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MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



STERNDALE'S 

MAMMALIA 
OF INDIA 



A New and Abridged Edition, thoroughly revised and with an 
Appendix on the Reptilia 



BY 

FRANK FINN, B.A., F.Z.S. 

LATE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT INDIAN MUSEUM, CALCUTTA 



CALCUTTA AND SIMLA 

THACKER, SPINK & CO. 

BOMBAY: THACKER & CO. LIMITED 

MADRAS: HIGGINBOTHAMS 

1929 




Slow Loris in upright posture. 
(See page 22.) 



CONTENTS 



\/ 



MAMMALIA, Introduction 

, order Primates 

, , Chiroptera 

, , ; , Dermoptera . 

,, Insectivora 

3 , ,, Carnivora 

,, , Cetacea 

,, ,, Sirenia 

,, Rodentia \y. 
,, ,, Ungulata 



KEPTILIA 
AMPHIBIA 




Edentata 



i 

3 

25 
41 
43 
53 
123 

133 
134 
i?3 
260 

264 

335 



INDEX. 



PREFACE 

IN preparing the present revised and abridged edition of Sterndale's 
well-known work, the editor has quoted the author's original 
observations verbatim as far as possible, and has relied on condensa- 
tion and on the omission of unnecessary matter, and of such as is 
only likely to be of interest to specialists, for reduction of the volume 
to the compass of a practical manual for beginners. Thus in most 
groups only such species as are likely to attract attention are dealt 
with, though in some all are described. 

Sterndale's arrangement has been adhered to as far as possible, 
and the scientific names are for the most part those used by him 
and by Blanford in his standard work, the " Mammalia" volume in 
the Fauna of British India series. To this, particularly in the 
matter of vernacular names and of distribution, the editor has been 
especially indebted ; and he has also to express his thanks to Messrs. 
Longmans, Green & Co. for permission to use certain illustrations 
from Tennent's Natural History of Ceylon. 

In addition to granting permission this old firm of publishers 
were kind enough to supply electrotypes from the original woodcuts, 
a small enough technical point, but of great value as far as the 
appearance of the book is concerned. 

The section on Reptiles, which are dealt with on similar lines to 
the Mammals, is the work of the editor alone, and here also he has 
to acknowledge especial obligations to the Fauna series, while his 
thanks are due to Colonel R. Knowlcs, I. M.S., for allowing the 
reproduction of illustrations from his Chart of the Poisonous Snakes 
of India, and again to Messrs. Longmans for others from the above- 
mentioned work. 

The work of revision was started by me in 1927. It has been 
in many ways a labour of love, and I venture to express a hope that 
it may effectually supply a need that undoubtedly exists at the 
present time. 

I would like to express my thanks for the assistance in publishing 
this book, so fully rendered by the late Mr. W. T. Spink, who, to 
my great grief, passed away while the work was in progress. 

FRANK FINN, 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



INTRODUCTION 

THE Mammals are distinguished from all other animals by nourishing 
their young with milk, and, as a general rule, by their hairy covering, 
though this is often, as in ourselves, much reduced. There are 
generally, however, a few hairs to be met with on the nakedest of 
mammals, even the fish-like whale tribe, which can in any case be 




Elephant, showing the relations of the mammalian skeleton to the 
external form. 

distinguished from true fish by the absence of gill-slits and the hori- 
zontal instead of vertical tail-fin. 

The class of Mammals is divided into three sub-classes, two of which, 
the Monotremata or Egg-laying Mammals, and the Marsupialia or 

I B 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



Pouched Mammals, are not represented in India, and so do not concern 
us here. 

The third sub-class, Eutheria or ordinary mammals, is divided into 
several Orders, the members of which are easily distinguishable, as 
far as Indian species are concerned^ as follows : 

The Primates or Monkeys and Lemurs, by having all the limbs 
provided with an opposable first toe, in fact, in the form of hands. 

The Chiroptera or Bats, by the extreme elongation of the finger- 
bones to support a web which forms wings. 

The Cetacea or Whales and Dolphins, by their fish-like body, 
covered even on the muzzle with close bare tight skin. 

The Sirenia or Dugongs, by the combination of fish-like form with 
a thick-lipped hairy muzzle . 

The Ungulata or Hoofed Animals, by the blunt hoofs which ter- 
minate their toes. 

The remaining orders all have paws, not hands, wings, fins, or 
hoofs. Of these : 





A typical Insectivore, the Bulau. 



Fore-part of the skull of an 
Insectivore (Shrew, magni- 
fied) to show dentition. 



The Insectivora or Shrew tribe, which are all smaller than a Rabbit, 
are distinguished by their long projecting snout, the end of which is far 
in front of the mouth. 

The Carnivora or Flesh-eaters, by their large canine teeth in con- 
junction with absence of any of the above described peculiarities. 

The Rodentia or Gnawers, by having two large chisel-tipped front 
teeth in the front of each jaw, and a long gap between these and the 
grinders. 

The Edentata by having no teeth at all, and scaly bodies. 

There remains one queer beast which is generally chummed up 
with the Insectivora, but is so different that it is better placed in an 
order by itself, the Dermaptera ; this is the Cobego (Galeopithecus), 
which differs from all other beasts in having all four paws webbed 



ORDER PRIMATES 3 

(though it is not aquatic) in combination with a flounce or parachute- 
skin uniting the limbs and the tail. 




Skull of Carnivore (Otter) to show dentition. 

ORDER PRIMATES 

Formerly called Quadrumana, this order is divided into two sub- 
orders, the Anthropoidea or Apes and Monkeys, and the Lemuroidea 
or Lemurs. The former are easily distinguished by their broad, 
more or less human faces, the Lemurs having narrow foxy muzzles. 

Of the Monkey section, representatives of two families are found in 
India, the Simiida or true Apes, which are all tailless, and the Cerco- 




Skull of Rodent (Flying Squirrel) to show dentition. 

pithecida or Old-World tailed Monkeys. None of the great anthro- 
poid apes occur in our Eastern territory, the only representatives of the 
ape family there being the Gibbons, which, with the long arms of the 
Orangs and the receding forehead of the Chimpanzee, possess the 
callosities (bare seat-patches) of the true monkeys, but differ from them 
in having neither tail nor cheek-pouches. They are true bipeds on 
the ground, applying the sole of the foot flatly, with the big toe widely 
separated. They seldom, however, leave the trees or bamboos, 



4 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

where they travel by swinging themselves along with their arms* 
Unlike our other monkeys, they have long canines in both sexes. 




Skull of Gibbon, showing Primate dentitions. 

THE HOOLOCK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hylobates hooluck. Native : Hoo- 
luck, Hookoo. 

HABITAT. Garo and Khasia Hills, Valley of Assam, and Arakan. 

DESCRIPTION. Males deep black, marked with white across the 
forehead. Females vary from brownish-black to whitish-brown. 
About two feet in length of body. Sterndale says : 

" I think of all the monkey family this Gibbon makes one of the 
most interesting pets. It is mild and most docile, and capable of 
great attachment. Even the adult male has been caught, and within 
the short space of a month so completely tamed that he would follow 
and come to a call. One I had for a time, some years ago, was a most 
engaging little creature. Nothing contented him so much as being 
allowed to sit by my side with his arm linked through mine, and he 
would resist any attempt I made to go away. He was extremely 
clean in his habits, which cannot be said of all the monkey tribe. 
Soon after he came to me I gave him a piece of blanket to sleep on in 
his box, but the next morning I found he had rolled it up and made a 
sort of pillow for his head, so a second piece was given him. He was 
destined for the Queen's Gardens at Delhi, but unfortunately on his 



ORDER PRIMATES 7 

their habits, and have often been assisted by them in tracking the 
tiger. Their loud whoops and immense bounds from tree to tree 
when excited, or the flashing of their white teeth as they gibber at their 
lurking foe, have often told the shikari of the whereabouts of the 
object of his search. The Langurs take enormous leaps, twenty-five 
feet in width, with thirty or forty in a drop and never miss a branch." 

Jerdon's statement that they can run with great rapidity on all- 
fours is qualified by McM aster, who easily ran down a large male on 
horseback by getting him out on a plain. Strychnine, which kills 



/ 




Common Langur or Entellus. 

the common Bandar or Rhesus ', has no effect, on Langurs, at any rate 
on the common species, as much as five grains having been given in 
an hour without effect, and two days later even ten 1 

The Langurs all have the tail longer than the body, and side- 
whiskers meeting under the chin in a short beard ; they also have 
eyebrows of bristly black hair, often very long. 

COMMON LANGUR, HANUMAN OR ENTELLUS 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : ^esb^tes^i Semnopithecus entellus. 
Native : Langur , Hanuman, Hindi ; Wanur, Makur, Mahrattf; 
Musya> Canarese, 



8 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

HABITAT. Bengal and Central India. 

DESCRIPTION. Pale dirty straw-colour, or ashy grey, darker on 
the shoulders and rump, paler on the head and lower parts ; hands, 
feet, and face black. Male's head and body 30 in. long, tail 43 in. 

11 The Entellus monkey," says Sterndale, " is in some parts of 
India deemed sacred, and is permitted by the Hindus to plunder 
their grain-shops with impunity. ... In the forest the Langur lives 
on grain, fruit, the pods of leguminous trees, and young buds or 
leaves. The female has usually only one young one, though some- 
times twins. The very young babies have not black but light-coloured 
faces, which darken afterwards. I have always found them most 
difficult to rear, requiring almost as much attention as a human baby. 
Their diet and hours of feeding must be as systematically arranged ; 
and if cow's milk be given it must be freely diluted with water two- 
thirds to one-third milk when very young, and afterwards decreased 
to one-half. They are extremely susceptible to cold. In confinement 
they are quiet and gentle whilst young, but the old males are generally 
sullen and treacherous. Jerdon says, on the authority of the Bengal 
Sporting Magazine (August 1836) that the males live apart from the 
females, who have only one or two males with each colony, and that 
they have fights at certain seasons, when the vanquished males receive 
charge of all the young ones of their own sex, with whom they retire 
to some neighbouring jungle. Blyth notices that in one locality he 
found only males of all ages, and in another chiefly females. I have 
found these monkeys mostly on the banks of streams in the forests of 
the Central Provinces ; in fact, the presence of them anywhere in arid 
jungles is a sign that water is somewhere in the vicinity. They are 
timid creatures, and I have never seen the slightest disposition about 
them to show fight, whereas I was once most deliberately charged by 
the old males of a party of Rhesus monkeys. I was at the time on 
field service during the Mutiny, and seeing several nursing mothers 
in the party, tried to run them down in the open and secure a baby ; 
but they were too quick for me, and on being attacked by the old 
males, I had to pistol the leader. 77 

Blanford doubts the above story of the fights, but quotes an account 
of a " faction fight " between two troops containing both sexes. 

HIMALAYAN LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes schi- 
staceus. Native : Langur, Hindi ; Kamba SuM, Lepcha ; Kubup^ 
Bhotia. 

HABITAT. Himalayas from Nepal to beyond Simla. 

DESCRIPTION, Like the Bengal Langur, of which some have 



ORDER PRIMATES g 

considered it only a race, but it runs larger, with longer coat and more 
massive jaws and teeth ; the colour is also more distinct, slate-grey or 
dark brown ; feet pale, head and underparts creamy. 

It ranges up to at least 11,000 ft., and has often been seen sporting 
about in snow-laden trees. 

MADRAS LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes priamus. 
Native : Gandangi^ Telegu ; Musya, Canarese ; Kunde Wandem, 
Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Coromandel Coast and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Differs from the Bengal Langur in having a reddish 
wash over the head and back, and the hands and feet whitish above, 
not black. Head crested. 

Tennant writes of it in Ceylon : "At Jaffna and other parts of the 
island where the population is comparatively numerous, these monkeys 
become so familiarised with the presence of man as to exhibit the 
utmost daring and indifference. A flock of them will take possession 
of a palmyra palm, and so effectually can they crouch and conceal 
themselves amongst the leaves that, on the slightest alarm, the whole 
party becomes invisible in an instant. The presence of a dog, however, 
excites such irrepressible curiosity that, in order to watch his move- 
ments, they never fail to betray themselves. They may be frequently 
seen congregated on the roof of a native hut. . . The child of a 
European clergyman stationed near Jaffna having been left on the 
ground by the nurse, was so teased and bitten by them as to cause its 
death." 

The three light-coloured Langurs are all very much alike ; in 
all the hair radiates on the crown, and the Hanuman or Common 
Langur has not always the hair on the hands and feet black, as the 
editor has seen in three specimens. An ancient Himalayan Langur 
in the British Museum is more like the plains variety. 

MALABAR LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus hypoleucus^ Semno- 
pithecus or Presbytes Johni. Native: Vella M ant hi, Malayalim. 

HABITAT. The Malabar Coast from N. Lat. 14 to Cape Comorin. 

DESCRIPTION. Above dusky brown, slightly paling on the sides ; 
head fulvous, darkest on thrown, limbs and tail almost black ; beneath 
yellowish white, Hajrj)f crown radiating as in the Entellus group, 
and colour, at anyfafcToh the sidesT^ometimes not much darker ; 
size rather smaller than Hanuman. Young specimens are sooty - 
brown all over. This monkey abounds in forests, and does not 



10 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

frequent villages, though it will visit gardens and fields, where, how- 
ever, it shuns observation. 

Mr. R. J. Pocock, in an able paper in the Journal of the Bombay 
Natural History Society (vol. xxxii. 1928), treats these three last 
Langurs as sub-species of the Entellus. 

NILGIRI LANGUR OR WANDEROO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus Johni, Semnopithecus 
or Presbytes jubatus. Native : Turuni, Kodan, Pershk, Toda ; 
Korangu, Baduga and Kurumba ; Karing Korangu, Malayalim. 

HABITAT. The Nilgiri Hills, the Animalais, the Palnis, the 
Wynaad, and all the higher parts of the ranges of the Ghats as low as 
Travancore. 

This, the true Semnopithecus Johni, which has been sometimes 
confused with the last, is a very striking and distinct species, with the 
head hair long but not radiating, the body dark glossy black through- 
out, the head tawny ; old specimens have a grey rump-patch, and 
females a cream one inside each thigh. Young ones are all black. 
The head and body are about 2 ft. long, the tail longer. 

This very handsome monkey does not as a rule descend lower 
than 2,500 ft. ; having been persecuted for its fine fur, and by some 
castes for food, it is shy, and when the woods it haunts are beaten, 
executes a noisy retreat. 

Mr. Pocock regards this as a sub-species of the Ceylon Wanderoo 
presently to be noticed. 

CAPPED LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes pileatus. 

HABITAT. Assam, Chittagong, Tipperah, N. Arakan and Upper 
Burma in part. 

DESCRIPTION. Cap black, long cheek-whiskers white, body-fur 
slate-colour above, cream to auburn the latter in old males 
below. Face black, fingers black or yellow. Infant specimens 
have flesh-coloured faces and close pale golden fur. Size rather smaller 
than the Hanuman. 

Sterndale says : " Dr. Anderson says that a young one he had was 
of mild disposition, which, however, is not the character of the adult 
animal, which is uncertain, and the males when irritated are fierce, 
and determined in attack. No rule, however, is without its exception, 
for one adult male, possessed by Blyth, is reported as having been an 
exceedingly gentle animal." 

A pair that lived for years at the London Zoo before the war were 
most charming and nice-mannered animals. The female would even 



ORDER PRIMATES II 

bring her infant young of which she had three at different times 
up to the bars when visitors were present, showing no jealous ferocity, 
as monkeys so commonly do when carrying small young. Two of them 
duly changed their infant golden fur for the colours of the adult, 
which in this particular pair only differed in the male's tints being a 
little purer ; but the first-born, though also golden at birth, assumed a 
dark brown coat against which the white whiskers showed up very 
distinctly. This was evidently a hybrid ; for originally a male 
Hanuman had shared the Capped pair's quarters, and the fact that it 
was much darker than he and browner than its female parent, and on 
the whole resembled the Ceylonese Purple-faced Langur presently to 
be noticed, is paralleled by several cases in which hybrid birds have 
resembled species not concerned in their origin. 

BANDED OR WHITE-THIGHED LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus femoralis. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim, Malay Peninsula, and Siam. 

DESCRIPTION. A crest, with a whorl on each side of it on the 
forehead. Colour blackish-brown, extremities black ; inside of 
thighs white, and sometimes other white markings below. Face 
black with white lips. Infant specimens are white with a sooty 
band from poll down spine on to tail. 

BARBE'S LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes Barbel. 

HABITAT. Tipperah, Upper Burma, Kakhyen Hills, Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. Black with dark-blue face. Lips often light. 

" More information," says Sterndale, " is required about this 
monkey, which was named by Blyth after its donor to the Asiatic 
Society, the -Rev. J. Barbe. Dr. Andersen noticed it in the valley of 
the Tapeng in the centre of the Kakhyen Hills, in troops of thirty to 
fifty, in high forest trees overhanging the mountain streams. Being 
seldom disturbed, they permitted a near approach.' 7 A couple in the 
Calcutta Zoo in the 'nineties were very handsome animals, with the 
quiet manners usual in Langurs. 

PHAYRE'S OR SILVERY LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes Phayrei, 
Semnopithecus cristatus. Native : Myouk-myek-kweng hpyu, Bur- 
mese ; Myouk-hgnyOy Arakan and Tavoy ; Geng y Talain ; Ddthwa and 
Shawd me, Karen. 

HABITAT. Arakan, Bassein, North Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. Dusky grey-brown above and on cheeks, back 



12 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

shining or silvery ; white below, orbits, eyelids, and lips white, rest 
of face livid-black. Infant specimens are straw-coloured, as is so 
often the case with Langurs, recalling the golden hair of our children 
which so often becomes darker. Size rather smaller than Hanuman.-, 
This monkey inhabits forests on the banks of streams, and is shy, 
wary, and seldom seen. The old males will sometimes stay and bark, 
rather like a Hanuman, from a safe perch. The young whine and 
sometimes mew very like a cat, according to Blyth. 

DUSKY LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes obscurtis. 
Native : Lotong, Lotong-itam, Malay. 

HABITAT. Malayan Peninsula, Tenasserim, Siam. 

DESCRIPTION. Greyish or brownish-black, with a whitish tuft 
on the nape, face black, with the mouth and eyelids whitish. Young 
golden tan, this colour remaining longest on the end half of the tail, 
as the animal turns dark grey. Length 21 in., with the tail 32 in. 

The species is commonest in the Malay Peninsula. Like the last 
two, it appears to be a local race of the Javan Langur pyrrhus. 

RUTLEDGE'S LANGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus rutledgii. 

HABITAT. Unknown. 

DESCRIPTION. Head with a very well-defined erect median com- 
pressed crest. General colour black, grey-tipped, lower surface paler 
and greyer, hands and feet black, tail blaclv above, yellow below, 
grey at tip, whiskers long, backwardly and upwardly divided, and 
broadly tipped with yellowish-grey, beard greyish ; face bluish-black 
Seventeen inches long, tail 2 ft. and half an inch. 

As this animal may prove to occur in Indian limits, the above 
description abstracted from Anderson's Zoological Results of the 
Expedition to Yun-nan (1878), is inserted here, though Blanford 
ignores it. 

PURPLE-FACED LANGUR OR WANDEROO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes cephalo- 
pterus or thersites. Native : Kallu Wanderu and Elli Wanderu^ 
Cingalese. Wanderu is simply the general Cingalese name for 
monkey. 

HABITAT. Low country of Ceylon, 

DESCRIPTION. Dark brown or black, hindquarters silver-grey, 
tail dark grey, long pointed side-whiskers and throat white, framing 
the purple face. Body 20 in. long, tail 24 in. 



Malabar Langur. 



Madras Langur, 




Wanderoo. 



Toque Monkey. 



14 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

This monkey has been much and long confused with the Lion- 
tailed Macaque, shortly to be noticed, which also is a dark animal 
with conspicuous light whiskers, though really very different in many 
ways. There has also been some confusion due to variation in colour, 
a brown variety having been named as thersites. 

Tennant says of it that " It is an active and intelligent creature, 
little larger than the common bonneted macaque, and far from being 
so mischievous as others of the monkeys of the island. In captivity 
it is remarkable for the gravity of its demeanour and for an air of 
melancholy in its expression and movement, which are completely 
in character with its snowy beard and venerable aspect. In disposition 
it is gentle and confiding, sensible in the highest degree of kindness, 
and eager for endearing attention, uttering a low plaintive cry when its 
sympathies are excited. It is particularly cleanly in its habits when 
domesticated, and spends much of its time in trimming its fur and 
carefully divesting its hair of particles of dust. Those which I kept 
at my house, near Colombo, were chiefly fed upon plantains and 
bananas, but for nothing did they evince a greater partiality than the 
rose-coloured flowers of the red hibiscus (H. rosa-sinensis). These 
they devoured with unequivocal gusto ; they likewise relished the leaves 
of many other trees, and even the bark of a few of the more succulent 
ones." 

In a wild state the Wanderoo lives in small troops of ten or fifteen 
individuals, and does not range to heights above 1,300 feet. 

BEAR LANGUR OR GREAT WANDEROO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Semnopithecus or Presbytes ursinus. 
Native : Maha Wanderu, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Mountains of Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Bears much the same relation to the common 
Wanderoo of the plains as the Himalayan Langur does to the low- 
country Hanuman or Entellus, being a larger and longer-coated 
animal ; the hair on the flanks reaches 5 in. in length. The general 
colour is dark brown or greyish-black, redder in the young, with the 
whiskers white. 

The hairy coat in these mountain races of monkeys is no doubt 
related to the cooler temperature, which also probably indirectly 
accounts for their larger size by delaying maturity, for it is well-known 
to animal breeders and may be observed in tropical human races 
that early breeding is most deleterious to size. Mr. Pocock treats 
this animal as a race of the common Wanderoo. 

The celebrated Ceylon White Monkeys, formerly considered as a 



ORDER PRIMATES 



species (senex or albinus) are varieties of either the lowland or of the 
upland Wanderoo. 

The Macaques (Macacus] or Bandars are a less specialised group, 
more compactly built than the last and with ordinary stomachs. 
They are also less herbivorous in their diet, eating frogs, lizards, crabs, 
and insects, as well as vegetables and fruit. Their callosities (seat- 
pads) and cheek-pouches are large. Their tails vary much in length, 
and the shorter-tailed species used to be placed in a separate genus 
fnuus, not at all reasonably, the tail being, as we know from some of 
our domestic animals, the sheep, dog, and cat, excessively liable to 
variation, and hence unimportant in classification. The males exceed 
the females in size and strength most noticeably in this group. 

LION-TAILED MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Inuus or Macacus silenus. Native : 
Nil bandar , Bengali ; Shia bandar, Hindi ; Nella manthi^ Malabari ; 
Singalika^ Canarese ; Kondamachu, Telugu ; Kurankarangu^ 
Tamil. 

HABITAT. - 
especially in 
vancore. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail tufted at 
end, not more than three-quarters 
the length of head and body ; 
head surrounded with a full ruff 
of very long whiskers, more 
developed than in any Langur. ; 
These are grey, the rest of the i 
coat and the bare face black. ; 
Infants have no whiskers, and the 
face is flesh-coloured. Head 
and body about 20 in. long, tail 
10 to 15 in. 

In its dark face and wide frill, 
and to some extent in its dignity 
of bearing, this Bandar resembles 
the aristocratic Langurs more 
than its very vulgar-looking 
genus -fellows, all the rest of 
which are pale-faced and beardless, while even their whiskers are 
very short or wanting. It is therefore not surprising that it has been 
confused with the Wanderoo Langurs. 

It is somewhat sulky and savage, and is difficult to get near in a 



- Western Ghats, 
Cochin and Tra 




. 
Lion-tailed Monkey. 









i6 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



wild state. Jerdon says that he met with it only in dense unfrequented 
forest, and sometimes at a considerable elevation. It occurs in troops 
of from twelve to twenty. It has long been well known in captivity, 
unlike the delicate Langurs, so that it is no wonder that it has usurped 
the name of one of these. 

