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



truth of the story arises from the fact, that in newly born animals, the 

 testicles are not apparent, nor do they drop for some time after their 

 birth; nor is it at all likely that tbe stallion is in attendance as accou- 

 cheur, for the female knowing the propensity of the male to attack her 

 offspring, would assuredly take the necessary precaution to prevent it. 

 Besides, if this be the rule, the continuance of the race of wild asses, 

 must be altogether fortuitous ! The story speaks for itself ; but I men- 

 tion it as illustrative of what people, and clever people too, will swallow 

 from the mouth of one supposed to be an oracle. 39 " Ghorkhur," quere 

 from " Ghora," a horse, and " Khur," an ass, literally " Equus Asinus." 



No. 38. Cervida. Of the true Deer there are none in the lower tracts 

 of Afghanistan around Candahar, nor is there any cover for animals of 

 this tribe, the whole country being a succession of bare hills and arid 

 stony plains, with scarce a shrub of any kind larger than the camel- 

 thorn. I was once informed, that the Fallow deer occurred near Herat, 

 but acting on the hint and making every enquiry from competent 

 authorities, I failed to get the least confirmation of the report, and 

 believe my informant had never seen the fallow deer even in Europe. 40 



It may not be amiss to say a word here regarding the Hippelaphus 

 of Aristotle, which Mr. Ogilby has applied to the Nylghau (P or tax 

 picta). I should not have ventured on the subject had not that gentle- 

 man pointed to the modern Punjab, as Arachosia, which Aristotle gives 

 as the habitat of Hippelaphus. Finding no other animal in the Punjab, 

 to which the description will apply, Mr. Ogilby decided that the Nylghau 



39. Aristotle, as quoted by Colonel Hamilton Smith, remarks of the common Ass, 

 that the more powerful males thus attack the weaker, " Tandiu ilium persequuntur 

 donee assecuti ore int e r posteriora crura inserto testiculos ejus evellant." And for this 

 reason, observes Colonel Smith, it is held dangerous to allow a male ass to pasture in 

 the same field where there is a stallion. With the Ghorkhur, as with the Ass, the males 

 fight with the teeth rather than with their hoofs ; nor are they the only animals which 

 evince a propensity for gelding their antagonist. Dr. Bachman relates the same of 

 certain of the American Squirrels ; and 1 have observed it in Shrews. There is an 

 interesting notice somewhere in the ' Asiatic Review,' of a number of Ghorkhurs taken 

 in pit-falls in Scinde or Guzerat; among which, I think it is remarked that not a single 

 entire male occurred. In a note to Vol. XI, p. 286, I expressed doubt respecting the 

 alleged identity of the " Kyang" of Tibet with the Ghorkhur; but the Society has 

 recently received (from G. T. Lushington, Esq., of Almorah,) a nearly perfect skin of 

 a Kyang, which completely settles the question in the affirmative. — Cur. As. Soc. 



40. There is a magnificent true Elaphoid stag in Persia, known as the Maral, of 

 which a pair were taken to England by Sir John McNeill, and deposited in the 

 Zoological Gardens.— Cur. As. Soc. 



