3 1 2 Musks 



Moschus moschiferm macu/atus, Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, vol. 

 ii. p. 120 (1864) ; Gray, Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 96 (1872). 



Moschus moschiferus concolor, Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, vol. 

 ii. p. 121 (1864) ; Gray, Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 96 (1872). 



Characters. — Height at shoulder about 20 inches, at rump two inches 

 more. General colour of upper-parts some shade of rich dark brown, more 

 or less mottled and speckled with light gray, the individual hairs being 

 white for about three-quarters of their length, then with a white band, 

 followed by a blackish tip ; under-parts and inner side of limbs paler ; 

 chin, inner border of ears, and inside of thighs whitish ; in some instances a 

 white spot on each side of the throat. Considerable individual or local 

 variation of colour is observable, and upon such differences a number of 

 nominal species or varieties have been described, although there is at present 

 little decisive evidence that any of these are entitled to rank as distinct sub- 

 species. While some individuals are paler than ordinary, others tend to the 

 development of a yellowish tint. The animal to which the name M. 

 chrysogastcr was applied is depicted in Hodgson's sketches as bright sepia- 

 brown sprinkled with golden red above, and golden red or orange beneath, 

 but the tints are probably exaggerated. In the form described as M. 

 leucogaster the upper-parts are very dark, with splashes of black on the back 

 and hips, while the under-parts are white or whitish. Other specimens, 

 again, are described as yellowish white all over the upper-parts, and white 

 beneath and on the inner side of the thighs ; and a variety from Kashmir 

 is stated to show lines of grizzled gray spots on the back. The fawns are 

 spotted with yellowish or pure white ; those from Kashmir territory being 

 of a paler tint than the individuals from the Eastern Himalaya. 



Distribution. — Forest-clad districts in the Himalaya as far westwards as 

 Gilgit, at elevations of about 8000 feet or higher in summer, thence extend- 

 in g into Tibet, and so on to Siberia and Western China, where the species 

 i^ found in the southern districts of the province of Kansu. In the Kash- 

 mir area the range terminates with the northern limits of forest, the musk- 

 deer being quite unknown in the arid treeless districts of Dras and Ladak, 

 as it is in Baltistan. 



Habits. — Although formerly very abundant in the Himalaya, the musk- 

 deer lias been so persecuted for the sake of its valuable secretion, that it is 

 a marvel it has not been exterminated. Twenty years ago I found it still 