RHESUS MONKEY OR COMMON BANDAR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Inuus or Macacus rhesus. Native : 
Bandar , Hindi ; Markat, Bengali ; Wandar, Purzz > Punj, Kashmir ; 
Gye, Ho Kol 

HABITAT. From the base of the Himalayas, south to the Goda- 

vari ; it ranges some thousands 
of feet uphill in places. 

DESCRIPTION. Short, close 
side whiskers, no beard, hair on 
head lying straight back, tail not 
more than half length of head 
and body, hindquarters naked 
round the seat-pads. Coat brown, 
becoming redder or yellower be- 
hind. Face and other bare parts 
flesh-coloured or red, the latter 
especially in old females, not so 
much in males. Male with head 
and body up to 22 in. long, 
female much less. 

A bright pale auburn or 
golden variety, with very light 
and European-looking hands 
and face, appears not to be rare ; 
the finest male the editor ever 
saw, nearly twenty years old, 
was of this type, also two young 
ones, which struck him as more active than normal animals. The 
eyes of these blonds were hazel, as in others. Old females become 
very fat and pursy like some humans. 

Sterndale only says : " This monkey is too well-known to need 
description. It is the common acting monkey of the bandar-wallas ', 
the delight of all Anglo-Indian children, who go into raptures over the 
romance of Munsar-ram and Chameli^ their quarrels, parting, and 
reconciliation, so admirably acted by these miniature comedians." 

It is, so far as the editor knows, the commonest monkey in captivity 
generally ; at any rate, it was always plentiful in the Calcutta animal 




Common Bandar or Rhesus. 



ORDER PRIMATES 17 

market in his time (the 'nineties), and has been with English dealers 
(who know it as Rhesus) ever since. It has sometimes bred in captivity. 
At the end of the war a number of immature specimens were placed in 
the large aviary, previously and now used for parrots, in the London Zoo. 
This contains a little pond, and the monkeys took to the water with 
surprising readiness, not only swimming, but diving from the surface 
and plunging in from a height. The latter, however, they did feet 
first, and swam with the dog-stroke. The biped Gibbon is unable to 
swim, like untaught man, and throws up its arms in the same way. 

HIMALAYAN MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Inuus or Macacus pelops^ Macacus 
assamensis. 

HABITAT. Himalayas to Upper Burma ; said to reappear in the 
Sunderbunds. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the other mountain monkeys already noticed 
among the Langurs, this differs from its lowland relative in being larger 
and with more fur ; in particular it has a beard, and the hind-quarters 
clothed up to the seat-pads. It also is of a uniform shade of brown, 
not reddish or greyish anywhere ; but its face is sometimes darker. 

This monkey is stouter in build and less active than the ordinary 
Rhesus, but if the same form really recurs in the low flat sweltering 
Sunderbunds, it does not look as if it were a true species at all ; in 
fact, it seems to the editor probable that in all these cases of hill-and- 
plains pairs of allied forms the two cannot be called fully distinct 
species, but only local races. 

PIG-TAILED MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Inuus or Macacus nemestrinus 
Native : Myouk-padi, Burmese ; Ta-o-ti, at Tavoy ; Bruh> Malay. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. A long-legged, long-muzzled, short-tailed, rather 
baboon-like monkey, with a short close coat of brown of various 
shades, generally light ; a conspicuous black crown patch, and a stripe 
of the same colour often running down the back. Tail thin and 
poorly furred, not much longer than the head. Size very variable ; 
sometimes bigger than any Rhesus. 

This monkey is noted for its docility, and in Bencoolen is trained to 
be useful as well as amusing. According to Sir Stamford Raffles, 
it is taught to climb the cocoa-nut palms for the fruit for its master, 
and to select only those that are ripe. 

In captivity it is particularly lively, and has a curious habit of 
standing erect and holding its thighs with its hands. Another triek 

c 



i8 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



is carrying the tail curved like an S when excited. As Blanford says, 
it must be only the females and young that are trained as fruit-pickers, 
the old males being savage and dangerous. The gestation period is 
nearly eight months, and young have been born in captivity. 




BURMESE PIG-TAILED MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Inuus or Macacus leoninus. Native : 
Myouk-mai, Burmese ; Myouk-la-haing, Arakanese. 

HABITAT. Upper Burma and Arakan. 

DESCRIPTION. More thick-set than the common Pig-tail, with a 
shorter and broader head bearing a distinct horseshoe-shaped crest on 
the forehead, of very stiff hairs where the convexity projects towards the 
brows. Hair very long on the neck and shoulders, up to 3 in. Short, 
full whiskers and beard. General colour brown, paler below, the 
sides of the head and the stern grey, lower back black, extending over 
the upper surface of the tail ; crest also black. Females are greyer, 
with no black on the upper parts except on the tail, and much smaller 
than the male, which is nearly 2 ft. long from muzzle to stern. 

Very little is known about the habits of this monkey the fact that 



ORDER PRIMATES ! 9 

old males are fierce and young and females docile, applies to very many 
monkeys, and indeed other mammals and birds. 

STUMP-TAILED MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Inuus or Macacus arctoides. 

HABITAT. Kakhyen Hills, Cochin China, probably hills south of 
Assam, and Tipperah. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail a mere stump, almost or quite naked, not 
more than 2 in. to a body of about 2 ft. Hair on fore-quarters up to 
4| in. long. Colour dark brown, with bare face and stern bright 
red. 

Practically nothing is known about this monkey, which is believed 
to inhabit hilly country. Blanford quotes an account of two specimens 
Davison met with apparently allied to it, but both, though adult, and 
one was a male, were very small, standing only 15 in. high when erect. 
They had tails less than an inch long and turned on one side, flesh- 
coloured face and hands, and cream-coloured fur tinged with rusty 
above ; they smelt very bad and had shrill voices. The editor once 
got for the Zoo in Calcutta a monkey which closely corresponded in 
nearly all these points, though he took it to be young ; it was clingingly 
affectionate in manner. Both Davison and Bingham also saw in the 
Tenasserim mountains large tailless monkeys, which were not Gibbons, 
more or less red in colour, so there is evidently some remarkable new 
monkey in that region, which, as Blanford suggests, may be related 
to the stump-tailed species. 

BONNET MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Macacus radiatus or sinicus. Native : 
Bandar, Hindi ; Makadu, Wanar, Kerda, Mahratta ; Manga, 
Kadaga, Canarese ; Kurangu, Tamil ; Koti, Telegu ; Koranga, 
Vella manthi, Malayalam ; Mucha, Kurg ; Kodan, Toda. 

HABITAT. Southern India, extending up to near Bombay and 
the Godavari. 

DESCRIPTION. A long-tailed monkey with no whiskers (except 
straggling hairs) or beard, and a cap of radiating hair on the crown. 
Brown in colour, paler below, with flesh-coloured face and a very low- 
caste look. Not quite so large as the Rhesus or Bandar, but with a 
tail about as long as the head and body. The male is much bigger 
about the head than the female. 

It takes the place, in the south, of the Common Bandar of Northern 
India, both in general familiarity in the wilds and in being the 
monkey commonly kept to show off tricks ; it is also freely exported 



20 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



to Europe, and so nearly as familiar in menageries as the Common 
Bandar. 







Group of Macaques. 
Rhesus, Bonnet, Crab-eating and Toque. 

TOQUE MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Macacus pikatiis or sinicus^ Macaca 
sinica. Native : Mis hi Bandar, Hindi ; Rilawa, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Ceylon, generally distributed over the island. 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the Bonnet Monkey, but a smaller, 
slimmer, and altogether better-looking animal. Its coat is longer, 
rougher, and yellower, especially on the head, where it radiates as in 
the Bonnet, but stands up more into a kind of top-knot. The face is 
flesh-coloured and free from whiskers or beard, but the ears dark, not 
pale like the face as in the Bonnet, of which Blanford is inclined to 
consider it only a local variety, though the two look more different 
than do some of the Langurs commonly reckoned as distinct. A 
specimen of the Bonnet from Travancore he cites as presenting some 
of the points of the Toque may have been an escaped specimen of this 
or a hybrid with one, for no wild animals are carried about so much 
or so liable to escape and thrive as the commoner and hardier monkeys. 

This is the best-known monkey in its native island. " In Ceylon, " 
says Sterndale, " it takes the place of our Rhesus monkey with the 
conjurers. ... It also, like the last [the Bonnet] smokes tobacco ; 
and one that belonged to the captain of a tug steamer, in which I 



ORDER PRIMATES 



21 



once went down from Calcutta to the Sandheads, not only smoked, but 
chewed tobacco." It is known in Ceylon as the Red monkey, from 
the auburn tinge of its coat ; the dark lips are also noticeable. 

CRAB-EATING MONKEY 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Macacus cynomolgus. Native : 
Kra, Malay ; Myouk-ta-nga, Burmese ; Ta-o-tan> Tavoy and Arakan ; 
Kamui-atvut, Talain ; Da-ouk, Sha-ok-li^ Karen. 

HABITAT. Burma to Siarn and Malay Islands, also Nicobars, 
where it was probably introduced. 

DESCRIPTION. A most variable monkey, but recognisable by 
combining a whiskered face with'a tail about as long as the head and 







Common or Crab-eating Macaque Monkey. 

bjbdy. The coat is dark- to golden-brown, the face either flesh-coloured 
6r dark, and the shade of the coat and face do not necessarily corre- 
spond. Many have white eyelids. The size of body is about that of the 
common Bandar. 

The Crab-eating monkey, as its name implies, feeds a good deal on 
crabs, for it especially frequents the edges of estuaries and tidal creeks. 
It is not surprising that it swims and dives well a wounded male, 
escaping from a boat, has been known to dive for a distance of 50 yds. 

It is very freely exported, and is probably the next commonest 
monkey to the Rhesus in the animal trade. Young specimens were 
often offered in the Calcutta animal market as " pocket monkeys." 



22 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

The Lemuroid section of the Primates has two representatives only 
in our limits, both belonging to the typical family Lemuridce, tailless 
or nearly so, and smaller than any of our monkeys, from which their 
great eyes and especially their foxy muzzles also distinguish them. 
They also have the fore-finger and great toe very short, and ending 
in a claw instead of a nail like the others. 

SLOW LORIS 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nycticebus tardigradus. Native : 
Sharmindi billi, Hindi ; Lajjar bdnar, Bengali ; Myouk-moung-ma, 
Burmese ; Myouk hlioung, Tavoy ; Kasyng^ Talain ; Tacheng, 
Karen ; Kukang^ Malay. 

HABITAT. Eastern Bengal to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. A thick-set little animal about the size of a half- 
grown cat, with short ears and stump tail almost hidden in the close 
thick fur, which varies in colour, being grey in the larger specimens 
from the north, reddish-grey in the smaller southern race ; a brown 
ring round the eyes, and a more or less well-developed brown streak 
on the crown and back. 

It is nocturnal and omnivorous, eating any soft vegetable food or 
small animal it can get hold of. Tickell says : " This animal is 
tolerably common in the Tenasserim provinces and Arakan, but, being 
strictly nocturnal in its habits, is seldom seen. It inhabits the densest 
forests, and never by choice leaves the trees. Its movements are slow, 
but it climbs readily, and grasps with great tenacity. If placed on 
the ground, it can proceed, if frightened, in a wavering kind of trot, 
the limbs placed at right angles. It sleeps rolled up in a ball, its head 
and hands buried between its thighs [whence, no doubt, its Hindi 
name of " bashful cat "], and wakes up at the dusk of evening to 
commence its nocturnal rambles. The female bears but one young 
at a time." The illustration showing it erect is from a sketch by 
Colonel Tickell, who saw a captive specimen stalk a cockroach and 
rise to throw itself on it needless to say, without success, though the 
same trick would doubtless answer with a sleeping lizard or bird in 
the woods. , ^-^ 

/SLENDER LORIS Y 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Loris gracilis, Loris tardigradus, 
malabaricus, lydekkerianus. Native : Tevdngu, Tamil ; Devdnga- 
pilli, Telegu ; Nala manushya> Adavi manushya, Canarese ; Una 
happolava, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon, not ascending the hills 
to any height. 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 

The Bats, although now regarded as related to the Insectivora, 
were once included among the Carnivora, and earlier still among the 
Primates, and it seems as well to keep them next as Sterndale did, 
though not including them among the carnivora ; for in some respects 
they do resemble the Primates, notably in having two teats on the 
breast, bearing only one or two young after a long gestation, which 
they carry about with them, and being long-lived. Moreover, as we 




Bat (Large Painted or Hodgson's) showing relation of the wing-membrane 
to the fore-limb, and of the leg-web to the tail. 

shall see, some of the Insectivora themselves are now thought to come 
very near the Primates. 

The Bats 7 skeleton does indeed remind one much of a monkey's, 
with the fingers, except the thumb, very much drawn out. The arms 
themselves greatly exceed the legs in development, but not much 
more than in the Gibbons ; the breastbone is furnished with a keel, 
but this is very slight compared with a bird's breast-keel, implying 
much smaller breast-muscles to move the wings, although bats fly on 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Breast-bone of Flying-Fox, showing 
the keel for attachment of wing- 
muscles. 



the average far better than birds. This is probably because the wing- 
membrane, carried down as it is from little finger to ankle, embraces 
far more air than a bird's wing, so that the stroke of the wing is much 
more effective. It will be seen in examining bird-skeletons that many 

broad-winged and strong-flying 
species have smaller breast-bones 
with smaller keels than some which 
are by no means their equals on 
the wing. 

In bats the leg bends upward 
and forward very freely, and the 
foot rotates like our hand ; they 
crawl about upside down on 
boughs, etc., and on the ground 
creep on all-fours on their stomachs, 
but are not unable to rise if healthy and uninjured, any more than 
swifts, which also creep, though on two limbs only, and are credited 
with the same disability. 

In crawling the knee points upwards and outwards. In repose bats 
hang upside down as a rule, often wrapping themselves in their wings 
like a cloak. The feet and the thumb with its powerful claw are often 
used in feeding, and the latter in fighting. 

The Bats, like the Primates, are divided into two sub-orders, and, 
like them, are in one division fox-faced and in the other short-faced. 
The Fox-bats form the sub-order Megachiroptera (large bats) and live 
mostly on fruit ; the short-faced bats are the Microchiroptera (small 
bats), and in the case of all Indian species live on animal food, generally 
insects. The dimensions, however, overlap 
considerably, the smallest Fruit-bats being 
much smaller than many of the other section. 
The Fox-bats have the second finger generally 
provided with a small claw, absent in the 
others, and the tail is short or wanting, and 
the rudder or inter-femoral membrane 
which it supports in most bats, cut away 
almost to vanishing-point. They also have 
the bony orbit nearly complete, approaching 
the Primates in this respect. As Sterndale 
says, " Bats are all nocturnal, with small 
eyes (except in the case of the frugivorous 
bats), large ears, and in some cases membranous appendages to the 
nostrils, which may possibly be for the purpose of guiding them- 
selves in the dark, for it is proved by experiment that bats are not 




Head of Fruit-bat (Short- 
nosed) showing junction 
of inner margin of ears, 
characteristic of Fruit- 
bats. 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 27 

dependent on eyesight for guidance, and one naturalist has remarked 
that, in a certain species of bat which has no facial membrane, this 
delicacy of perception was absent. I have noticed this in one 
species, Cynopterus marginatus [small Fox-bat], one of which flew 
into my room not long ago, and repeatedly dashed itself against 
a glass door in its efforts to escape. I had all the other doors 
closed." The editor has seen the same with two Pipistrelles in Eng- 
land, but as they had been aroused from the hibernation usual to 
insectivorous bats in cold winter climates, he put it down to the evident 
weakness of their flight which they could not control though it 
certainly seemed as if they also sought the light. 

The Fruit-bats are all contained in the single family Pteropodidce. 

( -X X FLYING-FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteropus edwardsii, medius, vam- 
pyrus. Native : Badul, Bengali and Mahratti ; Badur, Chamgidar, 
Hindi ; Warbagul, Mahratti ; Toggal bawuli, Canarese ; Sikat 
yelle, Wadari ; Sikurayi^ Telegu ; Barvalu, Malayalam ; Loco- 
vaota, Wawal, Cingalese ; Leng-tshwai, Leng-nek, Burmese. 




Fly ing- Foxes, showing positions in repose and feeding. 



28 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

HABITAT. All through India, Ceylon, and Burma, but not 
permanently above the base of the Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. A very large tailless fox-headed bat with black 
wings about 4 ft. in expanse, and a body length of 7 to 10 in., fur black 
and tan, the lighter colour in front. 

Sterndale says : " These bats roost on trees in vast numbers. I 
have generally found them to prefer tamarinds of large size. ... I 
was aware that they went long distances in search of food, but I was 
not aware of the power they had for sustained flight till the year 1869, 
when, on my way to England on furlough, I discovered a large flying- 
fox winging his way towards our vessel, which was at the time more than 
200 miles from land. Exhausted, it clung to the fore yard-arm ; and 
a present of a rupee induced a Lascar to go aloft and seize it, which 
he did after several attempts. The voracity with which it attacked 
some plantains showed that it had been for some time deprived of 
food, probably having been blown off shore by high winds. Hanging 
head downwards from its cage, it stuffed the fruit into its cheeks, 
monkey-fashion, and then seemed to chew it at leisure. When I 
left the steamer at Suez, it remained in the captain's possession, and 
seemed to be tame and reconciled to its imprisonment, tempered by 
a surfeit of plantains. 

" In flying over water they frequently dip down to touch the surface. 
Jerdon was in doubt whether they did this to drink or not, but McMaster 
feels sure that they do this in order to drink, and that the habit is not 
peculiar to the Pteropodidce, as he has noticed other bats doing the 
same. Colonel Sykes states that he ' can personally testify that their 
flesh is delicate and without disagreeable flavour ' ; and another 
colonel of my acquaintance once regaled his friends on some flying- 
fox cutlets, which were pronounced ' not bad.' Dr. Day accuses these 
bats of intemperate habits drinking the toddy from the earthen pots 
on the cocoa-nut trees, and flying home intoxicated. The wild 
almond is a favourite fruit. 

"Mr, Rainey, who has been a careful observer of animals for years, 
states that in Bengal these bats prefer clumps of bamboos for a resting- 
place, and feed much on the fruit of the betel-nut palm when ripe. 
Another naturalist, Mr. G. Vidal, writes that in Southern India the 
P. medius feeds chiefly on the green drupe or nut of the Alexandrian 
laurel (Calophyllum inophylluni), the kernels of which contain a strong- 
smelling green oil on which the bats fatten amazingly ; and then they 
in turn yield, when boiled down, an oil which is recommended as an 
excellent stimulative application for the hair. I noticed in Seeonec a 
curious superstition to the effect that a bone of this bat tied on to the 
ankle by a cord of black cowhair is a sovereign remedy, according 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 



2 9 



to the natives, for rheumatism in the leg, Tickell states that these 
bats produce one at a time in March or April, and they continue a 
fixture on the parent till the end of May or beginning of June.' ' 

This seems a short time for the young animal to become independent, 
but bats are born of a relative large size and in a very perfect condition. 
In addition to the foods mentioned above, flying-foxes eat neem, 
jamoon, and beer fruit, figs of various kinds, and flowers ; in Ceylon 
Mr. W. W. A. Phillipps notices that they will fly from a distance of 
30 or 40 miles to feed on Eucalyptus flowers, and that they are often 
on the wing by day. 

They are well-known pests to cultivated fruit, but refuse the orange 
family ; and Shortt in 1863 described in the Proceedings of the London 
Zoological Society how he watched them fishing, hovering over water 
swarming with small fish on the rise, seizing them with their feet, and 
flying to trees on the bank to eat them. Several were shot in the act, 
and this very circumstantial account disposes of the idea that the very 
different action of swooping down and touching water with the muzzle 
in order to drink has been mistaken for fishing. Moreover there is 
an American Fishing Bat (Noctilio leporinus) which catches its prey 
with its feet. Much has been written about the riotous and quarrel- 
some behaviour of flying-foxes at the home trees, but their proceedings 
when seeking food need further study. They do well in captivity 
and sometimes breed ; one has been known to live for twenty years 
in England. 

KALONG OR MALAY FLYING-FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteropus edulis. Native : Kluang, 
Malay, 

HABITAT. Malay Peninsula and Islands ; has been obtained at 
Mergui and its archipelago. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the Indian Flying-P'ox but larger, with 
narrower ears, only half as wide as long, and broader furry space on 
the back between the wings. The wings are 5 ft. across, and the fore- 
arm bone (which, being the largest in the skeleton, is much used in 
measuring bats) often well over 8 in. long, while in the common species 
it is less than 7 in. The fur is sometimes all black. 

The Kalong is the largest bat known, and resembles the common 
Flying-Fox in habits. It is also good eating ; Wallace compares it 
to hare ; but in preparing fruit-bats for the table, Mr. Phillipps says, 
care must be taken that the fur, in which resides the rank odour of 
these bats, does not come in contact with the flesh and taint it. 



30 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

NICOBAR OR ISLAND FLYING-FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteropus nicobaricus. 

HABITAT. Andamans and Nicobars. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the common Indian species, but with the ears 
blunter and quite half an inch shorter, and the fur darker, often all 
black in females and young. 

FULVOUS FRUIT-BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Xant harpy ia amplexicaudata, 
Pteropus leschenaultii. 

HABITAT. From the Persian Gulf to Timor, including most of 
India, Ceylon, and Burma, but local. 

DESCRIPTION. General form much like that of the Flying-fox, 
but ears rounded and a small tail present ; size less than half that of 
the common species ; forearm not 4 in., and expanse under 2 ft. Fur 
short and downy, light brown ; skin of wings dark brown. 

A voracious fruit-eater and strong flyer, travelling at least sixteen 
miles out from home in search of food. Near Moulmein it has been 
known to feed on shell-fish exposed by the tide. It often haunts caves. 

SMALL OR SHORT-NOSED FOX-BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cynopterus marginatus. Native : 
Cham-gadili) Bengali ; Chota badur, Hindi ; Lenzwe, Lenwet, 
Burmese. 

HABITAT. The same as the large Indian Fox-bat, but extending 
east through the Malay Islands to the Philippines ; the commonest 
species in our area next to the Flying-fox. 

DESCRIPTION. Brown, either yellowish or greyish, in tint ; wings 
dusky brown, ears edged with white. Size rather less than last species, 
like which it has a small tail. Fore-arm 3 in., expanse 18 in. 

This little Fox-bat has the light easy flight of an insectivorous bat, 
not the slow heavy stroke of the big Flying-fox. It also hangs upon 
clusters on trees, especially plantains and Palmyra palms, but males 
are often found solitary. It is very voracious, especially favouring 
plantains, guavas, and mangoes, and will eat more than its own 
weight in three hours, the food passing through its body almost 
unchanged. Although so different in size and flight, in voice it much 
resembles the large Flying-fox, which chatters and cackles, not squeak- 
ing like an ordinary bat Two insular species need no notice. 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 3! 

PIGMY FRUIT-BAT OR SMALL LONG-TONGUED FRUIT-BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Carponycterus minima^ Macro- 
glossus minimus. 

HABITAT. Warm Sikkim valleys east through Burma and Mal- 
aysia to Australia. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of all Fox-bats, about the size of an 
ordinary insectivorous bat, from which its long narrow muzzle will 
distinguish it. The body is not much more than 2 in. long, the fore- 
arm less than i J in. not half the size of the common small Fruit-bat. 
The tongue is long and brush-like, adapted for licking out the contents 
of fruit. This little bat roosts in trees, but is sometimes found in sheds, 
etc. Its fur is brown in colour and long. 

DOBSON'S LONG-TONGUED FRUIT-BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Eonycteris spelaa. 

HABITAT. Farm Caves, Moulmein ; Cambodia and Java. 

DESCRIPTION. Another brush-tongued species, with thin short 
dark brown fur, and a little smaller than the common small Fox-bat. 
Like the last species, it has a short tail, but it differs from all our other 
Fruit-bats in having no claw on the index finger, all the wing-fingers 
being clawless as in ordinary bats. It appears to live in caves. 

