

 on the East by the Mustagh range and Baltistan ; on the South by the. 

 Burzil, Kamri and Bahusar Passes leading into Kashmir and Hazara ; 

 on the West by the Shandur Pass and the independent territory of Tanjir 

 and Darel. Comprising as this tract does a mountainous country of 

 lofty ranges with several peaks over 25,000 feet and countless others 

 between 20,000 and 25,000 feet in height, it may justly lay claim to 

 being one of the most lofty tracts of country on the surface of our globe. 



Any information therefore which we may obtain and collect re- 

 garding the fauna of this country cannot fail to be of interest to the- 

 zoological world. It is on this account that I venture to place on record 

 the results of such observations as I have been able to make during my 

 stay (in 1897-98) in the Gilgit Agency. Such as they are they may 

 help to corroborate the results of the zoological researches of Biddulph,, 

 Scully, and Alcock in portions of the same tract, and perhaps in a few 

 instances also to add to them. 

 J. II. 14 



