HUNTING ON THE TURIN PLAIN 129 



am at a loss to know. Certainly it is not to give them 

 an exceptional "voice"; for, when wounded, I have 

 heard them make only a deep-toned roar which was by 

 no means loud. Specimens of the larynx which we 

 preserved in formalin are now being prepared for 

 anatomical study. 



Although the two species inhabit the same locality, 

 they keep well by themselves and only once, on the 

 Panj-kiang plain, did we see them running together in 

 the same herd ; then it was probably because they were 

 frightened by the car. I doubt if they ever interbreed 

 except in rare instances. 



The fact that these animals can develop such an ex- 

 traordinary speed was a great surprise to me, as un- 

 doubtedly it will be to most naturalists. Had we not 

 been able to determine it accurately by means of the 

 speedometers on our cars, I should never hav^ dared 

 state that they could reach fifty-five or sixty miles an 

 hour. It must be remembered that the animals can 

 continue at such a high speqji only for a short distance 

 — perhaps half a mile — and will never exert themselves 

 to the utmost unless they are thoroughly frightened. 

 They would run just fast enough to keep well away 

 from the cars or our horses, and it was only when we 

 began to shoot that they showed what they were capable 

 of doing. When the bullets began to scatter about them 

 they would seem to flatten several inches and run at 

 such a terrific speed that their legs appeared only as a 

 blur. 



Of course, they have developed their fleetness as a 