The Insectivorous Bats or Microchiroptera are an exceedingly 
numerous group, over a hundred species being found in our Eastern 
Empire ; and, in accordance with 
the plan of this revision, no attempt 
will be made to give descriptions of 
all these, but certain species will be 
selected, which, by reason of their 
abundance or of some striking 
peculiarity in appearance or habits, 
are likely to attract attention. As 
Sterndale, who attempted to de- 
scribe all the Indian species then 

known, says, " Much is to be dis- Head of i nsec tivon>iis Bat 
covered concerning them. Very stelle). Showing short face and 
little is known of the habits of these tragus or inner earlet. 
small nocturnal animals. . . . We 

see them flit about rapidly in the dusky evening, and capture one here 
and there, but, after a brief description, in most cases very uninteresting 
to all save those who are c bat fanciers/ what can be said about them ? " 
More is probably to be gained by most people in studying the ways of 
those which are easy to identify than by trying to learn the lot ; and 




MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



fortunately the notable species above mentioned and now to be dealt 
with include representatives of all the families of the sub-order found 
in our limits. 

These are distinguished as follows : The Vampires * (Nycteridce 
or Vampyridcz) by having a " nose-leaf" or horizontal skinny crest 
on the nose, and a tragus or " earlet " a sort of supplementary inner 
ear-lobe. The Horse-shoe Bats (Rhino lop hides) by having a nose- 
leaf, but no tragus, the ear being simply single-lobed as in Fruit-bats. 
.The Free-tailed Bats (Emballonurida) by having the tail projecting 
either in the middle of the leg-web or from its hinder margin. Finally, 
the most Typical Insectivorous Bats (Vespertilionida) by having a 
tragus but no nose-leaf, and the tail, as in the Horse-shoe Bats, included 
in the web that unites it to the legs right up to the tip. 

We have two easily-distinguished species of Vampires. 

INDIAN VAMPIRE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Megaderma lyra> spectrum, Lyro- 
derma lyra. 

HABITAT. India and Ceylon, and perhaps Burma. 
DESCRIPTION. A rather large bat (forearm about 2\ in.) with very 

large ears united for some distance 
from the base and containing a 
bifid tragus, a long lyre-shaped 
nose-leaf, and no tail, though the 
leg-web, which usually includes it, 
is present. Eyes larger than in 
most insectivorous bats ; fur grey, 
wing-membranes dark brown. 

This bat, often called " False 
Vampire " to distinguish it from 
the American Vampires, inhabits 
buildings and caves during the day, 
and often comes into verandahs and 
rooms at night to seek prey or 
devour it. It flies low, and when 
chased in a room shows less endur- 

Indian Vampire. ance than most bats. Though it 

eats insects, it preys as much or 
more on small vertebrates, taking smaller bats, birds, lizards, frogs, 
and even fish. It even devours some of the bones of its prey. 

* Not to be confused with the true vampires of America (Phyllostomatida)) 
the only family of this sub-order not represented in the East. 




ORDER CHIROPTERA 33 

MALAY VAMPIRE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Megaderma spasma* 

HABITAT. Tenasserim to the Malay Islands, and Ceylon ; possibly 
Travancore. 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the last, but smaller, with the ears not 
joined so far up, the outer limb of the tragus longer, and the nose- 
leaf very different, having a heart-shaped pattern. 

This bat needs further study, as its feeding-habits may be different 
from the Indian Vampire's, though this is unlikely. 

Of the Horse-shoe Bats (Rhinolophida) we can only make a 
selection here. 




Malay Vampire. Large Horse-shoe Bat. 

GREAT EASTERN HORSE-SHOE BAT OR LARGE LEAF-BAT 

OTHER NAMES, Scientific : Rhinolophus luctus, ferniger. 

HABITAT. A mountain bat, inhabiting moderate heights in the 
Himalayas, and ranging into Southern India, Ceylon, and the Malay 
region to the Philippines. 

DESCRIPTION. A large black long-furred bat with the forearm 
nearly 3 in. long. Ears large, longer than head, and pointed, with a 
large rounded lobe on the outer margin (not to be mistaken for a tragus, 
which is, as above stated, absent in Horse-shoe bats) ; nose-leaf large 
and complicated, the upper part like a graduated spire ; eyes very 
small. 

This bat roosts both in forests and in caves and buildings, and 
hangs up in pairs, only one pair being found in a particular haunt, 



34 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



unless there is plenty of space. It flies rather low and heavily, and 
feeds on beetles, etc. 




Dark-brown Leaf-bat. 



DARK-BROWN LEAF-BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhinolophus tragatus, ferrum- 
equinum. 

HABITAT. Moderate heights in the Himalayas, 

DESCRIPTION. Much smaller than the last, with the forearm less 
than 2\ in. ; ears not quite so long as head and scarcely lobed in 
front ; nose-leaf like a barbed spear-head above. Fur reddish brown 
above, pale grey below. 

The formferrum-eguinum of this bat is the greater Horse-shoe Bat 
of English naturalists ; this form has only occurred in Gilgit, and only 
differs from the Indian tragatus (which in spite of this name has no 
tragus) in having three grooves on the lower lip instead of one, so that 
Dobson was probably right in uniting them, so many European 
animals extending to the Himalayas. 

It associates in numbers in caves, etc., and comes out early. 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 35 





Great Himalayan Leaf-nosed Bat Great Himalayan Leaf-nosed Bat 

(male). (female). 

GEEAT HIMALAYAN LEAF-NOSED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hipposideros armtger, Phyllorhina 
armigera. 

HABITAT. Himalayas and Khasi Hills, China, Penang. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest Indian insectivorous bat, larger than 
the small flying-fox, with a forearm of nearly 4 in. in males. Ears 
moderate with concave outer and convex inner margin. Nose-leaf 
complicated. Lower part of nose-leaf shield-shaped, with four 
supplementary lobes on each side ; upper part much more developed 
in males than in females. Fur of some shade of brown. 

Hutton observed this species roosting in a loft, and noticed that 
when thus hanging up it had the tail and leg-web turned up over the 
back. It came out before dark, to hunt beetles and the noisy cicadas, 
whose notes betrayed them. 

The Free-tailed Bats (Emballonurida) are not numerous in species 
in India, but some species are common or remarkable. 

MOUSE-TAILED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhinopoma microphyllum. Hard- 
wickii. 

HABITAT. North-Eastern Africa and South-Eastern Asia, in- 
cluding India ; east to the Malay Peninsula, but not the Himalayas 
or Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A rather small drab bat, with a forearm often not 
much over 2 in., but easily distinguished from all others by having a 
long tail only included at the base in the very short leg-web, so that it 




36 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

looks like a mouse's. Ears large, broad, pointed, joined at the base, 
with a small tragus ; eyes rather larger than usual in insectivorous 
bats, snout rather long and pig-like. 

This is generally called the long-tailed bat, but some species have* 
the tail as long or longer, the peculiarity of the present one being the 

freedom of the tail from the leg- web ; 
the tail is flexible, but does not seem to 
be prehensile, so its use is doubtful ; as 
in some Egyptian specimens the tail is 
wanting, it would seem that there is a 
tendency here to degeneration, first the 
web having been nearly lost, while the 
tail is following suit, and the species 
may end up in having neither tail nor 
Skull of Mouse-tailed Bat. much leg-web, as has happened in most 

of the fruit-bats. 

The species is a haunter of caves and buildings, and in the cold 
weather is found to have a huge mass of fat at the hinder and under 
part of the body, on which it presumably lives during hibernation. 

LONG-ARMED SHEATH-TAILED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Taphozous longimanus. 

HABITAT. Southern India, Ceylon and Burma, east to Tenas- 
serim ; Southern Central Provinces. 

DESCRIPTION. A rather small bat with the short tail projecting 
through the middle of the leg-web instead of being enclosed in it to 
the end as usual. Muzzle rather pointed, ears moderate, with a short 
broad-ended tragus ; a pocket or pouch on the chin in males, only 
represented in females by a groove. Fur black or brown, buff in the 
young. Forearm about 2\ in. 

The name " long-armed " is not particularly appropriate to this 
bat ; in fact, the scientific name does not mean this, but " long-handed, " 
and the wings, which are elongated- webbed hands, are long and narrow 
in these free-tailed bats. It frequents buildings, and so is common 
about large towns. 

POUCHED SHEATH-TAILED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Taphozous saccolamus^ Saccol&mus 
saccolcemus. 

HABITAT. Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, and east through 
Burma to Java. 

DESCRIPTION. Similar in form to the last but rather larger, and 
with a chin-pouch in the female as well as the male, though much 



ORDER CHIROPTERA 37 

larger in the latter sex. Fur very variable, dark to light brown, 
sometimes spotted with white, or white below. 
Also a common haunter of caves and buildings. 

WRINKLED-LIPPED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nyctinomus plicatus. 

HABITAT. India east to Malaysia, but not the Himalayas or 
Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A rather small bat with broad round ears joined 
at the base and very short tragus, especially noticeable by its deep 
hound-like lips marked with vertical wrinkles. Wings long and narrow, 
legs very short, tail fairly long, quite half of it projecting from the leg- 
web. Forearm nearly 2 in. long. Fur black to brown, paler below. 

This peculiar-looking and easily recognisable bat is a high and 
powerful flyer, and haunts caves and buildings in large numbers, the 
Phagat caves in the Moulmein district harbouring " countless myriads " 
of them. Many of the small bats, by the way, do not trouble about 
hanging up by their hind legs in the orthodox way of bats, but cram 
themselves into any crevice anyhow. 

The remaining bats of the family Vespertilionida are just the 
ordinary bats, far the most numerous in species and the most widely- 
distributed. They have no eccentricities in faces or tails, but some 
have other remarkable points. 

LONG-EARED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Plecotus auritus. 

DISTRIBUTION. Europe and temperate Asia, including the higher 
Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. A very small bat with 
the longest ears of any animal known, well 
over an inch long, while the forearm is 
not much over an inch and a half; the 
tragus alone would make a respectable 
ear for any bat of the size, and sticks out 
like an ear when the bat is hanging up 
in repose, the ears themselves being 
tucked under the wings. The fur is light- 
brown above, paler below. 

This is a well-known bat at home, 
hiding in hollow trees and old buildings, Long-eared Bat. 

and flying late and dodgily, but not very 

fast ; but when an attempt is made to capture it in a room it shows 
much endurance. 




38 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

NOCTULE BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vesperugo noctula. 

HABITAT. Europe, Africa, and Asia ; it has been found in 
India in Nepal and Sikkim, and again in Ceylon and Singapore ; it 
even inhabits Sumatra and Java. 

DESCRIPTION. A typical ordinary small insectivorous bat, 
though at home it seems large compared to the commoner little 
Flittermouse or Pipistrelle. Its ears are of moderate size with a small 
round tragus, and its fur chestnut ; the forearm is about 2 in. long. 

The Noctule haunts hollow trees, and flies high and early, living 
much on beetles. 





Noctule Bat. Common Yellow Bat. 

COMMON YELLOW BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nycticejus or Scotophilus temminckii. 

HABITAT. Southern Asia east to the Philippines ; not ascending 
the Himalayas very high. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the Noctule, an ordinary small bat, with a 
forearm about 2 in. long, but the tragus is long and narrow. The fur 
varies from greyish to yellowish-brown above and white to yellow 
below, some specimens being quite bright. 

This is almost the commonest bat in India, and as it haunts build- 
ings and comes out early, is particularly noticeable : it feeds a great 
deal on white ants, and has a rather slow and steady flight. Some 
specimens are much larger than others. 

HARLEQUIN BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nycticejus or Scotophilus ornatus. 
HABITAT. Eastern Himalayas in warm valleys, and east to 
Yunnan. 




ORDER CHIROPTERA 39 

DESCRIPTION. Similar in size and form to the last, but with longer 
ears. Colour rich yellow-brown, with white stripes down the back 
and breast, and a white crown-patch and collar ; legs and fingers 
sometimes reddish. 

This bat deserves notice here only for its remarkable colour, for 
it is a local species. 

HAIRY- WINGED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Harpy iocephalus harpyia. 

HABITAT. Himalayas and Khasi Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Rather larger than the common yellow bat, with 
separately projecting nostrils and 
very strong teeth ; fur soft and full, 
spreading out on to the wing- 
membrane at the sides and cover- 
ing the legs and leg-web. Colour 
rusty drab, grizzled with white, as 
far as the shoulders ; hind quarters 
and leg-web deep bay ; underparts 
grey. 

This peculiar bat, noticeable Skull of Hairy-winged Bat. ] 

for its exceptional furriness, feeds 

on particularly hard-shelled beetles, this accounting for its hyaena- 
like teeth. 

PAINTED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kerivoula picta. Native : Kehel 
vulha^ Cingalese. 
. HABITAT. India, Ceylon and Burma, but not very common. 

DESCRIPTION. A very small bat, with the forearm barely \\ in. 
long, but noticeable for its brilliant colouring, the wings, ears and 
tail- web being orange, with broad deep wedges of black between the 
fingers, and the fur orange According to Mr. Phillipps, Ceylon 
specimens, especially males, often have the light parts of the wing 
scarlet instead of orange. 

This bat is so remarkable, looking more like a large butterfly or 
moth on the wing than a bat, that it often attracts attention in spite 
of its comparative rarity. It often resorts to plantains to repose during 
the day, and is said to be then not conspicuous. 

HODGSON'S OR LARGE PAINTED BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Vespertilio formosus. 
HABITAT. Northern India and China. 



40 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the Painted Bat, but with the fur less 
richly coloured, though the wings and other bare parts are similar ; 
the size is considerably larger, the forearm being nearly 2 in. long, and 
the tail is decidedly shorter than the head and body, whereas in the 
last species it is a little longer. 

Like the more familiar Painted Bat, its coloration appears to be 
protective in repose, but as neither of these bats are abundant, the 
protection does not seem to be of much service to them. 

INDIAN PIPISTRELLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vesperugo or Vespertilio abramus 
or coromandelicus. 

HABITAT. Central Europe through Asia even down to Northern 
Australia, including the Indian region generally, even up to 7,000 ft. 
in the Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest common Indian bat, with a forearm 
less than i| in. long and dark brown fur, often yellowish on the head. 

This little creature is the most familiar of all Indian bats, corre- 
sponding to its near ally at home, the common Pipistrelle or Flitter- 
mouse, and similarly frequenting houses and often coming into rooms, 
where it flies round so fast that one can only just see that it is a bat 
and not a large moth. Sterndale says it is found in hollow bamboos. 

COMMON EUROPEAN BAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Myotis or Vespertilio murmur 
HABITAT. Europe and the Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. About as big as 
the common yellow bat, but with a 
much longer and more pointed nose, 
as long as a small fruit-bat's, and 
larger eyes and ears ; fur brown 
above, whitish below. 

Although it has only once been 
found in England, this is the com- 
mon bat of Europe, and is worth 
mention here, because Hutton found 
that in confinement it would kill and 
partly eat smaller bats, so that its 
Common European Bat. habits require further investigation, 

as it may turn out to be partially 

carnivorous like the Vampire. It haunts caves and buildings, and 
flies low and slowly late in the evening. 




ORDER DERMOPTERA 41 



ORDER DERMOPTERA 

The two closely-allied species of curious animals which compose 
this order stand quite by themselves, though the genus (Galeopithecus) 
has been referred at different times to the Bats, the Lemurs and the 
Insectivora, They are about the size of a small cat, with strong, curved, 
compressed, rather cat-like claws which, however, are not retractile 
long limbs, the forearm being especially long, and a very perfect 
parachute-membrane. Altogether they look like an abortive attempt 
at a bat, and in some ways are bat-like in their habits, but their teeth 
are unlike those of any other animal, the incisors being more or less 
notched, especially the two central lower pairs, which are like miniature 
combs. 

COBEGO OR COLUGO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Galeopithecus volans. Native : 
Myouk-hloung-pyan, Burmese ; Kubong, Malay. 

HABITAT. Mergui, east to Borneo, and Siam. 

DESCRIPTION. Fur olive-brown, mottled with irregular whitish 
spots and blotches ; the pile is short, but exquisitely soft ; head and 
brain very small ; tail long and prehensile. The membrane is con- 
tinued from each side of the neck to the fore-feet, thence to the hind feet, 
again to the tip of the tail. All the feet have five webbed toes. 

This animal is nocturnal in its habits, and very sluggish in its 
motions by day, at which time it usually hangs from a branch suspended 
by its four paws, its mottled back assimilating closely to the rugged 
bark of the tree ; it is especially herbivorous, possessing a very 
voluminous stomach and long intestines. Wallace, in addition, says 
of it, that its brain is very small, and it possesses such tenacity of 
life that it is very difficult to kill ; he adds that it is said to have only 
one at a birth, and one he shot had a very small blind naked little 
creature clinging closely to its breast, which was quite bare and much 
wrinkled. There are four teats placed here. Raffles, however, gives 
two as the number produced at each birth. Dr. Cantor says that in 
confinement plantains constitute the favourite food, but deprived of 
liberty it soon dies. In its wild state it " lives entirely on young fruits 
and leaves ; those of the cocoa-nut and Bombax pentandrum are its 
favourite food, and it commits great injury to the plantations of these " 
(Horsfield\ Regarding its powers of flight, Wallace says : "I 
saw one of these animals run up a tree in a rather open space, and then 
glide obliquely through the air to another tree on which it alighted 
near its base, and immediately began to ascend. I paced the distance 



42 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

from one tree to the other, and found it to be 70 yards, and the amount 
of descent not more than 35 or 40 ft., or less than one in five. This, 
I think, proves that the animal must have some power of guiding 
itself through the air, otherwise in so long a distance it would have * 
little chance of alighting exactly upon the trunk." Both Blanford and 




Cobego. 



Sterndale call the animal " Flying Lemur," but this misleading name 
ought to be dropped. A recent observer has seen it give a flap when 
changing direction, so that it comes very near true flight. The voice 
is said to be a harsh, disagreeable croaking sound, and the gait on the 
ground a succession of short awkward flapping jumps. 
The only other species inhabits the Philippines. 



ORDER INSECTIVORA 43 

ORDER INSECTIVORA 

These are mostly small animals of, with few exceptions, nocturnal 
habits. Their chief characteristic lies in their pointed dentition ; 
the skull is elongated, the bones of the face and jaw especially, and those 
of the latter are comparatively weak. The limbs are short, five-toed, 
and plantigrade, and the animals are all possessed of clavicles like the 
preceding orders ; the teats are placed on the abdomen and are more 
than two. The long pig-like nose is, as stated in the diagnosis of the 
Order (p. 2), the readiest means of distinguishing an Insectivore 
from other small mammals ; the teeth vary much in detail, and their 
peculiarities are best noted under the separate families, of which there 
are four in India. All are easily distinguishable, as follows : 

The Moles (Talpida) are little sausage-shaped animals with very 
short limbs and tail and no noticeable eyes or ears. 

The Shrews (Soricida) are like long-nosed, small-eyed mice or 
rats. 

The Hedgehog family (Erinaceida*) are much larger, generally 
about the size of guinea-pigs, and prickly and short-tailed. Two shrew- 
like animals are, however, referred to it, the characters of which will 
be given when they come to be dealt with. 

The Tupaias * (Tupaiida>) are like long-nosed squirrels. 

There are more of these little animals recorded from India than 
there are of the Primates, but as they are, even more than the smaller 
kinds of bats, animals for the specialist, it is not necessary here to 
allude to more than about half of them. 

Of the moles (Talpidce) we have two species, easily recognisable 
by their sausage-shaped body, clad in very soft fur, very short tail, 
and very large, broad, long-nailed fore-paws which seem to spring 
straight from the trunk. The eyes are covered by skin, and there are 
no external ears. Moles are burrowing animals, living on earth- 
worms and underground grubs. In India they are confined to the 
hills. .-< 

1 SHORT-TAILED MOLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Talpa micrura. Native : Pariam, 
Lepcha ; Biyukantyem, Bhutanese. 

HABITAT. South-western Himalayas and hills south of Assam. 

DESCRIPTION. About 5 in. long, tail only about an eighth of an 
inch and buried in the fur. Colour, steely black (brown in many 
dried skins), snout and feet flesh-colour. 

* A true squirrel with a long muzzle, and extraordinarily like a Tupaia, 
exists, but is not found in India. Its teeth are, of course, unlike the Tupaia's. 



44 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

This mole appears not to form mole-hills like the common mole of 
Europe. 

WHITE-TAILED MOLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Talpa leucura. 

HABITAT. Khasi and Naga Hills, up to 10,000 ft. ; valley of the 
Sittoung River. 

DESCRIPTION. -Smaller than the last, with a shorter muzzle but 
longer tail, which is about a quarter of an inch long and covered with 
rather long white hair. Body-fur brown in preserved specimens, but 
may be black. 

The European Mole (Talpa europ&a, T. macrura of Hodgson) 
may perhaps occur, but Blanford doubts if Hodgson's specimen was 
obtained in India, as no one else has found it there, and thinks there 
may have been some confusion of specimens. It may be distinguished 
from our Indian moles by having the eyes open, and especially by the 
tail being over an inch long. 

Sterndale thinks he got moles of some sort in the Satpura Range, 
but says he had not then devoted much attention to the smaller 
mammals, and may have mistaken some kind of shrew for them. 

The Rev. H. Baker thought he found moles in Malabar ; they 
had mole-like velvety fur, but this was black above and white below, 
unusual for moles ; yet the feet were mole-like, and it is possible 
that more moles remain to be discovered in India. 

The Shrews (Soricidce) are far the most numerous and widely 
spread family of Insectivores ; they have two large, pointed, rather 
hooked incisors in the front of the upper jaw, and two more, also 
large but very slightly curved, opposing them in the lower. The other 
incisors are small, as are the canines, which are only found in the upper 
jaw, and all these are in contact at their bases. (See illustration on 
P. 2.) 

/COMMON MUSK-SHREW OR MUSK-RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chachundar, Hindi ; Sondeli, 
Canarese ; Kondeli, Malayalam ; Kune-miyo, Cingalese ; Anachiwa- 
gagar, Kashmiri ; Kywek-tsut, Burmese ; Chundi, Kol. 

HABITAT. Towns and other human habitations in India, Ceylon, 
and Burma ; it has spread to some ports on the Indian Ocean outside 
India. 

DESCRIPTION. Distinguished from an ordinary rat by its long 
snout, very small eyes, comparatively short tail, small ears and bluish- 
grey fur. The snout, ears, feet, and tail are flesh-coloured, and the 



ORDER INSECT1VORA 45 

scanty fur on the extremities white. Head and body length about 
6 in., tail about 4 in. Sometimes a reddish-brown-backed specimen 
is found, and young ones are dark grey. 

One of the most familiar of Indian mammals, and a useful insect 
destroyer. It is nocturnal, hiding during the day in drains, etc. 
Sterndale says, apropos of the story, now generally discredited, of 
its tainting corked bottles of wine, etc., " We had once been talking at 
the mess about musk-rats ; someone declared a bottle of sherry had 
been tainted, and nobody defended the poor little beast but myself, 
and I was considerably laughed at. However, one night soon after, 
as I was dressing for dinner, I heard a musk-rat squeak in my room. 
Here was a chance. Shutting the door, I laid a clean pocket-hand- 
kerchief on the ground next to the wall, knowing the way in which 
the animal usually skirts round a room ; on he came and ran over 
the handkerchief, and then, seeing me, he turned and went back 
again. I then headed him once more and quietly turned him ; and 
thus went on till I had made him run over the handkerchief five times. 
I then took it up, and there was not the least smell. I then went 
across to the mess house, and, producing the handkerchief, asked 
several of my brother officers if they could perceive any peculiar smell 
about it. No, none of them could. ( Well, all I know is,' said I, 
' that I have driven a musk-rat five times over that handkerchief 
just now.' " As this experiment shows, a musk-rat does not give off 
its scent, which emanates from the flank-glands found in shrews, 
unless disturbed ; and any liquors found to be tainted must have been 
so by the tainting of the corks, European-bottled samples being always 
free. The musk-rat has been known to eat bread, and to tackle a 
large frog and a scorpion. 

Sterndale also says : " When I was at Nagpore in 1864, I made 
friends with one of these shrews, and it would come out every evening 
at my whistle and take grasshoppers out of my fingers. It seemed to 
be very short-sighted, and did not notice the insect till quite close to 
my hand, when, with a short swift spring, it would pounce upon its 
prey/ 7 This looks as if, in the experiment above quoted, the shrew 
when it turned was aware of his proximity by scent rather than sight. 

