156 



Mammalogy of tie Bimalayas. 



inhabit ravines and rocky dells; but, being excessively shy, are not very 

 often seen. The Junglee Coota of the Plains, in other respects, does 

 not appear to me to differ from the Canis Sumatrensis of General Hard- 

 wicke. the Kokree, or small Indian fox (Canis Cor.mc, Indicus, Benga- 

 lends, KoTtree, ^c.) ; and the Berria, or Wolf of India {Canis pallipes, 

 Sykes), never ascend the Hills, The Jackall {Canis aureus), is how- 

 ever occasionally said to be found in the central regions ; but the 

 higher mountains are inhabited by a very beautiful species of Fox, 

 which Dr. Royle first noticed as the Hill Fox,* and of which he 

 brought home the first skin ever seen in England, and which was 

 described at the time in the present memoir, and afterwards in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society, Part iv. p. 103, by the name of Canis 

 Himalaicus. Mr. Pearson, then Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic 

 Society at Calcutta, likewise described it about the same time as the 

 latter ;t and as he had a few months priority in point of publication, his 

 name of Canis montana must have the preference. 



The Hyaena of India (H. Virgaia), a native of the Plains, sometimes 

 ascends even to Simla, 



RODENTIA. 



The remark which was formerly made to account for our limited 

 knowledge of the Cheiroptera and Insectivora of these mountains, may be 

 applied with equal force to the present family ; viz, that the compara- 

 tively diminutive size and timid habits of the animals which compose it 

 screen them from general observation. Still we have much more de^ 

 tailed accounts of the Himalayan Rodentia than of either of the two 

 former families, though even these are far from being so complete as could 

 be wished. 



The striped Squirrel of the Plains (*S'. palmarum) is, according to Mr, 

 Hodgson,! abundant in the lower hills of Nepal ; and I have seen a second 

 species (Sciuncs LohriaJi, Hodg.) of the same size, but of a uniform 

 earthy brown colour, tipped with golden yellow, which is said to be an 

 inhabitant of the central regions. Mr. Hodgson mentions a third ("S*. 

 Lokroides) similar to the latter, and perhaps not specifically distinct. § 

 Two beautiful species of flying Squirrel|| {Pte7'omys magnijicus and P. 

 alboniger, Hodg.) are found both in the northern and central regions^ 



• Journ. As. Soc, i, p. 99, 1832. + Journ. As. Soc, v. 113. 



t Proc. Zool. Soc, ii. 98. \ Asiat. Res., xvi, 153. 



[| Asiat, Res,, xvii. 16. 



