344 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 161. 



No. 9. Canis aureus ?, var : I have no specimen. It is abundant 

 along the course of the Heimund and Argandab rivers, at Girishk 

 and Candahar, as also in the Bolan Pass, and appears to be identical 

 with the variety found in the Himalaya. It may perhaps be the 

 " Oxygous indicus," of Mr. Hodgson. It is found in packs, and 

 cries at night like those of the plains of India, and in this it seems to 

 differ from the Himalayan variety, for although I have often seen 

 many of the latter together at Simla, I never heard them cry. May 

 not a dread of the Leopard keep them silent in the hills ? 9 



No. 10. Vulpes \_flavescenSy Gray.] The Fox of Afghanistan, or 

 at least of the southern and western parts, is apparently the same as 

 our Himalayan species, though somewhat less in size. 10 My specimens 

 are all females, and the measurements are as follow, namely: — 

 Length from nose to insertion of tail two feet; tail seventeen inches, 

 equalling three feet seven inches. Height at the shoulder fourteen 

 inches. Another: — Length to insertion of tail two feet ; tail seventeen 

 inches and a half, equalling three feet five inches and a half. Height 

 nearly fifteen inches at the shoulder. Farther description I omit, as 

 you can supply it from the specimen sent. The species is numerous in 

 the valleys around Candahar, hiding in burrows and holes in the 

 rocks. The skins are soft, and are made into reemchahs and posh- 

 teens. The price is usually six annas a skin. Called " Robur." 11 



9. Wild Dogs, in addition to Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes, are stated by Elphin- 

 stone to occur in Afghanistan. A Nepalese Jackal skin presented to the Society by 

 Mr. Hodgson, appears to differ in no respect whatever from the Jackal of Lower 

 Bengal.— Cur. As. Soc. 



10. Since writing the above, I have compared the specimens with the Hill Fox, and 

 there appears to be a deficiency in the white tip to the tail in Afghan specimens ? T. H. 



11. In Afghanistan, according to the late Dr. Griffith, " a large and a small species 

 of Fox appear to exist. The former, which is perhaps identical with the large Hima- 

 layan Fox, I procured from Quetta and at Olipore, at which place it is not uncommon. 

 The small kind seems to resemble the Fox of the plains of N. W. India." Capt. Hut- 

 ton's specimen is evidently of the small Afghan species, which is Vulpes Jlavescens, 

 Gray, An. and Mag. N. H. 1843, p. 118, and thus described : — " Pale yellowish, back 

 rather darker; face, outer side of fore-legs, and base of tail, pale fulvous ; spot on side 

 of face, just before the eyes, the chin, the front of fore legs, a round spot on the upper 

 part of hind-feet [or rather legs], and the tips of the hairs of the tail, blackish; end of 

 tail white. Hab. Persia." The winter fur is long and soft, and is of two sorts ; a 

 shorter and delicate under-fur, which on the back is darkish, passing to white on the 

 sides and under parts, and pure white on the sides of the neck and shoulders in some, 

 in others but partially so ; and longer straight hairs, black-tipped, and yellowish-white 

 along the back, whiter on the sides : the breast and under parts, with the exterior of 

 the limbs above the mid-joint, dusky : ears brown -black to near their base : face ful- 