He also says : " Whilst marching as a Settlement Officer in the 
district of Seeonee, I noticed that one of my camels had a sore back, 
and on inquiring into the cause was told by the natives that a musk- 
rat (our commonest shrew) had run over him," comparing this with 
the former English belief that a shrew could cause domestic animals 
pain and injury by running over them. 

Musk-shrews are born blind, and the young are presumably, like 
those of most insectivores, several in number. 



46 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

BROWN MUSK-SHREW 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Crocidura murina. 

HABITAT. Much the same as that of the last, but extending east 
to Malaysia and China. 

DESCRIPTION. Very similar to the last, but brown, blackish- 
brown or dark grey ; skin of feet, ears and tail dark, with brown hair. 
The size in these, as in other shrews, varies, especially as young ones 
are not distinguishable externally from adults, and this species and the 
last appear to interbreed, some specimens being intermediate. 

Indeed, Dobson very reasonably suggested that the common 
musk-rat is really only a semi-domesticated (i.e. self-domesticated) race 
of this shrew, which generally frequents woods, though occasionally 
entering houses and outbuildings. It does not smell so strong as the 
common musk-shrew. The natives in some places at any rate dis- 
tinguish the two and consider this dark species venomous. 

Blanfqrd says this belief is without foundation ; but if so, why 
should it attach to the less familiar variety and not to the common 
one ? It may be that this large " wild " shrew may, without, of course, 
being really venomous, inflict a deleterious bite at times, and have thus 
started a bad reputation ages ago (civilisation being so much more 
ancient in the East), which has spread westwards, and incidentally 
become transferred there to shrews generally. 

INDIAN PIGMY SHREW 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Crocidura perrotteti. 

HABITAT. Southern India, Bengal, Assam, Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. A very small brown animal less than 2 in. long 
without the tail, which is less than i J in. long. 

This is doubtfully distinct from another tiny shrew (C. hodgsoni) 
found in the Himalayas, and from the European Pigmy Shrew 
C. etrusca, one of the smallest known mammals ; its minute size is 
likely to attract notice, and its habits have not been recorded and so 
deserve study. Anderson showed, however, that one could have 
five young. 

It may here be mentioned that the frequent occurrence of dead but 
apparently uninjured shrews in England in autumn has been accounted 
for by the suggestion that they only live one year. It would be worth 
while to keep a musk-shrew captive and see if it were short-lived ; a 
common rat dies of old age at five, and a mouse at two, and shrews 
may well be shorter-lived even than this. The editor has, however, 
seen a musk-shrew slip through the bars of an ordinary canary-cage 
quite easily, so that a cage covered with fine wire-netting would be 



ORDER INSECT1VORA 



47 



needed to confine the subject of any experiment. Chopped raw meat, 
table-scraps, and any available insects would serve as food, 

HIMALAYAN WATER-SHREW 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chimarrogale himalayica, Crossopus 
himalayicus. Native : Ung lagniyu, Lepcha ; Chupitsi, Bhutia. 

HABITAT. Khakyen Hills and South-eastern Himalayas, at 
moderate elevations. 

DESCRIPTION. Snout furry and well-whiskered, eyes and ears 
very small, feet broad and fringed with white hairs, tail rather long. 
Colour of fur dark grey, paler and browner below, tail white under- 
neath. Size rather smaller than the musk-shrew. 

This shrew appears to resemble the European water-shrew in 
habits, and to feed, like it, on small water-animals. 

McMaster saw a black water-shrew near Nagpur, which, Blan- 
ford suggests, may be an undescribed species. 




European Hedgehog. 

The hedgehog family (Erinaceida) comprises five species of 
hedgehogs in our area, and two curious shrew-like animals, the 
teeth of which agree more closely with those of the hedgehogs than 
with shrews' teeth. 



48 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Hedgehogs are large for Insectivores, but small as mammals go 
generally, being about the size of guinea-pigs or less, with very short 
inconspicuous tails, and a covering of short spines above, and of 
fur on the underparts. Their eyes are not so small as those of 
shrews, nor are their noses quite so long, but are still quite piggish 
enough to distinguish them from baby porcupines, to say nothing of 
the teeth and other characters into which it is not necessary to enter 
here, except to say that the tiny tail is quite different from any porcu- 
pine's, and that the great chisel incisors of the spiny rodent, and its 
want of canines, contrast with the pointed and separated incisors 
of the hedgehogs, which, also, possess canines, though these are short 
and triangular. 

Hedgehogs feed on insects and other small animals, and are 
nocturnal, hiding in holes during the day. When in fear of an enemy 
they roll themselves into a ball, presenting spines only at all points. 
They are not nearly so familiar in India as they are at home, where our 
single species is one of the commonest wild mammals, and is often 
kept as a pet. In this species there are several nearly naked young 
at a birth, whose spines are at first pale and soft. 

In adults the spines are ringed with dark brown or black and white, 
the proportion of the colours varying with different species. In some, 
too, there is a parting in the spines on the crown, absent in others. 

The general native names for hedgehogs are Kant a chua, Kan- 
derna, or Sonh y in Hindi ; Jaho, Tar-java, in Sindhi. 

HARDWICKE'S OR COLLARED HEDGEHOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Erinaceus collaris, grayi. 

HABITAT. Northern India, but not in the hills. 

DESCRIPTION. No parting in spines on crown ; feet and claws 
well developed, as in the European hedgehog, but ears much larger ; 
colour on the whole dark, though more than half of the spines from 
their base is white. Fur on the underparts and legs dark brown, but 
the chin white, this* colour sometimes running back and up the neck, 
but not forming a real collar. 

Length about 7 in., ear longer than tail, which is i in., and bluntly 
pointed. 

Sterndale says : "I have found this species in the Punjab, near 
Lahore. One evening, while walking in the dusk, a small animal, 
which I took to be a rat, ran suddenly between my legs. Now I 
confess to an antipathy to rats, and, though I would not willingly 
hurt any animal, I could not resist an impulsive kick, which sent my 
supposed rat high in the air. I felt a qualm of conscience immediately 
afterwards, and ran to pick up my victim, and was sorry to find that 



ORDER INSECTIVORA 49 

I had perpetrated such an assault on an unoffending little hedgehog, 
which was however only stunned, and was carried off by me to the 
Zoological Gardens." He also quotes Hutton, saying that " when 
touched they have the habit of suddenly jerking up the back with 
some force, so as to prick the ringers or mouth of the assailant, and 
at the same time emitting a blowing sound, not unlike the noise 
produced when blowing upon a flame with a pair of bellows." 

LARGE-EARED OR AFGHAN HEDGEHOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Erinaceus megalotis. 

HABITAT. Afghanistan, but extends to Quetta. 

DESCRIPTION. -Our largest hedgehog, growing to i ft. in length ; 
large-eared also, but not so much so as the last, in spite of the name. 
The ears are as a matter of fact no longer than the tail, which in this 
large species is i| in. long ; they are pointed in form. There is no 
parting on the forehead among the spines, which are brown at the 
base, and the feet and claws are well developed, the spines being also 
long, the longest just over i in. The fur is dark brown below, and 
white on the chin, as in the last species. 

According to Hutton, this hedgehog feeds on slugs, snails, worms, 
insects, and lizards, and hibernates from about the end of October 
to February. 

ANDERSON'S HEDGEHOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Erinaceus jerdoni. 

HABITAT. Sind and Punjab. 

DESCRIPTION. Another dark species with large rather pointed 
ears and well-developed feet, but with a parting dividing the spines 
on the crown. Ear longer than tail, spines dark at base ; fur below 
very dark, but shading through whitish brown on the chest to white 
on the throat. Length 7 J in. 

Blanford thought it probable that the Long-spined Hedgehog 
(Erinaceus macracanthus) of Afghanistan and Persian Baluchistan 
would be found to range into our area. 

It is of the same type as the last, with the parting on the crown, dark 
colour, and large ears and feet, but is larger and has very long spines, 
and the white of the throat extends down to the breast. 

SMALL-FOOTED OR SOUTH-INDIAN HEDGEHOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Erinaceus micropus. Native : 
Mollu-yelli, Tamil. 

HABITAT. Southern India, in the plains and on the eastern slopes 
towards the base of the Nilgiris. Its northern limits are not known. 

E 



50 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. A short-eared, small-footed, pale-coloured hedge- 
hog, only 6 in. long. Spines with a parting on the forehead, ears 
rounded, and not projecting above them, this being the shortest- 
eared of our species. The tail is also exceptionally short, half an inch, 
so that the ears, short as they are, double it. Spines only one dark 
band, near the tip, otherwise yellow or white ; fur on forehead, 
flanks, throat and chest white ; feet, snout, belly, and rump brown. 
The fur is very thin. 

PAINTED HEDGEHOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Erinaceiis pictus. 

HABITAT. The North- West from Agra and Goona to Sind. 

DESCRIPTION. A small-footed pale-coloured species with a 
parting on the crown, like the last, and with the same colouring and 
pattern, but a shorter and broader head, and longer ears, which 
appear above the spines, though rounded as in the last species. Size 
averaging larger than this. 

This animal hides in holes or under grass in the day, often in old 
fox-earths. 

Blanford called it Stoliczka's Hedgehog, but this name is not 
descriptive, and a bad exchange for Sterndale's, although the animal 
is not more conspicuously variegated than the South- Indian kind. 

The Gymnuras, or Hedgehog- Shrews, are, as stated above, very 
shrew-like, but one is easily distinguished by being far larger than any 
shrew, and the other by its short tail ; their teeth also differ from those 
of shrews in the fact that the central incisors have not the supplementary 
cusp at the base, and are smaller and less hook-like, while the other 
incisors are not in contact with them, and the canine is large enough 
to be noticeable ; the first grinder is also a large conspicuous triangular 
tooth. 

The two species differ so much that the old plan of keeping them in 
separate genera seems more sensible than " lumping " them. 

BULAU OE RAFFLES' GYMNURA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gymnura rafflesii. 

HABITAT. Malay Peninsula to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. Like a giant musk-rat in form, with a fur composed 
of a soft woolly under-coat mixed with long bristles. Colour black 
and white in varying proportions, the white generally occupying the 
head and fore-parts except a black eye-patch. Some are all white. 
Body about i ft. long, tail three-quarters length of head and body, 



ORDER 1NSECT1VORA 51 

scaly, and bristly below. Canines well developed, larger than central 
incisors. 

This curious-looking animal has a smell which is equally curious 
and far from pleasant described by the great collector Davison as 
resembling Irish stew that had gone bad ! It hides under tree-roots 
by day and feeds on insects. In our area it has only been found in the 
extreme south of Tenasserim. 



SMALLER GYMNURA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hylomys smllus, Gymnura suilla. 

HABITAT. Burma to Java. 

DESCRIPTION. Like a rather small musk-rat with a short thin 
tail barely i in. long. Fur reddish-brown above, yellowish-white 
below. Canines much smaller than first incisors, but bigger than the 
others ; first grinder the largest tooth in the jaw. 

This animal, which used to be classed with the next family, is very 
little known ; Blanford could not get a specimen to examine, but one 
can now be seen mounted in the small mammal gallery at the South 
Kensington Natural History Museum. 

The squirrel-like climbing Insectivores known as Tupaias or 
Tree-shrews (Tupaiidce) are a very distinct family, differing from our 
other Insectivores in having large eyes part of their resemblance to 
squirrels and in being, like those animals, of diurnal habits. They 
are also partly vegetable feeders, and hold their food in their paws 
while eating. 

Their long noses, and the low set of their small rather human-like 
cars on the head, rather spoil their looks, but they are exceptionally 
interesting little animals, and the latest authority on them, Mr. Le Gros 
Clark, in a paper in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 
1926," regards them as showing distinct affinities to the Lemurs. 
We have only three species. 

The Malay name Tupai simply means " squirrel," but it is better 
to call them Tupaias than degrade them to the level of shrews with a 
prefix, and English people are never likely to call a squirrel by any 
foreign name, so no confusion is likely. 

The teeth of Tupaias, like those of shrews, show projection of the 
lower incisors, which is a lemurine point, as is also the surrounding 
of the orbit by bone which they show. Both incisors and canines are 
small, and none of these front teeth are in contact as in shrews, 



52 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

MADRAS OR ELLIOT'S TUPAIA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tupaia ellioti. Native : Munghil 
anathan, Tamil ; the name means Bamboo-squirrel, so Indians 
as well as Malays call these animals squirrels. 

HABITAT. Forests of Indian Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. About as big as a rat, with coarse but smooth hair 
and a long bushy tail and long nose. Colour grizzled yellowish-brown, 
reddish on the back, under -parts nearly white ; a pale stripe from below 
ear to shoulder. 

Hardly anything is on record about the habits of this species, 
which probably much resemble those of the next, except that it does 
not frequent human abodes. 




Malay Tupaia. 

MALAY TUPAIA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tupaia ferruginea, peguana, chi- 
belangeri. Native : Tswai, Burmese ; Tupai tana, Malay ; 
Kalli-tang-zhing, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Lower slopes of Himalayas from Nepal east to Assam, 
the whole of Burma and thence east to Borneo. 



ORDER GARNIVORA 53 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the last, but smaller and with softer 
fur diversified by coarser and glossier hairs on the back. Colour 
speckled brown to rusty red, the latter especially in Eastern specimens. 
Under-parts buff, and the pale shoulder-stripe sometimes indistinct. 

This species is a well-known animal in Burma, where it comes 
about and into houses like the common striped squirrel in India. It 
lives in pairs or singly, and appears not to be so active as a squirrel, 
as it is often caught by dogs and cats. It makes a rough nest in trees, 
and has but one young at a birth, a fact that confirms its primate 
affinities. 

A curious habit is its fondness for bathing, which is a very remark- 
able habit in a small land mammal. It has a peculiar tremulous 
whistle, changing to a shrill protracted cry when angry, which is often, 
as it is pugnacious with its own kind. 

NICOBAR TUPAIA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tupaia nicobarica. 

HABITAT. Nicobar Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Black and tan in colour, the light hue being on 
the muzzle, limbs, sides and back of neck ; no shoulder-stripe ; under- 
parts pale brown, tail long. 

There are no notes about the habits of this species. 

Our Tupaias are certainly deserving of more study, especially with 
regard to their breeding and nursing habits, and this should be 
easy with the Malay Tupaia in Burma, where it displays such domesti- 
cated habits. The editor once got a specimen of this species in Cal- 
cutta, and kept it in a small verandah aviary along with a tame dove, 
feeding it on bread-and-milk, plantains, and cooked meat, as well 
as butterflies of various kinds, of which it rejected all the " warningly 
coloured " species, after smelling them. It made no attempt to molest 
its companion, although the natives of Sikkim say that it there feeds 
on small birds and mice. Probably it found the dove too large. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 

The Carnivora, to which order all the most sensational 
beasts " except a few of the giant Ungulates like the elephant belongj 
are easily distinguished from most of our other mammals with paws 
by their large canines and small incisors ; those which possess large 
canines among the Insectivores, such as the moles, being quite different 
in other ways (see figure below, and skull of otter on p. 3). 



54 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



The Indian members of the various families represented in the 
East are also easily recognisable as a rule, as follows : 

The Bears ( Ursida) by their very short tails combined with large 
size, the smallest being as big as a large dog. 

The Hyaenas (Hycenidce) by having only four toes on all the feet. 

The Cat-Bear or Panda (JEluridce) by its fur-clad soles. 

The Cats (Felidce) are so like our domestic cat in structure that this 
resemblance alone is sufficient to distinguish them. 

The Dogs (Canidce) are also distinguishable by their resemblance 
to our domestic dog (provided the comparison be made with primitive 
breeds like the Pariah and the Alsatian Wolf-dog). 

There remain two families of which the members in each case 
exhibit great variation in appearance among themselves, and are 
difficult to distinguish as a whole from each other. These are the 
Civets and Mongooses (Viverridce) and the Weasels and Badgers 




. c N pm jf. m 3 

Teeth of Tiger and Black Bear (below). 

(Mustelidc)y all of which are long-bodied and short-legged compared 
with other Carnivores. They are, however, closely allied, as is shown 
by fossil forms, and should perhaps be treated as one family. In any 
case they are generally distinguishable by the fact that the fur of the 
Viverrida is generally striped, spotted, or grizzled, and that of the 
Mustelida nearly uniform, or dark above and more or less light below. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 55 

The grinders in the most truly carnivorous species, as in all the 
Cats, are sharp-edged and only suited for chopping meat ; but many 
of the order are omnivorous rather than carnivorous, and in these the 
grinders are broader and more truly deserving of the name, as in the 
Bears. 

None of our carnivores are smaller than a rat, and some are really 
large animals. They all produce more than one at a birth, and most 
are solitary and nocturnal in their habits. 

The Bear family ( Ursida) are not only large and short-tailed, but 
plantigrade, placing the whole sole of the foot on the ground in 
walking. They easily stand and even walk on their hind-legs, and, 
in spite of their size and heavy build, are good climbers. They like 
to repose under cover, but do not dig out their own dens, though 
their large fore-claws are well adapted for digging, and are often so 
used. Their tracks are very like those made by the human bare 
foot. 

BROWN BEAR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ursus arctos, isabellinus. Native : 
Lal-bhdlu, Barf-ka-rinch^ Hindi ; Hdput, Kashmiri ; Drengmo, 
Balti ; Drin-mor, Ladaki ; Brabu, Kisht-war ; Dub, Nepalese ; 
Tan-khaina, Tibetan. Sportsmen often call the species Snow Bear 
or Red Bear, 

HABITAT. Most of the Northern Hemisphere in the Old World 
and Alaska in the New, allowing for local races. In India only at 
high elevations in the Himalayas, descending to the forest regions in 
spring and autumn. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of Indian bears and the most thickly- 
furred, the length reaching 7 ft. or even more, and the winter fur 
8 in. on the back. The summer fur is much shorter. Colour some 
shade of brown, Himalayan specimens the so-called Isabelline bear 
being paler than European. Cubs, and old animals just after 
shedding the winter coat, have a white crescent on the chest. 

The Brown Bear in the Himalayas feeds more on vegetable than on 
animal food, though it will sometimes kill even good-sized animals 
for food, even of its own species, and will eat carrion. Its principal 
food, however, is grass and other herbs, roots, nuts, and fruit, cultivated 
as well as wild. 

It is also more harmless in character than it is in Europe, and seems 
never to attack man. It pairs in autumn, and the cubs are born in 
spring, being, as in other bears, very small in proportion to the parent, 
only about as big as rats. The cubs of the previous year remain with 
the mother along with their juniors. They are adult at three years 



$6 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

old, and may live (in captivity at any rate) to nearly fifty years of age. 
In winter they hibernate in caves in the higher part of their range. 




Their senses are rather dull, with the exception of scent, and this is 
only moderately good. In attacking, they strike inwards with the 
fore-paws, like bears generally. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 



57 




HIMALAYAN BLACK BEAR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ursus torquatus, tibetanus, Helarctos 
torquatus. Native : Bhdlu, Rinch, Hindi ; Mam, Baluchi ; Haput, 
Kashmiri ; Sandr^ Hingbong, Nepalese ; Dom> Bhutia; Sona, Lepcha; 
Mdgyen, Limbo ; Sutum^ Daphla ; Situm^ Abor ; Mapol^ Garo ; 



58 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Miephur, Musu-bhurma, Kachari ; Viempi, Kuki ; Sawom, Mani- 
puri ; Hughnm, Thagua, Thega^ Chitp^ Sevam, Sdpd, Naga ; Wek- 
won, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Himalayas from Afghanistan and Baluchistan to the 
Khirthar Range in Sind, east to Assam and Pegu, Southern China, 
Hainan, and Formosa. Said to have been shot in Lower Bengal and 
close to Patli Dun in the North- West Provinces. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the Brown Bear, and generally under 
6 ft. in length ; fur smooth and shorter than in the brown bear, black 
with a white chin and white crescent on the chest. The editor has 
seen one in the London Zoo, which had this mark prolonged with a 
streak on the abdomen and white toes and claws on the fore-feet ; 
usually the claws are black. This individual walked on its hind-legs 
more than usual. The hair on the cheeks is unusually full, forming 
bushy whiskers. An individual without the white crescent is on 
record. 

Except in Baluchistan, the Black Bear is a forest animal ; its 
range is lower in the Himalayas than that of the Brown Bear, from 
about 10,000 feet to about half that elevation according to season. 
It is omnivorous like the Brown Bear, but digs and grazes less, and is 
much more addicted to climbing trees after fruit. It also ravages 
crops, and attacks village beehives, for it does not fear the neighbour- 
hood of man, and often kills live-stock of all sorts, as well as feeding 
on carrion, being far more carnivorous than the last species. 

Its senses are also keener, and it is a really fierce animal, many 
casualties, fatal and otherwise, being laid to its account. In fact, 
it is one of the most dangerous and destructive animals in the East. 
It swims well, but does not seem to take to the water for pleasure, 
as the Brown Bear sometimes does in hot weather. It is usually 
solitary, parties of bears being apparently composed of a female and 
her grown cubs of more than one season. Young cubs are tameable 
enough, but are apt to grow troublesome before long. 

There is some difference of opinion as to whether this bear hiber- 
nates ; it certainly has less need to do so than the Brown Bear, living 
as it does where food is easier to get, and it is probably only semi- 
torpid in winter, and will come out and search for food if the weather 
be mild. 

MALAY BEAR OR SUN BEAR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ursus or Helarctos malayanus. 
Native : Bruang, Malay ; Wek-won> Burmese. 

HABITAT. Garo Hills east and south to the Malay Peninsula, 
Sumatra, and Borneo, 



ORDER CARNIVORA 



59 



DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our bears, being only about 4 ft. 
long, and with a very short close coat, so that it looks rather like a 
very large bob-tailed dog. Colour black, with a grey muzzle and 
white or yellow crescent on the chest. The claws are large, and white 
in colour. This bear lives in forest and is the best climber of its tribe, 
and is decidedly more a vegetable than an animal feeder, though 
killing prey at times, and even attacking man. It is even fonder of 
honey than bears generally, and is especially a fruit-eater. 

It is better known in captivity than in the wild state, and is a most 
amusing and active animal, and fairly good-tempered for a bear. 




Malay Bear. 

Sterndale quotes McMaster as having heard of a bear of this species 
who delighted in cherry brandy, " and on one occasion, having been 
indulged with an entire bottle of this insinuating beverage, got so 
completely intoxicated that it stole a bottle of blacking, and drank off 
the contents under the impression that they were some more of its 
favourite liquor. The owner of the bear told me that he saw it suffering 
from this strange mixture, and evidently with, as may be imagined, 
a terrible headache." Raffles had one which had more exalted ideas 
about liquor, and was not satisfied with anything but champagne 
when invited to his master's table ! 



6o 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Sloth Bear. 

SLOTH BEAR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ursus labiatus, Melursus labiatus. 
Native : Rinch> Bhalu, Adam-zad^ Hindi ; Bhaluk, Bengali ; 
Rikspa, Sanscrit ; Aswal, Mahratta ; Yerid^ Yedjal^ Asol, Gond ; 
Bir Mendi, Oraon ; Bana, Kol ; Elugu, Telugu ; Kaddi or Karadi, 
Canarese and Tamil ; Pani Karudi, Malayalam ; Usa, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, where it is the only 
bear found. 

DESCRIPTION. Very distinct from all our other bears, and hence 
reasonably enough placed in a different genus, Melursus. Size 
about that of the Himalayan Black Bear, and colour also black with a 
white crescent on the chest ; muzzle grey as in the Malayan Bear, 
but general appearance very different from either of these two species, 
owing to the long rough coat and large loose lips. Claws very large,* 
and white. No middle incisors in the upper jaw, and grinders small. 

This is the most familiar of Indian bears, owing to its inhabiting 
the low country, though it prefers the hilly parts of this. It is doubtful 
how far it extends to the eastward. 

