214 
NATURE NOTES 
34 . Possible Heredity. — The Indian Markhor ( Capra falconeri ) is a 
well-known inhabitant of the mountainous countries lying north and west of that 
land of the sun, where it may be found at home among the wildest precipices, 
often in considerable flocks. On the north-west frontier hill of Shiekbudin I 
have seen more than twenty of them go straight down a lofty cliff, which from 
above seemed more nearly, or more frequently, vertical than anything else — 
dropping from ledges of scarcely noticeable width to others 30 or 40 feet below, 
so narrow as to afford scanty foothold, but always making this secure for the next 
spring, while avoiding the avalanche of stones and dust which accompanied their 
descent. At the end of this they vanished among the foothills and ravines, so 
far beneath that they looked hardly larger than good-sized dogs. The long, 
straight, spirally-twisted horns of the animal always looked large for the body, 
which might be in a way as big as that of a sheep, but more leggy, and its whole 
aspect, including colour, recalled a mixture of wild sheep, goat and deer. It was 
fine to watch one standing sentinel-like at gaze on the summit of some crag, with 
elevated nose and long horns thrown back, shaggy throat, and feet brought 
together — an attitude apparently characteristic of these beasts. 
Not far from the hill already mentioned my camp happened to be pitched one 
day near that of the late lamented Sir L. Cavagnari, then principal political officer 
of that part of the frontier, and before the tragic journey to Cabul which cost him 
his life. On my way to dine with him I observed a young markhor tethered to 
a tent-peg in front of his tent ; it had been caught by some villagers and presented 
to him by their chief. The tents stood in a perfectly flat plain, unbroken save 
where someone had thrown down a stone not as large as a man’s head, that had 
evidently been used to supplement the ordinary heavy' wooden mallet with which 
tent-pegs are driven, and upon this stone the imprisoned little markhor had 
perched himself, all four feet together, in exactly the position its wild relatives 
were seen to occupy, it having sought the only elevation of any kind within its 
reach to mount. 
Many years afterwards, when passing a patch of waste weedy ground above 
the Sandy-Cove cutting of the Dublin and Wicklow Railway, I was surprised 
to see a well-grown tethered kid perched upon a stone in exactly the same atti- 
tude, instantly suggesting that of the y'oung markhor as described above, and 
the thought whether some natural affinity between the wildlings and the partially 
tamer goat family had not led to the adoption of that special pose. 
Benwyan. 
35 . Squirrel Carrying- Young’. -When walking on the road fromElveden 
to Thetford, a squirrel crossed the road in a very careful and cautious manner 
(not in their usual scampering style). This caused me to be interested, so I 
stopped and watched it go through the hedge into the field. After waiting about 
five minutes it made its appearance on the road again, but this time it had some- 
thing in its mouth. Being rather curious to know what it was carrying I made 
a noise and frightened it. Scampering off, it dropped what it was carrying, which 
I found to my surprise was a young squirrel. After a few minutes the parent 
came and fetched its young and carried it into a plantation. 
August 20, 1903. W. S. Sparrow. 
36 . Albinism. — I see an enquiry in an old number of Nature Notes, 
asking whether any reader has met with white and pied wild mice in any numbers. 
A few years ago whilst an outlying rick was being threshed in my parish a good 
many were killed, but I have never heard of any since. Our local mole-catcher 
brought me two silver-grey moles from near Castle Ashby lately — a new variety 
for our county. 
Haselbeech, Northants. W. A. S. 
37 . Diving- Birds, p. 53. — My brother’s note on this has not, I believe, 
been answered, and there was, I think, a former one of his on the movement of 
birds under water. But I have only a few numbers of Nature Notes with me 
here. When in London last June I asked him to come and see the water-fowl 
from the bridge in St. James’s Park, so that he could answer the questions that 
he had raised himself. But as his engagements did not then permit of his going 
to town, I will endeavour to answer, but only partially so, hoping that some other 
observer will take up the subject. 
I will commence by asking the reader to refer to my note at p. 75, on the 
