THE NEAR EAST 
annual migrations of the Kurd shepherds, for they come in thousands, 
with their flocks and herds in tens of thousands, eating up the whole 
country as they go by, and disturbing all the game. The ibex are moved 
in the same way off the lower ranges, but doubtless remain on the high 
summits, anything above, say, 10,000 feet, which are big enough to give 
them space, but not good enough country to attract nomads and their 
flocks. 
In spite of a very large amount of what looks like excellent game country, 
the game that does exist seems to be local and always shifting its quarters. 
Captain Dickson spoke of finding many wild sheep in the ranges to the 
south-east of Van; other hunters have failed to find any game there at 
all. Moreover, they do not confine themselves to low and featureless hill- 
country as they do in Anatolia, but are to be found on high rugged country 
which they inhabit in company with ibex. This alone shows how game 
will alter their habits and adapt themselves to their surroundings. Mr 
Isidor Morse tells me that he actually killed ibex and sheep on the same 
ground in the Ardost Dagh, at the south-east corner of Lake Van. 
This same traveller, who is the first to have explored these regions 
with any thoroughness, and has covered a wide extent of country in these 
mountains, is also the only authority we have for information concerning 
the chamois. So far the sum total of our knowledge of this variety (which 
has been named Rupicapra , r. asiatica ) comes from a few specimens said 
to have originated from the neighbourhood of Trebizond. Mr Isidor Morse 
has traced the chamois as far south as the Arnost Dagh, some way to the 
south of Lake Van. He tells me he actually saw a freshly killed head at the 
village Shattakh, but although he hunted up the valleys to the north-west, 
where they were said to be, he never saw them. They are probably local 
and rare, as well as being most difficult to find in such a huge country, 
where even the best guides and hunters are not to be depended upon. 
One other type of scenery which the traveller will especially enjoy is 
granted by the presence of large forests on the southern slopes of some 
ranges, these are composed of cypress, juniper and dwarf oak, and, lower 
down, oak and beech. On the upper Zab River there are considerable 
areas of forest, which are the haunt of innumerable wild pig and a fair 
number of bears. 
Leaving the highlands and dropping to the Mesopotamian plains we enter 
a country remarkably poor in animal life, yet it is of interest, for several 
Asiatic forms have here the most western limit of their range. Gazelle, 
21 