Sterndale says of it : " Our old friend is so well known that he 
hardly requires description, and the very thought of him brings back 
many a ludicrous and exciting scene of one's jungle days. There is 
frequently an element of comicality in most bear-hunts, as well as a 



ORDER CARNIVORA 6 1 

considerable spice of danger ; for, though some people may pooh- 
pooh this, I know that a she-bear with cubs is no despicable antagonist. 
Otherwise the male is more anxious to get away than to provoke an 
attack. 

" This bear does not hibernate at all, but is active all the year round. 
In the hot weather it lies all day in cool caves, emerging only at 
night. In March and April, when the mowha-tizz is in flower, it 
revels in the luscious petals that fall from the trees, even ascending the 
branches to shake down the coveted blossoms. . . . The Sloth Bear 
is also partial to mangoes, sugar-cane, and the pods of the amaltas or 
cassia (Cathartocarpus fistula) and the fruit of the jack-tree (Arto- 
carpus integrifolid). 

"It is extremely fond of honey, and never passes an ant-hill without 
digging up its contents, especially those of white ants. . . . Tickell 
describes the operation thus : ' On arriving at an ant-hill the bear 
scrapes away with the fore-feet till he reaches the large combs at the 
bottom of the galleries. He then with violent puffs dissipates the dust 
and crumbled particles of the nest, and sucks out the inhabitants of the 
comb by such forcible inhalations as to be heard at 200 yards distance or 
more.' Insects of all sorts seem not to come amiss to this animal, which 
systematically hunts for them, turning over stones in the operation. 

" The Sloth Bear has usually two cubs at a birth. They are born 
blind, and continue so till about the end of the third week. . . . The 
young ones are not difficult to rear if ordinary care be taken. The great 
mistake that most people make in feeding the young of wild animals 
is the giving of pure cows' milk. ... I had considerable experience 
in the bringing up of young things of all sorts in the Seeonee district, 
and only after some time learnt the proper proportions of milk and 
water, and also that regularity in feeding was necessary two-thirds 
water to one of milk for the first month ; after that half and half. 

" The Sloth Bear carries her young on her back and she seems to 
do this for some time, as Mr. Sanderson writes that he shot one which 
was carrying a cub as large as a sheep-dog. . . . 

" The British soldier is rather fond of a bear as a pet ; and Captain 
Baldwin tells an amusing story of one which followed the men on to 
the parade ground, and quite disorganised the manoeuvres by 
frightening the colonel's horse. In 1858 I was quartered for a time 
with a naval brigade, and once, when there was an alarm of the enemy, 
Jack went to the front with all his pets, including Bruin, which brought 
up the rear, shuffling along in blissful ignorance of the bubble reputa- 
tion to be found in the cannon's mouth. 

" Although as a rule vegetarian, yet this species is not altogether free 
from the imputation of being a devourer of flesh when it comes in its 



62 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

% 

way. In such cases it possibly has been impelled by hunger, and I 
doubt whether it ever kills for the sake of eating. I have known even 
ruminants eat meat, and in their case hunger could not have been 
urged as an excuse. Mr. Sanderson mentions an instance when a 
Barking Deer he shot was partially devoured by a bear during the night. 

" Very few elephants, however steady with tigers, will stand a bear. 
Whether it is that bears make such a row when wounded, or whether 
there be anything in the smell, I know not, but I have heard many 
sportsmen allude to the fact. A favourite elephant I had would 
stand anything but a bear and a pig. Few horses will approach a 
bear, and this is one difficulty in spearing them ; and for this reason 
I think bear dancers should be prohibited in towns. Calcutta used 
to swarm with them at one time. . . . The bear rising to hug its 
adversary is a fallacy as far as this species is concerned ; it does not 
squeeze, but uses its claws freely and with great effect." 

It is also more inclined to attack man unprovoked than almost 
any other animal, and casualties inflicted by it arc unfortunately very 
common, the victim being often terribly disfigured even if not killed, 
as the bear strikes at the head and face. Blanford was inclined to 
consider bears more dangerous than tigers, and the Seeonee bears 
must have been a very quiet lot, or Sterndale would surely have men- 
tioned ferocity. The editor only once saw one led about in Calcutta. 







Sloth Bear, front view. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 63 

The so-called Cat-Bear, better known as Panda, is our sole 
representative of the Raccoon family (Pro cyanide), which are chiefly 
American animals. 




Panda or Cat-Bear. 



PANDA OR HIMALAYAN RACCOON 



Aelurus fulgens. Native : Wah, 
Wah-donka, Woker, Bhutanese ; 



OTHER NAMES. Scientific : 
Ye, Nigalyaponya, Nepalese ; 
Saknam, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Himalayas to China. 

DESCRIPTION. Like a pigmy bear, but with the long tail and broad 
short face of a cat ; eyes small as in a bear, fur long and thick, soles 
of feet furry. 

Colour rich auburn red above and on the tail, which is ringed with 
light and dark shades ; under-parts and limbs black, face largely or 
mostly white. Length about 2 ft. in head and body, tail about 
1 8 in. Feet plantigrade, as in the bears, but with partially retractile 
claws. 

The Panda or Cat-Bear the last a name which should be avoided, 
as it is zoologically incorrect and leads to confusion with the equally 
ill-named Bear-Cat or Binturong to be noticed later on is the least 
carnivorous of our carnivora, living mostly on vegetable substances, 
such as roots, grass, fruit, acorns, and especially bamboo-shoots. 
It is said to rob birds' nests, however, of the eggs and young, and to 



64 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

visit villages to steal milk and ghee, a strange habit for an animal 
which is neither keen of senses, fierce, nor active, on the ground at any 
rate, though it is a good climber. It is found in pairs or families, and 
lives in holes in trees or rocks, sleeping during the middle of the day. 
A pair have been seen high up in a tree making unearthly noises, 
apparently a nuptial concert as in cats. A male was also observed 
when excited, to emit a strong odour of musk. The young, which 
are born in spring, are two in number, and associate with the parents 
till another litter is due. 

The Panda is easily tamed, and will thrive even in a hot climate 
like that of Calcutta, though living in the temperate belt of the 
Himalayas. When angry, it rears up and strikes with the fore-paws 
like a bear, but mews and spits like a cat. 











Giant Panda or Pied Bear. 



The only old-world relative of the Panda the Giant Panda or 
Pied Bear is found in Moupin in Eastern Tibet, and is of all animals 
living in the neighbourhood of our area most likely to attract notice, 
Being a large animal bigger than the Malay Bear and very 
strikingly clad in white fur with black limbs, eye-patches, and shoulder- 
stripe, it cannot be mistaken for anything else. It is short-tailed like 
a bear, and a vegetable-feeder like our Panda. 

The Weasel family (Mustelidce) includes among its members the 



ORDER CARNIVORA 65 

badgers and otters, and thus shows in Its members a greater range of 
habits and appearance than our other carnivorous families. The 
mustelines, however, are all long-bodied, short-legged animals, and 
have peculiarly-shaped long skulls ; the length is due to the large 
size of the cranial or hinder portion, the face being short. 

The neck is almost as thick as the head, and very powerful ; in 
fact, these animals are remarkably strong for their size, and the most 
active of all the carnivora ; many of them hunt by day, and sometimes 
in parties. The most typical weasels, which show more or less 
resemblance to our domestic species, the ferret, are very carnivorous 
and bloodthirsty, but the badgers incline to omnivorous habits, like 
the bears, which they rather resemble in appearance and gait, being 
plantigrade. They are also distinguished from typical weasels by 
their fore-claws being large, much longer than the hind ones. 




Hog-Badger. 

HOG-BADGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Arctonyx collaris. Native : Bdla- 
sur, Hindi ; Chomhuvho, Thembakso^ Naga ; Nuloang, Kuki ; 
No-ok, Manipuri ; Quado-Waildu, Mug; Khwe-htu-wet-hti, 
Arakanese ; Khwe-ta-ivek-ivek-ta-wek^ Burmese. 

HABITAT. Nepal and Sikkim, at low elevations, east to 
Tenasserim and Yunnan. Sterndale heard of it in Seonee, but did 
not see it. 



66 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



DESCRIPTION. A short-tailed animal about the size of a Small dog, 
and a combination of pig and bear in appearance, the snout being 
long and limbs and gait bear-like in fact, some say the Hindi name . 
should be Bhdlu-sur (bear-pig) instead of Bdla-sur (sand-pig). The 
coat is coarse, grey, and rough on the body, close and white, with 
longitudinal black streaks, on the head, black or very dark on the 
limbs. Length of head and body over 2 ft. ; tail about 8 in. 

The Hog-Badger is omnivorous and nocturnal, passing the day in 
crevices of rocks or in burrows which it digs. Its scent is keen, but 
its sight poor, and it readily stands up like a bear. 

ASSAM BADGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Arctonyx taxoides. 

HABITAT. Assam and Arakan. 

DESCRIPTION. Only about half the size of the common Hog- 
Badger (which is also found in the same countries), with brighter 
though similar colours and a longer and softer coat ; the tail is shorter 
and the nose less pig-like. 

Nothing seems to be known about the habits of this animal, of 
which but few specimens have been obtained. 




Indian Ratel. 

INDIAN RATEL OR HONEY-BADGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mellivora indica. Native : Biju, 
Hindi ; Biju-khawar, Telegu ; Tava karadi, Tamil ; Bhagru-bhal^ 
at Bhagulpore ; Bharsiah^ Nepalese ; Usa ban-na^ Kol. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 67 

HABITAT. Most of India, but not ascending the Himalayas, and 
absent from Lower Bengal, the Malabar coast, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A good : sized animal, the largest of our mustelines, 
very squat in build and easily distinguished among Indian animals 
by its curious colour, black with the crown, nape, and back grey. 
The tail is short, and there are no external ears. 

The head and body measure more than 2 ft., the tail only about 6 in. 

So far as is known the Indian Ratel is purely carnivorous, but 
as it readily takes vegetable food in captivity it probably is not really 
so, but more or less omnivorous. It is destructive to poultry, and 
is said by Indians to dig up dead bodies and devour them. Neither 
Sterndale nor Bianford credit this, but such an act is only to be 
expected from a carnivore with particularly strong digging claws. 

The Indian Ratel is nocturnal, spending the day in holes, while 
the better-known African species may be met with by day, often 
hunting for bees' nests in partnership with the birds well known as 
Honey-guides. One of these is known in the Himalayas, but there 
it never meets the Ratel, and does not guide men to honey as the 
African species do. No doubt, however, the Indian Ratel finds and 
exploits honey-stores somehow. 

In captivity it is very tame and lively, and has a curious habit of 
turning somersaults ; while, although supposed to be chiefly a ground 
animal, it climbs about the wires of a cage actively. 

The common African species only differs in having a white border 
to the grey upper parts, and this apparently only when adult, so it 
may not really be a fully distinct form. 

The Ferret-badgers (Helictis) form a link between the badgers 
and the weasels, being slenderer in form and shorter-legged than the 
others. They have been called Wolverenes, but this is misleading, 
the real Wolverene or Glutton of the sub-arctic forests being a sort of 
gigantic thick-set weasel, larger than any badger. 

BROWN OR INDIAN FERRET-BADGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Helictis orient alis. Native : Oker, 
Nepalese ; Nyentek^ Malay. 

HABITAT. Nepal, Sikkim, and Java. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of a small cat, with rather long 
nose and tail, and small but well-developed ears. Fur a mixture of 
soft and coarse hair, dark brown above, dirty white below ; a white 
stripe down the back, and the cheeks and a forehead-patch also white. 
Head and body about 16 in. long, tail about half that length. 

This animal is found at moderate elevations in forests, but also 



68 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



visits houses at night, where it is useful in destroying cockroaches 
and other vermin. 

GREY OR BURMESE FERRET-BADGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kyoung-u-gyi, Burmese ; Kyoung- 
pyan> Arakanese. 

HABITAT. Manipur and Pegu, perhaps Cachar, Tipperah and 
Arakan. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the last, but with larger teeth, the coloured 
parts of the face darker, the general hue brownish grey, and the light 
face-marks and under-side sometimes yellow. One kept by Tickell 
ate fruit as well as meat, eggs, etc., and was kept chained to a tree, 
being fierce enough to defy dogs. 

It is possible that the Chinese Ferret-badger (Helictis moschatd), 
distinguished by having smaller teeth, not only than the present 
species, but than the Indian one, may occur in Upper Burma. 



c / 

* i* . *\ *-JsMp" *fe ' ,- ,1 .' "" ^- ,', ' 




Marten. 

The Martens (Musteld), though definitely belonging to the weasel 
section of the musteline family, are yet rather different from the 
most typical weasels ; though very long-bodied, they are also long- 
tailed, and may be compared in size to slim common cats. Also 
they are very largely climbers, while typical weasels, although climbing 
well, hunt on the ground. Like true weasels generally, they hunt 
much by day, but are less purely carnivorous, eating fruit as well as 



ORDER CARNIVORA 69 

flesh. They have not the atrocious smell which most of the family 
produce when excited. 

WHITE-CHEEKED MARTEN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mustela or Martes flavigula. 
Native : Mul sampra, Nepalese ; Tuturala, Chetrala, Nepal and 
Kumaon ; Huniah or Aniar, Bhutanese ; Sakku, Lepcha ; Anga 
Prao, Malay. 

HABITAT. Himalayas at moderate elevations, and eastward in 
mountainous parts through the Indian region to Sumatra in the east 
and Travancore in the south. 

DESCRIPTION. Fur rather close, especially in the Malay race, 
tail nearly as long as head and body, rather bushy. Colour generally 
strikingly variegated, the crown, nape, and extremities being black, 
the throat and cheeks white, chest yellow, and the rest of the coat 
light brown. But there is much variation, some even being brown 
of various shades all over, or dark brown with the usual white and 
yellow on the throat and breast. 

It has been suggested that this last variety is the summer dress, 
but specimens the editor has watched in the Calcutta and London 
Zoos have shown no seasonal change ; and he considers it more likely 
that these brown specimens, which are of a more ordinary and incon- 
spicuous colour, probably are survivals of or reversions to an ancestral 
form, the usual bright-coloured type being of comparatively recent 
evolution, like a black-and-tan dog compared with a wolf. 

The length of the head and body is about 21 in., the tail measuring 
about 1 8 in. 

The Indian Marten, as this species is sometimes called, associates 
in pairs or families, and eats birds and mammals of all sizes up to 
barking-deer fawns, besides fruit and reptiles. It is a most attractive 
animal from its beauty and activity ; one sent by Captain the Hon. 
C. Shore to the Zoological Society a century ago had been, he says, 
" caught when not many days old, and was so tame that it was always 
kept loose about a well, sporting about the windlasses, posts, etc., 
and playing tricks with the people who came to draw water." 

It keeps up a low chuckle when moving about at large, changing 
to a harsh cry if excited. 

BEECH-MARTEN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mustela foina. Native : Dalla 
kapak) Afghan. 

HABITAT. Europe east to the Himalayas at considerable eleva- 
tions, but not well known. 



70 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

% 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the last, and more thickly furred, 
especially on the feet ; tail only about half the length of the head and 
body Colour of some shade of greyish-brown, darker as a rule on 
the extremities and lighter on the head ; more or less of the throat and 
breast white. 

This is a well-known animal in Europe, where it is often called the 
Stone- Marten ; it does not inhabit Britain, as used to be thought, our 
species at home being the Pine- Marten (M. martes or abietum), which 
is now scarce, and is on the Continent wilder and scarcer than the 
Beech- Marten. That species, indeed, is rather too familiar, as it 
is inclined to come about houses after poultry. 

The Beech- Marten breeds in spring, going with young for nine 
weeks, and producing a litter of four or five. It is, as Blanford recalls, 
the animal which Rolleston showed was kept in domestication by 
the classical ancients before they adopted the cat, which, ages before, 
had been tamed in Egypt. 

The polecats and weasels (Putorius) are the most typical members 
of the present family, very slim and snaky, with long necks, very short 
legs, and tails moderately long, and about equal in length to half the 
head and body or a little less. They are the most active of a very 
active family, most thoroughly carnivorous, and very bloodthirsty ; 
bold as well, for though their usual prey is small mammals and birds, 
they will attack and overcome creatures vastly their superiors in size. 
They live in holes, and often hunt by day, sometimes in packs, when, if 
interfered with, they may even be dangerous to man. They emit a 
very detestable-smelling liquid when excited from their anal glands. 
Males are much larger than females in this group. 

HIMALAYAN WEASEL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius subhemachalanus, Mustela 
subhemachalana. Native : Simiong, Bhutia ; Sang-king, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Nepal and Kashmir Himalayas at moderate or high 
elevations. 

DESCRIPTION. About i ft. in length of head and body ; chestnut 
or bay, chin white ; often the chest is also marked with white. This 
weasel seems inclined to be familiar, as Hodgson caught two in his 
house at Darjeeling. 

YELLOW-BELLIED WEASEL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius or Mustela kathiah. 
Native : Kathia nyal, Nepalese. 

HABITAT. Himalayas from Mussoorie east to Assam and Khasi 
hills, not ranging very high. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 71 

DESCRIPTION. Under i ft. in length of head and body; bay 
above and on the tail, which is not bushy ; deep yellow below. 

All that is known about this very pretty little animal is that it is 
tarned and kept by the Nepalese as a ratter, and also trained to kill 
fowls, geese, and even sheep and goats ; it fixes on the neck artery, 
and holds on with the persistence of its family a good example of 
their powers of killing. 

STEIPED WEASEL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius strigidorsus^ Mustela 
strigidorsa. 

HABITAT. Sikkim. 

DESCRIPTION. About i ft. in length of head and body ; bay with 
a white streak along the back and another along the underparts ; 
throat and a broad streak on the chest yellow. 

This is a very rare animal, of which only a few specimens are 
known. 

STOAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius or Mustela erminea. 

HABITAT. Northern parts of northern hemisphere, ranging into 
the Arctic. Has occurred in Kashmir. 

DESCRIPTION. Less than i ft. in length of head and body, tail 
with a rather bushy black tip. General colour chestnut above, white 
or pale yellow below. In cold climates it changes to white in winter 
except for the black tail-tip, and is then called Ermine, and furnishes 
a valuable fur. 

It has a large litter, five to eight in number, and even in England 
holds its own well against persecution. 

From their size and comparative length of tail the other Himalayan 
weasels would probably be called stoats in England if they occurred 
there, the original weasel being a very tiny short-tailed animal. 

WHITE-NOSED WEASEL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius or Mustela canigula. 
Native : Kran : Kashmiri. 

HABITAT. Tibet and probably the Western Himalayas generally ; 
has been obtained at Chamba and Pangi at 8,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. Head and body over i ft. long, tail rather bushy. 
General colour chestnut ; muzzle and more or less of underparts to 
chest, white. 

There is nothing much on record about the habits of this species 



72 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

in fact, there is not very much known about the Indian mustelines 
generally, and these mountain weasels in particular. 

TIBETAN POLECAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius larvatus or tibctanus. 

HABITAT. Tibet north of Sikkim ; has occurred in Ladak. 

DESCRIPTION. Not quite so slim as the before-mentioned weasels ; 
and the coat looser and less smooth, with long hair intermixed ; 
tail rather bushy. Colour above buff or cream, shaded with black, 
which is the colour of the long hairs ; under-parts and extremities 
black, and a black patch crossing the white face at the eyes. Head 
and body about 15 in. long. 

Altogether the animal is very like a light-backed edition of the dark 
or polecat-coloured variety of the ferret, more usually known as a 
pink-eyed albino with straw-coloured fur ; and it seems to bear much 
the same relation to the European Polecat as the Himalayan Brown 
Bear does to the European form of that species. 

MOTTLED POLECAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Putorius sarmaticus. 

HABITAT. Poland east to Afghanistan and Baluchistan. 

DESCRIPTION. A sleeker-coated animal than the common pole- 
cat or ferret, but still not so slim as the most typical weasels ; tail 
decidedly bushy and colour unlike that of any other animal, mottled 
with brown and cream-colour above, black below and on the limbs, 
with the head black crossed by two semicircular white bands, one 
before and one behind the ears, and the tail a mixture of brown and 
white, ending in black. It is smaller than the typical polecat, the 
head and body being little over a foot in length. 

This pretty animal is rare and local in most countries ; the neigh- 
bourhood of Kandahar and Quetta appears to be its headquarters, 
as it is common there. 

The otters (Lutrd) are large aquatic weasels with sleek coats of 
coarse hair concealing a downy underfur, strong tapering tails about 
half as long as the head and body, broad muzzles, very small ears, 
short legs, and fully- webbed feet, with short claws, which, as Blanford 
remarks, leave tracks on mud and sand which are easily recognisable 
and betray their haunts. They are partially nocturnal, and lie up 
by day in holes ; they are very sociable and playful, good travellers 
on land and most graceful swimmers. They are to be found in rivers 
and large tanks or even on the sea-coast, feeding on fish and other 



CARNIVORA 73 

aquatic animals, often with the usual weasel wastefulness of life, as 
when fish after fish is caught and only one bite taken from each. 
Our three Indian species are all very much alike at first sight and in 
habits. 




Common Otter. 

COMMON OTTER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lutra vulgaris or nair. Native : 
Ud, Ud bilao, Pani kutta, Hindi ; Nirnai> Canarese ; Niru kuka, 
Telegu ; Jalmdnjar^ Mahratti ; Nirunai, Tamil ; Dalwai bek^ 
Wadari. 

HABITAT. Northern Hemisphere in the Old World generally ; 
both hills and plains in India, Ceylon, and some part of Burma 
how much not definitely known. 

DESCRIPTION. A large otter between 2 and 2! ft. in length of 
head and body ; with the naked skin of the end of the snout invading 
the hairy part of the muzzle in the middle in a slight point ; colour 
brown, usually grizzled with the white tips of the longer hairs, above, 
cheeks and all underparts more or less pure white, throat and cheeks 
especially ; but this, whiteness is only fully developed in adults, the 
young being pale brown below, on the belly at any rate. 

In Europe this otter, which is there larger and redder and seldom 
grizzled, brings forth its young in winter, two to five forming the litter, 
and the gestation period being about two months. 

Its cry is a yelp or a whistled alarm-call ; parties probably 
family parties often hunt in concert to surround fish. Young 
otters are easily tamed, and these animals are often kept by Indian 
fishermen for driving fish into nets as a dog drives sheep into a fold. 

Sterndale quotes an affecting story from Jerdon about a tame otter 



74 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

the latter possessed and wished to get rid of owing to its fish-stealing 
habits ; he therefore conveyed it in a closed box, by boat, 7 or 8 miles 
off, and liberated it, returning home when the animal had gone out 
of sight. But the same evening the faithful beast returned to him 
where he was in a shed watching the Mohurrum, about ij miles 
from his house. 

SMOOTH INDIAN OTTER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lutra ellioti, macro dus. Native : 
Lucira, Sindhi ; Hpyan* Burmese ; Phey, Talain ; Bong, Karen ; 
Mamrang, Aurang, Anj ing-ay er, Malay. Presumably these names, 
which are given by Blanford, also refer, in the case of Indian languages, 
to the Common Otter, as the two are much alike. 

HABITAT. India generally, but not ascending the Himalayas 
to any height ; east through Burma to the Malay Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. A shorter but more stoutly-built animal than the 
Common Otter, with shorter fur and larger skull and teeth ; the fur 
shows no grizzling on the back, and the white on the undcrparts 
does not extend below the chest, except for the tips of the hair in some 
specimens. 

The line of division between the naked nose and the adjacent 
hairy part runs almost straight across, and is not angulated as in the 
Common Otter. 

It is not surprising that this species has been much confused with 
the Common Otter, and it still remains to be discovered in what 
respect it may differ in habits. 

SMALL OR CLAWLESS OTTER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lutra leptonyx, cinerea. Native : 
Chusani) Bhotanese ; Suriam, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Foot of the Himalayas, Lower Bengal east to Burma, 
South China, and Java ; hill-ranges of Madras Presidency. 

DESCRIPTION. A small otter, with the head and body 2 ft. long 
or less, and the head short and rounded. But the most noticeable 
distinction from our other species is in the feet, in which the two 
middle toes are noticeably longer than the others, and the claws very 
small or absent. 

