142 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170. 



common hare of the Deyra Dhoon. [L. ruficaudatus, Is. Geoff.] This, 

 however, is conjecture. " Khur-gosh," i. e. Ass-eared. 3i 



No. 31. — Bos bubalus. — The Buffalo is scarce and does not occur 

 wild ; the few that are kept are evidently from the east of the Indus, and 

 are precisely the same as the domestic buffalo of the Bhawulpore coun- 

 try, where they occur in immense herds along the banks of the Garra. 

 There they are kept for the sake of the milk and ghee, and during the 

 heat of the day they forsake the jungles and repair to the river, where 

 they immerse themselves in the water, leaving only the head on the sur- 

 face. I know not if it be the same as the Mysore buffalo, but it differs 

 greatly in its horns from those commonly met with in our Provinces. 

 They are of large size, chiefly black, sometimes with a white forehead 

 and white tip to the tail, which reaches to the fetlock, hairy on the 

 neck and shoulders ; withers not raised above the rump. Some are dun- 

 coloured, and among these, also, the white forehead is occasionally seen. 

 Irides often white ; forehead prominent ; the horns in all curving up 

 strongly and closely from the base, and forming a curl at the side of the 

 head instead of lying back along the neck, as in those of the Provinces. 

 The only domestic buffaloes that I saw in Afghanistan were a few kept 

 at Candahar, for the sake of the milk and ghee. 35 



34. From the skull of an immature specimen of the Afghan Hare in Capt. Hutton's 

 collection, it is easy to perceive that the species differs from the northern Indian one : 

 as is especially shewn by the greatly diminished horizontal elongation of the descend- 

 ing angle of the lower jaw, by the difference of the condyle, &c. It is only within 

 a comparatively recent period that the common hare of Bengal and of the Upper Pro- 

 vinces has been recognised as a peculiar species by Zoologists. According to the ob- 

 servation of Mr. Vigne, it is remarkable that there are no hares in Kashmir. "One 

 of the most singular facts connected with the natural history of the valley," writes 

 that gentleman, " is that of there being no hares there. As a sportsman, I could not 

 have believed it to be the case, as I have nowhere seen more likely ground. I am 

 assured that they do not exist there, and I have never seen one myself, although I 

 have traversed every quarter of the valley. It is probably too cold for the Indian 

 hare ; and that of the valleys of Thibet is an Alpine hare [L. oistolus, Hodgson, 

 v. tibetanus, Waterhouse,] that has its dwelling amongst rocks, sand, and Tartarian 

 furze. 1 should think that the European hare would thrive very well there."— -Cur. 

 As. Soc. 



35. The above description applies better to the tame buffaloes of Italy and Hun- 

 gary, than to those ordinarily met with in India; the former having besides a longer 

 tail, and they are very commonly more or less marked and splashed with white. A 

 skull of this race is figured in the * Ossemens Fossiles.' An Egyptian cow-buffalo 

 which 1 saw in London approached more to the degenerate tame Indian breed, and had 

 small, but elongated horns, similarly directed ; and the late Mr. John Stanislaus Bell, 

 (of ' Vixen' celebrity,) who favoured me with some interesting particulars respecting 



