recover its numbers. At the time that I knew the district, markhor were
nearly always to be met with at the head of a small valley flowing into
the Jhelam near its bend below Naoshera ; but of late years, I am
informed, they have become extremely scarce there.
Unlike the Astor race, the Pir-Panjal markhor is a thoroughly forestdwelling
goat, its true home being the precipitous cliffs in the thick
forests of its native range, from which it sallies forth at timeifito graze- on
F ig. 56.—Horns of male Pir-Panjal Markhor.
the higher slopes o f the mountains;;. After the .-storms which are,, so
frequent at many Seasons of the year in the Panjal and Kajnag ranges,
markhor are almost sure to show themselves in the open glades at the
first gleam of sunshine ; and it is consequently at such times that they
should be most carefully looked for by the sportsman.
The forests in which the markhor dwell are chiefly of pines and
birch, and these alternate with steep grassy slopes and precipitous cliffs
of slaty or trappean rock. During the day the markhor remain concealed
in the most secluded depths of the forest, issuing forth to feed only
in the mornings and evenings. In the spring individuals of all sizes and
ages are to be seen together in the herds, but as the summer advances
the doejlpsually retire to the more open ground above the forest belt,
while the old males restrict themselves still more exclusively to the latter,
and are consequently almost impo^ible to discover, And here it may be
remarked that by the shikaris of the Pir-Panjal the name markhor is
applied exclusively tolSthe hoary old bucks, the younger males being
termed rind, and the females bakri, . ® : she-goat. According to General
M ‘Intyre, the does appear generally to produce only a single kid at a
birth, as;, none were observed by him with twins'. .
Owing to the badnesi*>f the ground these animals frequent, markhor-
.jsfeapting is ;®ne of the most dangerous of Himalayan sports. As General
Kinloch observes, they “ must be followed oyer Steep inclines of short grass,
which the melting snow has left with all the blades flattened downwards;
and amid pine-trees, whpjje; needle-like spines jt rcw the ground and render
it more Slippery and t reacherous than ice. I f one falls .on. Such ground one
instantly begins to slide down the incline with rapidly increasing velocity, and
unl«Bome friendly bush if# stone arrests one’s, progress, the chances are that
one. is carried overjlpme precipice, arid either killed or severely injured.”
c. C.-usur. R a ce— C a p r a falconeri m ega ceroS H
Capra megacergsQyHutton, Qakfttta Jo u rn .N a t. Hist, Mol.. S lip . 535,
pi. xx. (1842), Journ. AM:0 $- Bengal, vol. xv. pi# 6 i (1846) ; Ward, Records
:m Big Game, p. 236 (1896).
Characters^ iffize apparently medium. Horns of male nearly straight,
but still showing a slightly open spiral, being in fact intermediate between
those of the Pir-Panjal and Suleman races, with both of which they intergrade.
Distribution.—The Trans-Indus districts in the neighbourhood of Cabul,
and perhaps farther south ; thus forming the extreme, north-westerly limits