The white on the under-parts is limited to the neck and shades 
into brown on the chest. 

The name Clawless Otter is not appropriate to this species, as the 
claws, though very small, are more often present than absent ; the 
scientific name cinerea^ supposed to be the correct one, is also 



ORDER CARN1VORA 75 

misleading, as the animal is brown, not cinereous or ash-coloured. 
Being so distinct as a species, this small otter no doubt has some 
habits of its own, but these have not been recorded. 

The Cats (Felidce)^ of which our region can boast of more species 
than any other, are the most perfectly organised of the Carnivora, 
and the essential peculiarities of their structure are easily studied in 
our domestic species. The head is broad and short, with large eyes 
and long moustaches ; the incisors very small, the canines large, and 
the grinders few and sharp-edged, only suited for chopping up meat, 
the animals of this family being more exclusively addicted to animal 
food than any other carnivores. 

In this family we first come across reduction of the toes, all the 
mammals previously dealt with having the full number of five digits 
to each limb ; in the cats the inner toe in the hind foot is absent, 
and in the fore-foot reduced and so elevated that it does not touch 
the ground in walking, though its claw is well developed and made use 
of with the others, the cats using their fore-feet freely, like the bears. 

The claws are well curved and very sharp/ and when not in use 
for clutching or climbing are drawn back so that their points are well 
clear of the ground, thus preserving their sharpness. The tongue is 
rough, the body very supple, and the clavicles or collar-bones very 
small and lying in the soft tissues unconnected with the rest of the 
skeleton they are the " lucky bones " of the tiger. 

The cats are generally nocturnal, unsociable, and good climbers ; 
they are nervous and highly-strung, but courageous, though less so 
than the weasels. They, also, though quick in brief movements, lack 
endurance, and spend much time in repose when circumstances allow 
of this. 

At different times the family has been cut up into various genera, 
and these have again been reunited, though the Cheetah has usually 
been kept distinct. All, however, are undoubtedly very closely 
allied, and it seems unnecessary to enter into subdivisions here, but 
to rank all in one genus, so that this coincides with the family. 

LION 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Fells leo. Native : Sher-baba?, 
Singh, Hindi ; Untia-bagh, Guzerati ; Saivach, in Kattywar ; 
ShzngaZ, Bengali ; Suh (lion) Siming (lioness), Kashmiri ; Rastar, 
Brahui. 

HABITAT. Africa and Western Asia east to Western India, 
where a few remain in the Gir forest in Kattywar. 

DESCRIPTION. " Distinguished from other Cats by its uniform 



7 6 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



tawny colour, flatter skull, which gives it a more dog-like appearance, 
the shaggy mane of the male, and by the tufted tail of both sexes. 
From nose to insertion of tail 6 to 6J~ ft. ; tail 2 1 to 3 ft. . . . Young 
lions when born are invariably spotted 7? (Sterndale). 

To this it may be added that the tail-tuft is black in both sexes, 
and the male's mane, when well-developed, often black at the ends ; 
it varies much in growth, and the idea that Indian lions were especially 
maneless is a mistake. The tail-tuft often conceals a horny claw, 
with which the beast was supposed by the ancients to lash himself 

into fury. The lion's 
skull lies level if placed 
on a flat surface with 
the lower jaw attached ; 
the tiger's so placed 
tilt. 




The lion is now so 
nearly extinct in India, 
though it appears for- 
merly to have been 
generally distributed 
through the North- 
West and Central Pro- 
vinces, that it is not 
necessary to say much 
about so generally well- 
known an animal, es- 
pecially as Sterndale 
had no personal experi- 
ence of its habits in 
India, though he says : 
" Whilst at Seeonee, 
within the years 1857 
to 1864, I frequently heard the native shikaries speak of having seen 
a tiger without stripes which may have been of the present species." 
It may, however, be of interest to quote Bishop Heber, writing 
a century ago, as to the disposition of the lion as compared with the 
tiger. In describing an unsuccessful tiger-hunt, in which the quarry 
was not even sighted, he quotes his companion, Mr. Boulderson, 
collector of the Kulleanpoor district, a keen shikari, as saying that 
the tiger's aim was to remain concealed, and to make off as quietly 
as possible, though fighting boldly when at bay. " He added, that 
the lion, though not so large and swift an animal as the tiger, was 
"generally stronger and more courageous. Those which have been 



Lion. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 77 

killed in India, instead of running away when pursued through a 
jungle, seldom seem to think its cover necessary at all. When they 
^;jtJieir;';enemics approaching, they spring out to meet them, bpen- 
niouthed, in the plain, like the boldest of all animals a mastiff dog. 
They are thus generally shot with very little trouble, but if they are 
missed, or only slightly wounded, they are truly formidable enemies. 
Though not swift, they leap with vast strength and violence ; and 
their large heads, immense paws, and the great weight of their body 
forwards, often enable them to spring on the head of the largest 
elephants and fairly pull them down to the ground, riders and all// 
Some may consider this account exaggerated, though it must Be 
remembered that when formidable animals come into contact with 
well-armed men, the boldest individuals will be the first to perish, 
and Blanford, who knew both lions and tigers in nature, and is most 
cautious, says : u Lions are perhaps bolder than tigers, and certainly 
much more noisy, their habit of roaring, especially In the evening and 
night, having necessarily attracted the attention of all who have been 
in countries infested by them." Add to this the fact that the lion 
inhabits more open country, and that there is more kudos attached to 
his~slaying, and it is easy to see why he has failed to hold his own as 
the tiger does, though the two beasts have the same general habits 
and seek similar prey. The lion breeds more freely in captivity than 
the tiger ; hybrids betweH"them have ; Been produced more than 
once', and are marked with thin and faint stripes, with the mane but 
just indicated in the male ; one is in the London Zoo at the time of 
writing (1927). 

TIGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Fells tigris. Native : Bagh, Sher, 
Hindi ; Sela-nagh, Go-nagh, Bengali ; Wahag, Mahratti ; Nahar, 
Central India ; Tut Sad, Rajmehal ; Nongya-chor, Gorukhpore ; 
Putt, Telegu and Tamil ; AW/, Canarese : Sat hong, Lepcha ; Tukt, 
Bhotanese ; Mayar, Baluchi ; Shinh, Sindi ; Padar-suh, Kash- 
miri ; Lakhra, Uraon ; Krodi, Kondh ; Nari> Kurg ; Parri, Bursh, 
Toda ; Keh-na, Limbu ; &///', Aka ; MatsUy Garo, A7#, Khasi ; 
Say Ragdiy Tekhu, Khudi, Naga ; Humpi, Kuki ; Sumyo, Abor ; 
Suy Khamti ; Strong, Singpho ; A>/, Manipuri ; Mist, Kachari ; 
Kya> Burmese ; Kla, Talain ; A7//, Botha-o> Tupuli, Karen ; Htso, 
Shan ; Rimau or Harimau^ Malay. 

HABITAT. From the southern shore of the Caspian locally 
through Central Asia and Southern Siberia to Saghalien Island in 
one direction, and through India and Burma (but not Ceylon) 



78 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

south-east to Java and Sumatra in the other. Although sometimes 
found as high as 7,000 ft. in the Himalayas, it usually keeps to their 
bases. 

DESCRIPTION. Sterndale's is " a large heavy-bodied cat, much 
developed in the fore-quarters, with short, close hair of a bright 
rufous ground tint from every shade of .pale yellow ochre to burnt 
sienna, with black stripes arranged irregularly and seldom in two 
individuals afae, the stripes 'being also irregular in form, from single 
streaks to loops and broad bands. In some the brows and cheeks 
are white, and in all the c^in,throat, breast, and bellv^are pure whit, 
All parts, however, whetn^r^wHife~o"r rufous, are equally pervaded by 
the black stripes. The males have prolonged hairs extending from 
the ears round the cheeks, forming a ruff." 

To this it may be added that cubs are marked like adults, and that 
aged animals become lighter in colour. A black specimen is on 
record, seen dead near Chittagong ; a notorious " blue tiger " is at 
the time of this revision (1927) at large in South China, and many 
white ones are on record, of which the editor has seen three. His 
Majesty the King exhibits one, shot in Rewa State, at the South 
Kensington Natural History Museum, and several are or recently 
were at large in India, so that the white variety appears to be becoming 
commoner ; it is more or less clearly striped. 

The subject of the maximum size of tigers has been debated with 
more zeal than the importance of the matter justifies ; Sterndale very 
properly says : " Care should be taken in measuring that the head 
be raised, so that the top of the skull be as much as possible in line 
with the vertebra. A stake should then be driven in at the nose and 
another close in at the root of the tail, and the measurement taken 
between the two stakes, and not round the curves. The tail, which 
is an unimportant matter, but which in the present system of measure- 
ment is a considerable factor, should be measured and noted separately 
. . . there may be a heavy tiger with a short tail and a light-bodied 
one with a long tail." 

Summing up observations on the point, it may be said that tigers 
measure about 6 ft. in head and body, with a tail about i yd. long, 
tigresses being 6 in. to i ft. shorter in head and body length. 
Measured " over all " a tiger 10 ft. long is a big one, but a length 
of 12 feet is now admitted by Blanford, who also records shooting a 
tigress only 7 ft. 6 in. in total length. Sterndale records a skull of 
15 J in., but i ft, is more what one can usually expect in a tiger, and 
less in a tigress. As to weight, Mr. Hornaday killed a specimen in 
the Anamalai forest which, measuring 9 ft. 8|- in. over all, weighed 
495 pounds, so that a 5oo-pound tiger is not improbable. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 79 

Sterndale quotes this interesting memorandum of Shillingford's 
as to growth of tigers : 

tt r- ^ T i ( Males, 4J ft. to si ft. 

Cubs one year old measure .-IT- i c*. * A. 

3 ( Females, 4 ft. to 5 ft. 

^ , . , , ) Males, si- ft. to 7 ft. 

Cubs two years old measure . . } Fema ,' e ;?; 5 ft t / 6 i ft _ 

r< i 4.\ i j 1 Males, 7 ft. to 8i ft. 

Cubs three years old measure . . { ^ \ <-\ ?<. S \ ^ 
J \ Females, 6J ft. to 7$ it. 

When they reach three years of age they lose their ' milk ' canines, 
which are replaced by the permanent fangs, and at this period the 
mother leaves them to cater for themselves. " 

He goes on himself to say : " The cubs are interesting pets if 
taken from the mother very young. I have reared several, but only 
kept one for any length of time. I have given a full description of 
Zalim and his ways in Seeonee. He was found by my camp followers 
with another in a nullah, and brought to me. The other cub died, 
but Zalim grew up into a very fine tiger, and was sent to England. 
I never allowed him to taste raw flesh. He had a little cooked meat 
each day, and as much milk as he liked to drink, and he throve well 
on this diet. When he was too large to be allowed to roam about 
unconfined, I had a stout buffalo leather collar made for his neck, 
and he was chained to a stump near the cookroorn door. With 
grown-up people he was perfectly tame, but I noticed he got restless 
when children approached, and so made up my mind to part with 
him before he did any mischief. . . . Strange though it may seem 
to the English reader that a tiger should have any special character 
beyond the general one for cruelty and cunning, it is nevertheless a 
fact that each animal has certain peculiarities of temperament which 
are well known to the villagers in the neighbourhood. They will 
tell you that such a one is daring and rash ; another is cunning and 
not to be taken by any artifice ; that one is savage and morose ; 
another is mild and harmless. ... So accustomed do the people get 
to their unwelcome visitor that we have known the boys of a village 
turn a tiger out of quarters which were reckoned too close, and pelt 
him with stones. On one occasion two of the juvenile assailants 
were killed by the animal they had approached too near. Herdsmen 
in the same way get callous to the danger of meddling with so dreadful 
a creature, and frequently rush out to the rescue of their cattle when 
seized. On a certain occasion one out of a herd of cattle was attacked 
close to our camp, and rescued single-handed by its owner, who laid 
his iron-bound staff across the tiger's back. . . . He did not seem to 
think he had done anything wonderful, and seemed rather surprised 



8o MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

that we should suppose that he was going to let his last heifer go 
the way of all the others. 

" It is fortunate for these dwellers in the backwoods that but a 
small percentage of tigers arc man-eaters, perhaps not 5 per cent., 
otherwise village after village would be depopulated ; as it is the 
yearly tale of lives lost is a heavy one. 

" Tigers are also eccentric in their ways, showing differences in 
disposition under different circumstances. I believe that many a 
shikari passes at times within a few yards of a tiger without knowing 
it, the tendency of the animal being to crouch and hide till the strange 
two-legged beast has passed. The narrowest escape I ever had is 
an instance. I had hunted a large tiger, well known for the savage- 
ness of his disposition, on foot from ravine to ravine on the banks of 
the Pench, one hot day in June, and, giving him no rest, made sure 
of getting him about three o'clock in the afternoon. He had been 
seen to slip into a large nullah, bordered on one side by open country, 
a small watercourse draining into it from the fields ; here was one 
large beyr bush, behind which I wished to place myself, but was 
persuaded by an old shikari of great local reputation to move farther 
on. Hardly had we done so when our friend bounded from under 
the bush and disappeared in a thicket, where we lost him. Ten days 
after this he was killed by a friend and myself, and he sustained his* 
savage reputation by attacking the elephant without provocation 
a thing a tiger seldom does. I had hunted this animal several times, 
and on one occasion saw him swim the Pench River at one of its 
broadest reaches. It was the only time I had seen a tiger swim, 
and it was interesting to watch him powerfully breasting the stream 
with his head well up. Tigers swim readily, as is well known. . . . 

" There has been some controversy about the way in which tigers 
kill their prey. I am afraid I cannot speak definitely on the subject, 
although I have several times seen tigers kill oxen and ponies. I do 
not think they have a uniform way of doing it ; so much depends upon 
circumstances certain it is that they cannot smash in the head of a 
buffalo with a stroke, as some writers make out, but yet I have known 
them make strokes at the head, in a running fight, for instance, 
between a buffalo and a tiger in which the former got off and in 
the case of human beings. Of two men killed by the same tiger, 
one had his skull fractured by a blow ; the other, who was killed as 
we were endeavouring to drive the tiger out of the village, was seized 
by the loins. He died immediately ; the man with the fractured 
skull lingered some hours longer. Another case of a stroke at the 
head happened once when I had tied out a pony for a tiger that 
would not look at cows, over which I had sat for several successive 



ORDER CARNIVORA 8 1 

nights. A tiger and tigress came out, and the former made a rush 
at the tattoo, who met him with such a kick on the nose that he drew 
back much astonished ; the tigress then dashed at the pony, and I, 
wishing to save the plucky little animal's life, fired two barrels into 
her, rolling her over just as she struck at his head. But it was too 
late ; the pony dropped at the blow and died not from concussion, 
however, but from loss of blood, for the jugular vein had been cut 
open as though it had been done with a knife. So much for the 
head stroke, which is, I may say, exceptional. As a general rule I 
think the tiger bears down his victim by sheer weight, and then, by 
some means which I should hesitate to define, although I have seen 
it, the head is wrenched back, so as to dislocate the vertebrae. . . . 

" That tigers are carrion feeders is well known, but that sometimes 
they prefer high meat to fresh I had only proof of once. A tiger 
killed a mare and foal, on which he feasted for three days ; on the 
fourth, nothing remaining but a very offensive leg, we tied out a fine 
young buffalo calf for him within a yard or two of the savoury joint. 
The tiger came during the night and took away the leg, without 
touching the calf, and, devouring it, fell asleep ; in which con- 
dition we, having tracked him up the nullah, found and killed 
him." 

Man and his domestic animals are not, of course, what may be 
called the natural food of the tiger, which in the wilder districts at 
any rate, lives mainly on the larger game, especially deer of various 
kinds, nilghai, and female and young wild pigs ; even young elephants 
may be attacked, while on the other hand, small quarry such as 
monkeys, porcupines, and pea-fowl sometimes fall victims. A tiger has 
been known to kill bears, and others have been found to eat frogs 
and even locusts, and in time of flood to feed on fish and reptiles. 

Where the durian grows, its fruit is said to be eaten by tigers, 
and they eat grass medicinally. u The tigress," says Sterndale, 
" goes with young about fifteen weeks, and produces from two to 
five at a birth. . . . The native shikaris say that the tiger kills the 
young ones if he finds them. The mother is a most affectionate parent 
as a rule, and sometimes exhibits strange fits of, jealousy at inter- 
ference with her young. I heard an instance of this some years ago 
from my brother, Mr. H. B. Sterndale, who, as one of the Municipal 
Commissioners of Delhi, took a great interest in the collection of 
animals in the Queen's Gardens there. Both tiger and leopard cubs 
had been born in the gardens, and the mother of the latter showed 
no uneasiness at her offspring being handled by strangers as they 
crept through the bars and strayed about ; but one day, a tiger cub 
having done the same, the tigress exhibited great restlessness, and, on 

G 



82 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

the little one's return, in a sudden accession of jealous fury sh dashed 
her paw on it and killed it." 

Males and females appear to be nearly equal in numbers among 
the cubs born, the former, if anything, predominating, but some say 
that among adults females predominate ; if this is true, some cause 
destroys many males perhaps combats among themselves. They 
seldom associate with their females when these are in company with 
cubs, and are generally far less social than lions, which in Africa 
are often found not only in families, but in what would be called 
packs in meaner animals a dozen or even a score. 

Tigers also keep more to cover, as has been stated above, and 
may be expected tqj>ccur in any large area of high grass or foresJLj 
they alsojiaunt caves anQrraVincs.and' prefer the neighbourhood of 
"Water^esipecially in trie hot seasojS, when^ltey~iite"Wa1lQwing irT'ltr 
^effairT spots are known to be particularly favoured, and the 
presence of pea-fowl, of both the Indian and Burmese species, is 
often an indication of a tiger in the neighbourhood, the birds perhaps 
keeping near him to spy on his movements. 



LEOPARD OR PANTHER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felts pardus, pant her a. Native : 
Tendwa, Chita, Chita-bagh, Hindi ; Honiga, Canarese ; Asnea, 
Mahratti ; Chinna pull, Telegu ; Burkal, Gond ; Bai-hira, Tahr- 
hay, hill tribes near Simla. Sterndale gives these names for the 
large form, which he calls the Pard ; for the smaller, which he distin- 
guishes as the Panther, he gives Chita, Gorbacha, Hindi ; Bibia-bagh, 
Mahratti ; Kerkal, Canarese ; Ghur-hai, hill tribes. Blanford, who 
unites 'the two, gives all these names, and also Tidua, Srighas, 
Bundelkund ; Sonora, Korku ; Jerkos, Rajmehal ; Chiru-thai, 
Tamil ; Kutiya, Singhalese ; Sik, Tibetan ; Syiak, Lepcha ; 
Kajenda, Manipuri ; Misi-patrai, Kam-kei, Kuki ; Hurrea kon, 
Morrh, Rusa, Tekhu Khuia, Kekhi, Nagel ; Kya-lak, Kya-thit, 
Burmese ; Klapreung, Talain ; Kiche-phong, Karen ; Rimau- 
bintang, Malay. The natives seem in some cases to discriminate the 
two forms, or perhaps the sexes. 

HABITAT. Africa eastward through Asia, including the Indian 
Empire, extending into Ceylon, where it is miscalled Cheetah by 
some people. It is absent from parts of Sind and the Punjab, and from 
Siberia and the highlands of Tibet, though ranging higher in the 
Himalayas than the tiger. It is also found in Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION.- Sterndale describes the two extreme forms as 



ORDER CARNIVORA 




84 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

follows : Pard * or large leopard : " A clean, long-limbed, though 
compact bodyj hair close and short ; colour pale fulvous yellow, 
with clearly den ne3 spots in rosettes ; the head ae&' tiger-like than 
in trieThext species ; trie skull is longer and more pointed, with a 
much-developed occipital ridge. Head and body from 4^ to 5! ft. ; 
tail from 30 to 38 in." 

Panther or small leopard (this name being given to the larger 
by Jerdon) : " Much smaller than the last, with comparatively shorter 
legs and rounder head ; the fur is less bright ; the ground-work 
often darker in colour, and the rosettes are more indistinct, which 
is caused by the longer hairs intermingling and breaking into the 
edges of the spots ; tail long and furry at the end. Head and body 
3 to 3i ft., tail 2\ it" ' ' 

He also says : " My old district had both kinds in abundance, 
and I have had scores of cubs, of both sorts, brought to me cubs 
which could be distinguished at a glance as to which kind they 
belonged to, but I never remember any mixture of the two," and 
" Grant their relative sizes, one so much bigger than the other, and 
the difference in colour and marking, has it ever been known that out 
of a litter of several cubs by a female of the larger kind, one of the 
smaller has been produced, or vice versa ? " 

Blanford, on the other hand, says that he often cannot distinguish 
the two forms by the examination of skins, and points out that the 
difference may very often be due to age, young leopards having the 
rounder skull without occipital ridge, and the rougher fur. Practically 
all naturalists now unite the two, and it may be suggested that we 
have to do with an exceptionally variable species, which in some 
districts is in process of being segregated into two, complete segrega- 
tion being as yet prevented by frequent interbreeding. Also, the 
great differences produced in the individual animal by captivity in 
the case of the lion, which tends to become in this state richer in 
colour, fuller in coat, and shorter and broader in skull, would seem 
to indicate that the development of the leopard may be influenced 
by its mode of life that a big-game-hunter may become a big animal, 
while one that lives on small mammals and on birds may fail to 
reach the same standard of size and form. 

Black leopards, which arc not uncommon, especially in the hills 
of Southern India and the Malay Peninsula, are definitely known to 
be casual " sports " occurring in the same litter as the ordinary spotted 
kind. Blanford cites a figure of a white one in Buchanan Hamilton's 

* Sterndale says the true leopard is the animal now called Cheetah, in which 
no doubt he is right ; but the name leopard is so well established that it cannot be 
set aside. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 85 

drawings, and the editor has seen a skin which was normal except 
for having the spots light brown instead of black. 

Sterndale says of the large variety : " This is a powerful animal 
and very^rlerce as a rule^ though in the case of a noted man-eater I 
have* 1 "known it exhibit a curious mixture of ferocity and abject 
cowardice. . . . The concurrence of evidence as to the habits of this 
species is that it is chiefly found in hilly jungles preying upon wild 
animals, wild pigs and monkeys, but not unfrequently, as I know, 
haunting the outskirts of villages for the sake of stray ponies and 
cattle. The largest pard I have ever seen was shot by one of my 
own shikaris in the act of stalking a pony near a village." With 
regard to the above-noted man-eater he says : "At Seconee we had 
one which devastated a tract of country extending to about eighteen 
miles in diameter. . . . He was at last killed by a native shikari who, 
in the dusk, took him for a pig or some such animal, and made a 
lucky shot ; but the tale of his victims had swelled over two hundred 
during the three years of his reign of terror.' 7 In fact, until in recent 
years a tiger put up an even more terrible record, this animal appears 
to have been the worst man-eater ever known. 

Of the smaller variety, Sterndale says : " This animal is more 
common than the pard, and it is more impudent in venturing into 
inhabited places. This is fortunate, for it is seldom a man-eater, 
although perhaps children may be occasionally carried off. I have 
before mentioned one which killed and partially devoured a pony in 
the heart of a populous town, and many are the instances of dogs 
being carried off out of the verandahs of Europeans' houses. A friend 
of mine one night, being awoke by a piteous howl from a dog chained 
to the centre pole of his tent, saw the head and shoulders of one 
peering in at the door ; it retreated but had the audacity to return 
in a few minutes. Jerdon and other writers have adduced similar 
instances. It is this bold and reckless disposition which renders it 
easier to trap and shoot. The tiger is suspicious to a degree and 
always apprehensive of a snare, but the panther never seems to 
trouble his head about the matter, but walks into a trap or resumes 
his feast on a previously-killed carcase though it may have been 
moved or handled. There is little difficulty in shooting a panther 
on a dark night. All that is necessary is to suspend, some little 
distance off, a common earthen gharra or water-pot, with an oil light 
inside, the mouth covered lightly with a sod, and a small hole knocked 
in the side in such a way as to allow a ray of light to fall on the carcase. 
No tiger would come near such an arrangement, but the panther 
boldly sets to his dinner without suspicion, probably from his 
familiarity with the lights in villages, 



86 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



tl I may here digress a little on the subject of night sKboting. 
Every one who has tried it knows the extreme difficulty of seeing the. 
sights of the rifle on a dark night. The common native method is 
to attach a fluff of cotton wool. On a moonlight night a bit of wax, 
with powdered mica scattered on it, will sometimes answer. I have 
seen diamond sights suggested, but all are practically useless. My 
plan was to carry a small phial of phosphorescent oil, about one 
grain to a drachm of oil dissolved in a bath of warm water. A small 
dab of this, applied to the fore and hind sights, will produce two 
luminous spots which will glow for about forty or fifty seconds or a 
minute." 

Leopards^are good climl^e.rs, and much more active in springing 
than tigers, which seldom lift their hind feet off the ground ; they 
are also more courageous, and more independent of water, though 
they will cross it if necessary. 

Their r^y_jcon^t^Qj]>rjtically anythingjthey can capture, and 

"" " 



_ 

they^wilTofteri hide part of a kill up in a tree"!" rn"'atlackirig they 
prefer the throat-hold. The note is a short, harsh, repeated, grating 
sound, rather like sawing wood, but is not often heard. 

They have two to four at a birth, and are supposed to take three 
years to mature. In captivity they are not very tameable, the black 
variety being usually especially savage. 




Ounce or Snow-Leopard. 

OUNCE OR SNOW-LEOPARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felts uncia. Native : Iker, 
Tibetan ; Sah, Bhotia ; Bharal-hai> Simla hill-men ; Thurmagh, 
Kunawar. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 87 

HABITAT. Altai, Tibet, and high elevations in the Himalayas 
generally. 

DESCRIPTION. Shorter in face than the ordinary leopard, and 
with much longer fur, especially on the tail, which is long and almost 
bushy. Colour whitish or creamy-grey, with much larger black 
rings than in the leopard, extremities with solid black spots as in 
that animal. Head and body rather over 4 ft., tail i yd. 

The snow-leopard frequents rocky ground, generally high up, 
but has been found as low as 6,000 ft. in winter. It kills both wild 
and tame sheep and goats, and also attacks dogs and ponies ; no 
instance appears to have been recorded of its attacking man, and it 
is not known whether it feeds on alpine rodents and birds, though it 
probably does so but little is known of its habits, and it is very rare 
in captivity. 




Clouded Leopard or Tiger. 

CLOUDED LEOPARD OR TIGER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felis macrocelis^ diardi. Native : 
Tungmar, Lepcha ; Lamchitta^ Khas of Nepal ; Rimau dahan, 
Malay. 

HABITAT. Hill ranges of South-Eastern Asia from Sikkim and 
Bhutan to Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and the islands of Sumatra 



88 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



and Borneo. In the Himalayas it is believed not to range* above 
7,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. Generally smaller than the average leopard, and 
much lower in build, the legs being short ; skull long, with longer 
canines than any of the cats. Body and tail long ; fur close and sleek, 
and with a very distinct pattern of large patches, placed close together 
and edged behind with black ; ground colour grey or buff, the 
patches darker. Head and limbs with black spots, and tail black- 
ringed. The colour is said to change from grey to tawny with age. 
Head and body over a yard in length, tail a yard or less. The pattern 
reminds one of a python, eyes brown, with a vertically oval pupil. 

The Clouded Leopard or Tiger (which is, as a matter of fact, 
equally distinct from both) is the most arboreal of the large cats, and 
is said even to sleep in trees. It preys on birds and mammals, but 
is not known to attack man, and is particularly tameable in captivity. 
Its dark eyes give it a much less fierce expression than that of other 
cats, but it might not be wise to place too much reliance on the pre- 
sumed harmlessness of this and the last species, for, as we shall see, 
smaller cats have been known to be aggressive.* 




Marbled Cat. 

MARBLED CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Fclis marmorata. Native : Sjkmar 
Bhutanese ; Dosal, Lepcha. 

* Since this was written an instance of aggression towards man has been 
recorded. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 89 

HABITAT. Very much the same as that of the last the hilly 
portions of South-Eastern Asia and the adjacent islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Very similar to the last in its coloration, with 
large, close-set, black-edged patches on a lighter ground, with the 
limbs black-spotted. Ground colour brownish-grey, becoming redder 
or yellower with age. Head short, as in small cats generally, and 
size cat-like, not to be compared with a leopard's, the body and head 
being under 2 ft., and the tail about 14 in. Legs short. 

The Marbled Cat bears much the same relation to the Clouded 
Leopard that the small common leopard does to the large one, except 
that in this case the differentiation is very complete, and no one could 
call the two anything but very distinct species. It is said to be shy 
and fierce in disposition, but nothing else is known of it. 

FISHING CAT OR LARGE TIGER-CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felis viverrina. Native : Mach- 
bagral, Bengali ; Bdgh-ddsha^ Banbiral, Khupyah-bdgh, Bur dun, 
Hindi ; Handundiva, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Bengal, west to Sind, and east to Burma and the 
Malay Peninsula and South China ; base of the Himalayas to Nepal ; 
Malabar coast and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. One of the largest of our lesser cats, much bigger 
than a tame cat, with longer head and shorter tail. Fur coarse and 
dull, brownish-grey with long black spots of varying size and distinct- 
ness. Head and body 2\ ft. long, tail about a third of this. 

The Fishing Cat is a waterside animal, and feeds much on fish 
and shellfish. It presumably kills birds, and must kill wild mammals 
also, for it takes tame ones- dogs, sheep, and even calves while it 
is also a child-eater on occasion, for it will take off native infants 
even up to four months old. It is, in fact, one of the fiercest of the 
cats, a match for several dogs, and Blyth had one which killed a 
tame young leopardess twice its size, breaking through a cage- 
partition to do this. Yet, though it is often fierce in captivity, Blyth 
had several quite tame ones. 

The cat which Mason, in his book on Burma, calls the leopard- 
cat and cites as having attacked a Karen and badly torn his arm, 
must have been this species and not the next he says it is as big as 
a small dog. 

LEOPARD-CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Fells bengaknsis there are too 
many others to quote, so many varieties of this species having been 
mistakenly named as species. Native : Ban lira!, Bengali ; JnngH 



90 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

billi, Chita billi^ Hindi ; Wagati, Mahratti ; Thit-kyoung, Arakanese ; 
Kyethit, Kya-gyuk, Thit-kyuk^ Burmese ; Kla-hla, Talain and 
Karen ; Rimau-dkar, Malay. 

HABITAT. Himalayas west to Simla, Western Ghats, Coromandel, 
Jeypore, Lower Bengal east to the Philippines. 

DESCRIPTION. One of the smallest of cats, sometimes smaller 
than the tame cat, with a rather short tail. Colour extremely variable, 
but the coat always spotted, the spots varying in size, shape, and 
colour, sometimes all black or all brown, sometimes partly black and 
partly brown, but not amounting to patches like the big 2 -in. broad 
markings of the Marbled Cat. Tail spotted, at any rate above. 
Ground colour either reddish or greyish. Young pale brown with 
ill-defined markings. Head and body about 2 ft., tail about i ft., 
but the head and body may be only 16 in., and the tail under 10 in. 

The Leopard-Cat is a forest animal, and largely arboreal, shel- 
tering in hollow trees or rocks. It feeds on birds and small mammals, 
and steals poultry from villages. It is very savage, and few specimens 
get tame in captivity. It is said to breed in May, and have three or 
four kittens at a time. It will cross with tame cats, and Blyth con- 
sidered that some of the grey varieties were produced in this way. 

RUSTY SPOTTED CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felts rubiginosa. Native : Namali 
pilli, Tamil in Madras ; Vereiva puni, Tamil in Ceylon ; Kula diya, 
Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Southern India in the Carnatic, Ceylon, and (rarely) 
Central India. 

DESCRIPTION. As a species the smallest of all cats, though some 
varieties of the last are equally small. Colour reddish-grey with 
rusty spots, or, in the case of some in Ceylon, rusty with black spots. 
Tail not spotted, by which this species may be distinguished from 
small specimens of the Leopard-Cat. 

Length of head and body 18 in. or less, tail about half of that 
measurement. 

The Rusty-Spotted Cat generally frequents grass cover, but may 
also be found in jungle in some places. Jerdon had one which would 
hunt for squirrels, and when only eight months old seized a small 
gazelle fawn as soon as it saw it, and was with difficulty taken off the 
back of its neck. Sterndale says : " Jerdon doubted the existence of 
this cat in Central India, but in 1859 or 1860 I had two kittens brought 
to me by a Gond in the Seeonee district, and I kept them for many 
months. They became perfectly tame, so much so that, although for 
nine months of the year I was out in camp they never left the tents, 



ORDER CARNIVORA 



although allowed to roam about unconfined. The grace and agility 
of their motions was most striking. I have seen one of them balance 
itself on the back of a chair, and when one of the pair died it was 
ludicrous to see the attempts of a little grey village cat, which I got 
to be a companion to the survivor, to emulate the gymnastics of its 
wild comrade. At night the little cats were put into a basket, and 
went on with the spare tents to my next halting place ; and on my 
arrival next morning I would find them frisking about the tent roof 
between the two canvasses, or scrambling up the trees under which 
we were pitched. Whilst I was at work I usually had one on my 
lap and the other cuddled behind my back on the chair. One day 
one of them, which had been exploring the hollows of an old tree 
close by, rushed into my tent and fell down in convulsions at my feet. 
I did everything in my power for the poor little creature, but in vain 
it died in two or three minutes, having evidently been bitten by a 
snake. The survivor was inconsolable, refused food, and went mewing 
all over the place and kept rolling at my feet, rubbing itself against 
them as though to beg for the restoration of its brother. At last I 
sent into a village and procured a common kitten, which I put into 
the basket with the other. There was a great deal of spitting and 
growling at first, but in time they became great friends, but the 
villager was no match for the forester. It was amusing to see the 
wild one dart like a squirrel up the walls of the tent on to the roof ; 
the other would try to follow, scramble up a few feet, and then, hanging 
by its claws, look round 
piteously before it dropped 
to the ground. " 

The Rusty- Spotted Cat 
sometimes haunts drains 
near villages, and is said 
to cross with tame cats. 

GOLDEN OR BAY CAT 

OTHER N A MES. 
Scientific: Felis tem- 
mincki) aurata. 

H A B i T A T. South- 
Eastern Asia, from Nepal 
east to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTIO N. A Golden Cat. 

fairly large cat, bigger 

even than the Fishing-Cat, and longer-tailed. Colour chestnut, 
striped with white on the face ; ears black, chin and under-part of 




92 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

tail white ; under-parts generally pale and more or less spotted. 
There is a dark brown variety in which the under-part of the tail is 
still white, and in the editor's time the Calcutta Zoo exhibited a 
specimen which was glossy black all over. Head and body over 
30 in., tail 19 in. 

Sterndale quotes Hodgson to the effect that his first specimen 
u was caught in a tree by some hunters in the midst of an exceed- 
ingly dense forest. Though only just taken it bore confinement 
very tranquilly, and gave evident signs of a tractable disposition, 
but manifested high courage, for the approach of a huge Bhotea dog- 
to its cage excited in it symptoms of wrath only, not of fear." 
Other specimens, however, seem to be less tractable. 

DESERT CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Fells ornata. 

HABITAT. Western India. 

DESCRIPTION. A short-furred, pointed-eared cat of a pale sandy 
colour well covered with small black spots ; tail about half as long as 
head and body, ringed and tipped with black. Size of tame cat 
head and body about 20 in. 

This cat is not found in forest, but is confined to sandy districts. 
It -breeds with tame cats. The so-called Waved Cat (Felis torquata) 
is now considered to be a tame cat run wild. It differs from the last 
in having rounder ears and sometimes a longer tail, sometimes a 
greyer colour, and the spots forming vertical cross-bands on the sides ; 
it is like a tame striped tabby, in fact. 

BLACK-CHESTED CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felis manul. 

HABITAT. Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet, entering Ladak in 
Indian territory. 

DESCRIPTION. Although one of the small cats, about the size 
of the tame animal, this is a most distinct species, with remarkably 
broad head and short rounded ears, large eyes of which the pupil 
contracts in a circle as in most large cats, not in a slit as usual in the 
smaller ones and long close thick fur, the tail being quite bushy. 
Colour pale grey or buff, with the chest black or brown, the sides 
and tail scantily barred with black and the latter black-tipped ; it is 
about half the length of the head and body, which measure about 19 in. 

Palles' Cat, as this animal is often called after its first describer, 
was said by him to live in rocky country and feed on small mammals ; 
no doubt it takes birds as well. Sterndale's name " Black-chested " 



ORDER CARN1VORA 93 

is preferable, as it expresses one of the peculiarities of this remarkable 
species. 

COMMON JUNGLE-CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felts chaus. K hat as, Jungli bilii, 
Hindi ; Banberal, Bengali ; Berka, Bhagalpur hillmen ; Mant-bek, 
Canarese ; Kada or Bella-bek^ Wadari ; Baul, Bhaga, Mota lahu 
manpir, Mahratti ; Jurka-pilli> Tclegu ; Cherru fuli, Malabarese ; 
Kyoung-tset-kun, Arakanese ; Gurba-i-kuhi^ Persian ; Katu punai^ 
Tamil. 

HABITAT. Northern Africa and through Western Asia to India, 
Ceylon, and Burma ; it is generally distributed in India, ascending 
the Himalayas to at least 8,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. Rather larger than a tame cat, and higher on 
the legs, with a shorter tail. Ears often with a rudimentary tuft. 
General colour light reddish-grey or greyish-brown, with few or no 
dark markings except the black tail-tip, and a few rings preceding it. 
Head and body about 2 ft. long, tail less than i ft. Black specimens 
are occasionally found ; it is possible that some at any rate of these 
are the produce of crosses with tame cats. A hybrid at the London 
Zoo resembled the Felts chaus in size and build, but was otherwise 
a " red tabby " in all colour points. 

On the other hand, many Indian tame cats have the dull pale 
sandy of this wild animal, which interbreeds with them, as is said to 
be the case, as we have seen, with several other species. It must be 
borne in mind, however, that our tame European cats come from a 
common African species (Felis cajjra, maniculata^ call gat a) which is 
sometimes coloured just like this common Indian wild cat, though 
sometimes greyer and striped. Also the appearance of a character 
properly belonging to another species does not necessarily imply 
crossing ; the editor, among several earthy-coloured tame cats which 
frequented the Indian Museum compound, observed one with a very 
short lynx-like tail, complete with black tip (so evidently not mutilated, 
although with a slight kink), but this was most certainly not indicative 
of a cross with the Himalayan Lynx ! 

The name Jungle- Cat unless "jungle" be taken simply as an 
adjective meaning " wild " is misleading for this species, which 
frequents open country and grass cover, crops, etc., as well as 
woodland ; as Blyth says, " it even affects populous neighbourhoods, 
and is a terrible depredator among the tame ducks and poultry, 
but I have not known him attack geese." The immunity of these 
was no doubt owing to their well-known vigilance they were kept 
about a tank, though there ducks were not safe not so much to their 



94 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

size, as the editor saw a specimen which had been captured on the 
premises of the late W. Rutledge of Entally, Calcutta, after getting 
into a shed and killing half a dozen Black Swans. Blyth' further 
says : " A pair of them bred under my house, and I have . . . been 
surprised at the most extraordinary humming sound which they 
sometimes uttered of an evening. Their other cries were distinguish- 
able from those of the domestic cat." 

Sterndale says : "It is said to be untameable, but in 1859, at 
Sasseram, one of the men of my Levy caught a very young kitten, 
which was evidently of this species. I wrote at the time to a friend 
about a young mongoose which I had just got, and added, l It is 
great fun to see my last acquisition and a little jungle cat (Felis chaus) 
playing together. They are just like two children in their manner, 
romping and rolling over each other, till one gets angry, then there is 
a quarrel and a fight, which, however, is soon made up, the kitten 
generally making the first advances towards a reconciliation, and then 
they go on as merrily as ever. The cat is a very playful, good-tempered 
little thing ; the colour is a reddish-yellow with darker red stripes 
like a tiger, and slightly spotted ; the ears and eyes are very large ; 
the orbits of the last bony and prominent.' " From what has been 
said above this was probably a hybrid with a tame cat. 

The Chaus is the common wild cat of India, and is a terrible 
enemy to game, small furred and feathered, as well as to poultry ; 
it would also seem to seek aquatic food, as one has been found wading 
in deep mud. If not so formidable as the larger Fishing Cat, it has 
been known to charge when wounded. According to Hodgson it 
produces three or four kittens twice a year. 

LYNX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felis lynx, isabellina. Native : 
Patsalan^ Kashmiri. 

HABITAT. Northern Hemisphere, ranging into our area in 
Gilgit and Ladak. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our minor cats, thickset but high 
on the legs, with well-tufted ears, a very short tail, and full drooping 
whiskers on the cheeks. Eye with round pupil. Coat full and thick, 
between grey and fawn in colour, often marked, at any rate in summer, 
with small black spots ; tips of ears and tail black. Head and body 
nearly i yd. long, but tail barely 8 in. Indian specimens strongly 
incline to be spotless. 

Lynxes climb well, and are very destructive both to game and to 
domestic animals ; they seem to hunt in pairs, and a couple have 
accounted for six sheep in a night, while they are active enough to 



ORDER CARN1FORA 



95 



catch pigeons. Although bloodthirsty, they are particularly tameable 
if taken young ; one kept in Calcutta was noticed to have a particular 
hatred of tame cats. 




Caracal. 

CAEACAL OE EED LYNX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felis caracal. Native : Siagush, 
Hindi ; Ech> Ladaki. 

HABITAT, Africa, east to Western Asia, and India, where it is 
mostly confined to the North- West and Central portions, but ranges 
through the Peninsula except the Malabar coast. 

DESCRIPTION. A rather tall, slight cat of good size, but smaller 
than the Lynx proper, with a longer tail and short close coat without 
whiskers on the cheeks, but with very long ear-tufts, the ears them- 
selves being long ; the tail about reaches the hocks. Colour fawn 
or chestnut, with the ears conspicuously black, sometimes grizzled 
with white. Kittens are coloured like the adults ; they chirp like 
young thrushes. 



96 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

The Caracal is rare in India, and little is known about its habits 
there ; it is supposed to favour open country, preying on small 
ruminants and birds, which latter it will bring down by bounds of a 
couple of yards off the ground. It is generally surly in captivity, and 
a starving specimen once attacked a coolie in India ; yet it is trained 
for hunting in some parts of India, and is said to be swifter in pro- 
portion than the Cheetah. 



<feo^ 




Cheetah or Hunting Leopard. 

CHEETAH OR HUNTING LEOPARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Felis jubata, Cynalurus jubatus. 
Native : Chita, Hindi ; Yuz of its former professional catchers Xsaid 
by Blanford to be a Persian word) ; Kendua-bagh, Bengali ; Chita 
pulo, Telegu ; C hire ha, Sibungi, Canarese ; Laggar in some districts. 

HABITAT. Africa east through South-Western Asia to India, 
where it is now nearly extinct. It was never found in Burma nor in 
Ceylon, the animal sometimes called Cheetah in that island being the 
Leopard.* 

DESCRIPTION. One of the " great cats " being about the size of 
the average leopard, but differing so much in detail that it has generally 
been given a genus to itself. It is slim and long-legged, long-tailed 
also, but with a very short head. The claws are blunt, except that 
of the small first toe on the fore-foot, but not non-retractile, as Blyth 
pointed out in the 'fifties of last century. 

The fur is coarse and dull, short except on the neck and belly, 
where it is lengthened and shaggy, forming a mane and fringe ; the 
tail is rather bushy towards the tip. Pupil round and iris dark 

* Cheetah is simply the Anglicised spelling of " Chita," spotted, and does not 
especially apply to this animal ; but it is now established as its English name. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 97 

brown. Colour fawn with small solid black spots, running into 
partial rings at the tail- tip ; a very characteristic black line running 
down from each eye to the mouth. Head and body about 4! ft., 
tail about 2\ ft. 

" Chita kittens," says Sterndale, " are very pretty little things, 
quite grey, without any spots whatever, but they can always be recog- 
nised by the black stripe down the nose, and on cutting off a little 
bit of the soft hair I noticed that the spots were quite distinct in the 
under fur. I have not seen this fact alluded to by others. ... I had 
several of them at Seeonee." 

The cheetah is an animal of open dry country, preying chiefly on 
antelopes of various kinds ; it occasionally takes sheep and goats, 
but has not been known to attack man. Although it stalks its prey 
to some extent, its final rush is very long, and for about a furlong or 
two it seems to be the swiftest of runners, even pulling down the 
blackbuck or gazelle in a quarter of a mile. If its rush fails, however, 
it does not continue the chase, and it can be ridden down and speared, 
having no endurance. It trips up its victim with the fore-foot, and 
then fastens on its throat. 

It used to be largely captured by a class of* skilful hunters and 
trained for antelope coursing, but the editor was told this year (1927) 
on good authority, that the cheetahs now so used by Indian magnates 
are all imported from Africa. 

Colonel J. C. Faunthorpe, also, writing in this year's (1927) Field 
(p. 426), says : " There is no doubt that the cheetah is now very rare 
indeed. General Sir Afzul Ul Mulk of Hyderabad told me that there are 
now no cheetahs in the Hyderabad territories a very large area. A 
few survive in the Berar districts of the Central Provinces. It was found 
in the Central Provinces when Sir John Hewitt was Chief Commis- 
sioner. Rajkumar Sadul Singh of Bikanir . . . shot three cheetah 
out of a bunch of five, or more, which he came across a year or two 
ago, when motoring, in Rewah State. I believe Lord Hardinge, 
when Viceroy, also shot one in Rewah, in the same locality some 
years before. One specimen, which from its skin must have been 
very old, was killed by villagers in the Mirzapur district (which 
borders on Rewah) about two years ago. With these exceptions I 
have not been able to hear of its existence in recent years." It is 
evidently high time that this poor animal was protected, as the lion 
is in the Gir forest. 

In the wild state it is more sociable than most cats, the family 
remaining together for some time, and when tamed, although cap- 
tured in nooses when full-grown, becomes quite friendly. Young 
animals are supposed to be unsuitable for hunting, lacking natural 

H 



98 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

teaching, but as pets they are just as good. Sterndale says : " Dr. 
Jerdon describes one which he brought up from its earliest infancy ; 
his bungalow was next to the one I inhabited for a time at Kampti, 
and consequently I saw a good deal of Billy, as the leopard was named. 
At our first interview I found him in the stables amongst the dogs 
and horses, and, as I sat down on his charpoy, he jumped up along- 
side of me, and lay down to be scratched, playing and purring and 
licking my hands with a very rough tongue. He sometimes used to 
go out with his master, and was gradually getting into the way of 
running down antelope, when Dr. Jerdon was ordered off on field 
service." 




Cheetah (below) and Leopard (above), showing difference in form, 

The Hyaenas (Hyanidce) are a very small family related to the 
civets ; as we have only one species, distinguished from all our 
carnivores by having only four toes on each foot, its general characters 
may be given in the description. 



ORDER GARNIVORA 



99 




Striped Hyaena. 

STRIPED HY!NA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hy&na striata. Native : Taras, 
Hondar, Jhirak, Harvagh, Lakhar-baghar^ Lakra, Hindi ; Naukra- 
bagh, Bengali ; Rerha^ Gondi ; Kirba, Kat-kirba, Canarese ; Dumul 
or Kornagundu, Telegu ; Cherak, Sindhi ; Aptar, Baluchi ; Hebar 
kula, Ho Kol ; Derko Tud, Rajmehal ; Dhopre, Korku ; Kaluthai- 
karuchi) Tamil. 

HABITAT. Northern Africa east through South-West Asia to 
India generally, but not Ceylon or Burma, and rare in Lower Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. A large animal, dog-like in general form, with 
blunt non-retractile claws, but with a striped coat and long moustaches 
like a cat ; and differing much from either in having the fore-legs 
longer than the hind and a mane all down the neck and back ; tail 
bushy and rather short. Coat coarse and rather rough, dull grey 
striped with black or brown. Tongue rough as in cats ; eyes dark. 
Skull rather short and strongly ridged, with large blunt grinders. 
Head and body about 3^ ft., tail about i J ft. 

The Hyaena is a solitary animal, generally found in open country, 
haunting rocks and low cover, and hiding by day in caves or in its 
own burrows. It lives largely on carrion, and even devours bones, 
its jaws and teeth being so powerful that it has been seen to snap a 
buffalo's rib asunder with a single effort. Blanford says he once 
shot one which was carrying off the hind leg of a nilgai to its den. 
Sterndale says that most wild animals are too active for it, but that 
it "is very destructive to dogs, and constantly carries off pariahs 



100 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

* 

from the outskirts of villages. The natives declare that the hyaena 
tempts the dogs out by its unearthly cries, and then falls upon 
them. . . . The hyaena is of a timorous nature, seldom, if ever, 
showing fight. Two of them nearly ran over me once as I was 
squatting on a deer run waiting for sambhar, which were being 
beaten out of a hill. I flung my hat in the face of the leading one, 
on which both turned tail and fled." It preys on sheep and goats, 
but as it takes these less often than dogs, which are so much more 
able to defend themselves, it cannot be so cowardly as is supposed 
it is rather, perhaps, lacking in resource in an emergency. Little is 
known about its breeding ; the cubs are easily tamed, and show a 
docile and faithful disposition. 

The Civet family ( ViverridcE), which also includes the mongooses, 
is the most numerously represented and varied group of carnivores, 
and, with the exception, possibly, of the jackal among the dogs, 
comprises our most abundant carnivorous species. They are all 
short-legged and long-tailed animals, with five toes on all feet ; 
the typical civets are like cats with dogs' muzzles, and the mongooses 
like ferrets. The coarse speckled or " pepper-and-salt " type of fur, 
however, distinguishes mongooses from any of the weasels, which 
they much resemble in habits, the civets being more like cats in ways 
as well as in coat. Like cats, also, they have long conspicuous 
moustaches. In fact, they are often called civet-cats, and the native 
name Khatas is applied to some of them as well as to the cats proper. 
Their fur, however, is not really so rich as in the cats, and is little 
esteemed by furriers. 

The most typical civets ( Viverrd) are fairly large animals, bigger 
than a tame cat, and not so short-legged as the rest of the family. 
They have a pouch under the tail which secretes the civet perfume, 
a sort of pasty substance, formerly much valued in Europe as a scent 
and still esteemed in the East. Their claws are partially retractile, and 
their backs maned ; they are omnivorous and terrestrial in habits. 

LARGE INDIAN CIVET 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Viverra zibetha. Native : Khatas, 
Hindi ; Mach-bhondar, Bdgdas, Pudo-ganla, Bengali ; Bhran^ 
Nepalese in Terai ; Nit-biralu, in Nepal ; Kung, Bhotia ; Saphiong, 
Lepcha ; Khyoung-myeng, Burmese ; Tangalong, Malay. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia from Nepal east and south to 
Siam and Southern China ; it extends some distance up the Hima- 
layas, and south as far as Orissa and perhaps further. 

DESCRIPTION, Something between a fox and a tabby cat in 



ORDER CARNIVORA 101 

appearance, and exceeding the former in size. Fur iron-grey, with 
the mane down the back black, and the tail black with narrow white 
rings. Feet black, throat and chest boldly banded with black and 
white ; legs barred with black and grey near the body, sides some- 
times faintly marked. Head and body about 2 ft. 8 in., tail i| ft. 

This civet is a solitary nocturnal animal, hiding by day in grass 
or scrub. It will eat almost any animal it can catch, warm-blooded 
or cold, and is destructive to poultry ; it also eats roots and fruit. 
Its scent is followed by dogs more readily than any other animaFs: 
It breeds in May and June, and has from three to five young ; if 
hunted it takes to water readily. 

MALABAR CIVET 

OTHER NAMES.- Scientific : Viverra civettina. 

HABITAT. Malabar coast. 

DESCRIPTION. Differs from the last in having the hind-quarters 
boldly marked with large black spots, and a black band along the 
top of the tail joining the black interspaces between the white rings. 

BURMESE CIVET 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Viverra megaspila. Native : 
Kyoung-myeng, Burmese ; Musang-jehat, Malay. 

HABITAT. Burma east to Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION. Larger and shorter-tailed than the Indian civet, 
with the sides generally w r ell-spotted, and the dark rings on the tail 
no broader than the light ones, and connected above by a black 
line. Head and body about i yd. long, tail barely 18 in. 

The habits of this and the last have not been recorded as differing 
from those of the Indian civet ; it is worth mentioning that the name 
applied by the Burmese to these animals means " horse-cat," which 
is rather remarkable, as the small head and long deep powerful neck 
of these big civets do suggest a horse. The whole build and size are 
reminiscent of the very early equine ancestor which had paws, in the 
distant ages when carnivores and ungulates were not so sharply 
differentiated as they have become in the course of their evolution. 

The next species is much smaller and slimmer, with no mane. 

SMALL INDIAN CIVET OR RASSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Viverra or Viverricula malaccensis. 
Native : Mashk-billi y Katas, Kasturi, Hindi (the last name properly 
belonging to the Musk-deer) ; Gandhagokul, Gandogaula, Bengali ; 
Jowddi manjur, Mahratti ; Punagin-bek, Canarese ; Punagu /////, 



1O2 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



Telegu ; Saiyar, Bag~vyul, Nepalesc ; Wa-young-kyotitig-fryouk, 
Arakancse ; Kyouiig-kadO) 13urnic.sc; Uratama, Cingalese. 




HABITAT. Most of India, extending east to the Malayan Islands 
and South China, but not found in the Punjab, Sind, or Western 
Rajputana. It is found in Ceylon, Socotra, the Comoro Islands, and 



ORDER CARNIVORA 103 

Madagascar, but except in the first-named island, is supposed to 
have been artificially introduced. 

DESCRIPTION. Not larger than a common cat, and shorter on 
the legs, with a longer tail. Coat grey or brown, more or less striped 
and spotted lengthways with black ; tail ringed with black and white. 
Head and body under 2 ft., tail nearly 18 in. 

The small civet is a mixed feeder like the larger kinds, but differs 
in being a climber, and is not so destructive, though often coming 
near houses. 

The Linsangs or Tiger- Civets (Prionodon) are a sort of exaggera- 
tion of the Rasse type, very long-bodied and short-legged, with very 
long tails and feet with perfectly retractile claws. They are fine 
climbers and have sleek soft fur, handsomely marked, but not at 
all like a tiger's. They appear to be purely carnivorous, unlike 
most civets, but little is known about them. They have no scent- 
pouch. 

INDIAN LINSANG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Prionodon pardicolor. Native : 
Zik-chum, Bhotia ; Stiliyu, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Sikkim to Yunan. 

DESCRIPTION. About as large as a ferret, pale buff with large 
black spots running in rows down the back and sides ; tail with 
black rings. Head and body about 15 in. long, tail about i ft. 

The Linsang is said to live in hollow trees, and feed on small 
birds ; it breeds twice a year, having two at each litter. 

BUKMESE LINSANG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Prionodon maculosus. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. Much larger than the last, about equalling a cat 
in size ; fur grey with large black spots, forming bands along the 
sides ; patches on the back forming broad short cross-bands rather 
than rounded spots as in the last species. Head and body about 
1 8 in. long, tail about 16 in. 

This Linsang has only been procured twice, east of Moulmein 
and at Bankasun. 

The Musangs or Palm-civets (Paradoxurus) are also climbers 
with retractile claws, but not so slim as the other small civets, though 
very long-tailed. Their tails are not ringed and their fur not very 
fine or well marked. They are common animals, but so nocturnal 



104 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

that they are not often seen. They have a scent-pouch, but not the 
full civet odour, and some can emit a very powerful stench from other 
posterior glands, which, like the previous species, they possess. They 
are particularly omnivorous, taking much vegetable food, and all 
equal cats in size. The name Palm-civet is not very appropriate, as 




Burmese Linsang. 

they do not especially frequent palms ; " tree-civet " would be better, 
but would apply equally well to the three previous species, so it is 
best to follow Sterndale in using the Malay name Musang, though 
this appears to be applied to civets generally in Malaysia. 

COMMON MUSANG, PALM-CIVET, OR TODDY-CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Paradoxurus musanga, niger, 
bondar, hermaphroditus. Native : Khatas, Menuri, Lakdti, Chingar^ 
Shar-ka-kutta, Hindi ; Bham> Bhondar, Bengali ; Ud, Mahratti ; 
Kera-hek, Canarese ; Manii-pilli, Telegu ; Togot, Singhbhum ; 
Kyoung-won-baik) -na-ga, Burmese ; Khabbo-palaing, Talain ; Sapo- 
mi-aing^ Karen ; Musang, Malay. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia and its adjacent islands, from 
India and Ceylon to Borneo, but not in the Punjab or Sind. 

DESCRIPTION. About 20 in. in length of head and body, with 
tail nearly as long ; fur coarse, grey and black, varying much in 
length and colour ; in the Indian race it is long and ragged , an 
indistinct mixture of black and grey, the lighter colour sometimes 



ORDER CARNIVORA 105 

rather brownish. Muzzle and extremities usually more or less 
black ; young often more or less striped or spotted. 

The Burmese race has shorter and closer fur, with the body more 
or less distinctly striped or spotted on a more or less pure grey ground. 
In both the tip of the tail may be white. The black mask and the 
absence of rings on the tail will distinguish this spotted form from 
the Rasse. The two varieties are ranked by Blanford as distinct 
species, but he admits this is merely a matter of convenience, so 
many specimens in Eastern India being intermediate. 

Sterndale, who treats them as one, says : " This is a very common 
animal in India, frequently to be found in the neighbourhood of 
houses, attracted no doubt by poultry, rats, mice, etc. It abounds in 
the suburbs of Calcutta, taking up its abode sometimes in outhouses 
or in secluded parts of the main building. During the years 1865-66 
a pair inhabited a wooden staircase in the Lieutenant-Governor's 
house at Alipore (Belvedere). We used to hear them daily, and once 
or twice I saw them in the dusk, but failed in all my attempts to trap 
them. That part of the building has since been altered, so I have no 
doubt the confiding pair have sjnce betaken themselves to other 
quarters. In a large banyan tree in my brother's garden at Alipore 
there is a family at the present time [? 1884, the date of publication 
of Sterndale's original work], the junior members of which have 
lately fallen victims to a greyhound, who is often on the look-out 
for them. As yet the old ones have had the wisdom to keep out of 
his way. 

" They are very easily tamed. I had one for a time at Seeonee 
which had been shot at and wounded, and I was astonished to find 
how soon it got accustomed to my surgical operations. Whilst under 
treatment I fed it on eggs. In confinement it is better to accustom 
it to live partly on vegetable food, rice and milk, etc., with raw meat 
occasionally. Its habits are nocturnal. I cannot affirm from my 
own experience that it is partial to the juice of the palm-tree, for 
toddy (or tari) is unknown in the Central Provinces, and I have had 
no specimens alive since I have been in Bengal, but it has the 
character of being a toddy-drinker in those parts of India where the 
toddy-palms grow ; and Kellaart confirms the report. It is arboreal 
in its habits, and climbs with great agility." 

The editor has seen it run up a water-pipe in the angle of two 
walls of the Indian Museum- buildings, and trapped two (probably a 
pair) in the pantry of his quarters there in box-traps they had been 
pulling a tin bread-box about and betraying themselves by the noise. 
He also often found their droppings, full of the seeds of the peepul 
fig, on the balustrade of the verandah, so that up to the end of the 



106 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

last century, at any rate, the animal was found about Calcutta houses. 
It is not, however, especially a parasite on man, but is also found in 
forests, and is probably the most numerous of all Indian carnivores, 
being so adaptable. It brings forth four to six young. As it eats 
snakes as well as rats, it deserves protection if provisions, poultry, 
and garden produce can be preserved from its attacks, which might 
be done by feeding it on cooked table scraps ; an animal with 
its instinct for self-domestication deserves encouragement, and is 
no doubt intelligent and worthy of study. 

HILL MUSANG OR HIMALAYAN PALM-CIVET 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Paradoxiirus grayi. 

HABITAT. Himalayas from Simla to Nepal, Arakan and the 
Andamans. 

DESCRIPTION. Larger and longer-tailed than the common 
plains species, both head and body and tail being about 2 ft., with 
softer, thicker, and smoother fur, which is plain grey or fawn, but 
with the face very dark and marked with grizzled whitish streaks. 

In fact, the plan of colouring is somewhat like that of the Burmese 
Ferret-badger, but this is much smaller, with much shorter and 
bushy tail, and non-retractile claws. This Musang is more addicted 
to fruit-eating than the common species, and in the Andamans is 
destructive to pine-apples. The local pigmies eat it, but appear not 
to use its skin even when they feel the need of clothing. 

CEYLONESE OR GOLDEN MUSANG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Paradoxurus zeylanicus> aureus. 
Native : Kula-wedda, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A little smaller than the common Indian species, 
with a decidedly shorter tail. Fur fairly close and soft, chestnut in 
colour. 

Like the last species, this is very partial to fruit. 

BROWN MUSANG OR PALM-CIVET 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Paradoxurus jerdoni. Native : 
Kdrt-nai, Malabarese. 

HABITAT. Palni hills and Nilgiris. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the last, smaller and shorter-tailed than the 
common Musang ; fur smoother, dark brown, grizzled on back, and 
the tail often white-tipped. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 107 

/^ '"'S/^St;: &-;> 

^^.,-,^~g 




Small -toothed Musang. 



SMALL-TOOTHED OR WHITE-EARED MUSANG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Paradoxurus or Arctogale leucotis 
or trivirgatus. Native : Kyoung-ng-ga, Tenasserim ; Kyoung-na- 
zwet-phyU) Arakanese ; Musang-dkar, Malay. 

HABITAT. Sylhet east to Java. 

DESCRIPTION. This species is sometimes separated as a distinct 
genus (Arctogale) from our other Musangs, on account of its much 
smaller teeth (except the canines), though in length of head and body 
and tail (about 2 ft. each) it equals any of them ; the first or inner 
toes on its feet are also further separated from the other digits than 
in any of the rest. Fur short and soft, brown or grey, with three 
more or less distinct black bands or rows of spots down the back ; 
extremities black, the face often with a white streak and white tips 
to the ears. 

Little is known about this species except what Sterndale says 
about a tame one : u I had a specimen of this Paradoxurus given to 
me early in the cold season of 1881 by Dr. W. Forsyth. I brought it 
home to England with me, and it is now [? 1884] in the Zoological 
Society's Gardens in Regent's Park. It was very tame when Dr. 
Forsyth brought it, but it became more so afterwards, and we made 
a great pet of it. It used to sleep nearly all day on a bookshelf in my 
study, and would, if called, lazily look up, yawn, and then come 
down to be petted, after which it would spring up again into its 
retreat. At night it was very active, especially in bounding from 
branch to branch of a tree which I had cut down and placed in the 



io8 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



room in which it was locked up every evening. Its wonderful agility 
on ropes was greatly noticed on board ship. Its favourite food was 
plantains, and it was also very fond of milk. At night I used to give' 
it a little meat, but not much j but most kinds of fruit it seemed to 
like. 

" Its temper was a little uncertain, and it seemed to dislike natives, 
who sometimes got bitten ; but it never bit any of my family, although 
one of my little girls used to catch hold of it by the fore-paws and 
dance it about like a kitten. Its carnivorous nature showed itself 
one day by its pouncing upon a tame pigeon. The bird was rescued, 
and is alive still, but it was severely mauled before I could rescue it, 
having been seized by the neck." This account suggests that the 
species is mainly a fruit-eater ; a thorough carnivore would have 
settled the unfortunate pigeon at once. Small finches thus seized by 
an Indian Vampire the editor kept died instantly without a struggle 
when gripped by the bat, which then bit off and dropped the head. 

The very curious beast next to follow is the only member of its 
genus (Arctictis)) so its characters can be fully given in the description 
of the species. 



'.- 




Binturong. 

BINTURONG OR BEAR-CAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Arctictis binturong. Native : Un- 
tarong, Malay ; Myouk-kya, Burmese ; Young, Assamese. 

HABITAT. South-East Asia and its adjacent islands, from 
Assam to Java. 



ORDER GARNI VORA 109 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of a pariah dog, but with short 
legs and a very long tail ; head short and broad, but with a narrow 
muzzle ; eyes and ears small, but the latter with long lynx-like tufts. 
Fur coarse and ragged, longest on the tail, black in colour, but more 
or less grizzled, especially on the fore-quarters ; young with grey or 
rusty tippings to the fur. Head and body about 2\ ft., tail nearly as 
long. Claws partly retractile. 

The tail is prehensile, a unique peculiarity among our mammals ; 
the gait is plantigrade, and the movements not very quick. 

The animal is omnivorous, devouring fruit and all sorts of animals, 
even fish and worms how it gets these last two articles of food it 
would be interesting to know, as it has not the look of a fisher or 
digger, but is well adapted for climbing. It lives, as a matter of fact, 
on trees in forests, coming out at night. It is said to have a loud 
howl a curious peculiarity, for the civets as a group are remarkably 
silent animals. 

Though said to be fierce, it is very tameable, but is not common 
in captivity, and nothing is known about its breeding. 

The name Bear-cat applied to it is undesirable, as leading to 
confusion with the Panda or Cat-bear already described. 

The Mongooses or Ichneumons (Herpestes) are very distinct from 
all the other animals of the civet family we have been reviewing. 
As has been said, they look more like ferrets than cats, and they are 
also weasel-like in their habits, showing great activity and a very 
bloodthirsty nature. Unlike weasels, they have not conspicuous 
moustaches, and when in motion trot instead of galloping. They 
nearly always have grizzled fur, and this is coarse, and longest at the 
base of the tail, a peculiarity which distinguishes them not only from 
weasels, but from all our other animals. Their ears are small, their 
eyes small and light-coloured, not dark as in typical civets, and their 
claws strong and not at all retractile. They are as much diurnal as 
nocturnal, and live on the ground, though able to climb trees on 
occasion. They are intelligent and easily tamed, and two species 
are well known in captivity, one of which at any rate has a great 
reputation as a snake-killer and ratter. 

COMMON GREY MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes muugo, pallidus, griscus. 
Native : Mangtis, Newal> Nyul, Dhor y Rasu, Hindi ; Mungti, 
Canarese ; Yentama^ Telegu ; Kora1 y Gondi ; A/>/, Tamil ; 
Mugateci) Cingalese ; Bingutdaro> Sarambumbui, Ho Kol. 



110 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

HABITAT. India and Ceylon. Introduced into some of the 
West Indian and Pacific islands. 

DESCRIPTION. About: as big as a ferret, but with a much longer 
tail. Fur grizzly-grey, rather rough, often rusty on head and feet 
(where it is short), and sometimes throughout. Eyes reddish-brown, 
claws dark brown. Head and body about 16 in., tail a little less. 

" This animal," says Sterndale, " is familiar to most English 
residents in the Mofussil ; it is, if unmolested, fearless of man, and 
will, even in its wild state, enter the verandahs and rooms of houses. 
In one house I know a pair would not only boldly lift the bamboo 
chicks and walk in, but in time were accompanied by a young family. 
When domesticated they are capable of showing as much attachment 
as a dog. One that I had constantly with me for three years died of 
grief during a temporary separation, having refused food from the 
time I left. I got it whilst on active service during the Indian 
Mutiny, when it was a wee thing, smaller than a rat. It travelled 
with me on horseback in an empty holster, or in a pocket, or up my 
sleeve ; and afterwards, when my duties as a settlement officer took 
me out into camp, ' Pips ' was my constant companion. He knew 
perfectly well when I was going to shoot a bird for him. He would 
stand up on his hind legs when he saw me present the gun, and rush 
for the bird when it fell ; he had, however, no notion of retrieving, 
but would scamper off with his prey to devour it at leisure. He was 
a most fearless little fellow, and once attacked a big greyhound, who 
beat a retreat. In a rage his body would swell to nearly twice its 
size from the erection of the hair, yet I had him under such perfect 
subjection that I had only to hold up my finger to him when he was 
about to attack anything, and he would desist. I heard a great noise 
one day outside my room, and found Master ' Pips ' attacking a fine 
male specimen I had of the great bustard, Eupodotis edwardsi, and 
had just seized it by the throat. I rescued the bird, but it died of its 
injuries. Through the carelessness of one of my servants he was 
lost one day in a heavy brushwood jungle some miles from my camp, 
and I quite gave up all hopes of recovering my pet. Next day, how- 
ever, in tracking some antelope, we happened to cross the route taken 
by my servants, when we heard a familiar little yelp, and down from 
a tree we were under rushed c Pips.' He went to England with me 
after that, and was the delight of all the sailors on board, for his 
accomplishments were varied ; he could sit in a chair with a cap on 
his head, shoulder arms, ready, present, fire ! turn somersaults, 
jump, and do various other little tricks. 

" From watching him I observed many little habits belonging to 
these animals. He was excessively clean, and after eating would 



ORDER CARNIVORA III 

pick his teeth with his claws in a most absurd manner. I do not 
know whether a mongoose in a wild state will eat carrion, but he 
would not touch anything tainted, and, though very fond of freshly- 
cooked game, would turn up his nose at high partridge or grouse. 
He was very fond of eggs, and, holding them in his fore-paws, would 
crack a little hole at the small end, out of which he would suck the 
contents. He was a very good ratter, and also killed many snakes 
against which I pitted him. His way seemed to be to tease the snake 
into darting at him, when, with inconceivable rapidity, he would 
pounce on the reptile's head. He seemed to know instinctively 
which were the poisonous ones, and acted with corresponding caution. 
I tried him once with some sea-snakes (Hy drop his pelamoides), 
which are poisonous, but he could get no fight out of them, and 
crunched their heads off one after the other. I do not believe in the 
mongoose being proof against snake poison, or in the antidote theory. 
Their extreme agility prevents their being bitten, and the stiff rigid 
hair, which is erected at such times, and a thick loose skin, are an 
additional protection. I think it has been proved that if the poison 
of a snake is injected into the veins of a mongoose it proves fatal. 
The female produces from three to four young at a time. 

" The cry of the mongoose is a grating rnew, varied occasionally 
by a little querulous yelp, which seems to be given in an interrogative 
sort of way when searching for anything. When angry it growls 
most audibly for such a small beast, and this is generally accompanied 
by a bristling of the hair, especially of the tail." 

Sterndale was right in supposing that the mongoose is not proof 
against snake poison, but it appears to succumb less readily than 
other small animals. It eats fruit and insects as well as mammals, 
birds, and reptiles, and makes burrows to live in. It is not only 
almost the most familiar of our carnivores at large, but is very well 
known in England as a pet and ratter, and has been introduced into 
several West Indian and Pacific islands. 

RUDDY OR LONG-TAILED MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes smithi, jerdoni, monti- 
colus. Native : Konda yentana, Telegu ; Erimakiri-pilai^ Tamil ; 
Dito, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Indian Peninsula and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Fur rather coarse and rough, tail about as long 
as head and body, with a long black tip. Colour grizzled, either grey 
or reddish, tail before the tip red. Size variable, but generally 
considerably larger than common mongoose. 

This mongoose is mostly a forest animal. 



112 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

SMALL INDIAN OR GOLD-SPECKLED MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes auropunctatus. Native : 
Mush-i-khourmdy Persian ; Nul, Kashmiri. 

HABITAT. Mesopotamia east through Northern India to Upper 
Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our mongooses, and of sleek 
appearance ; it compares with the common species much as a stoat 
with a polecat. Colour grizzled-brown or grey, the grey specimens 
being found in the west, as in Sind, which is curious, because it is 
there that the reddish variety of the common mongoose most often 
occurs. Head and body about 1 1 in. long, tail about 8 in. 

This animal is as common in captivity as the common mongoose, 
and no doubt the single specimens of each which were obtained by 
Cantor in the Malay Peninsula many years ago had been imported ; 
but little is on record about it in the wild state. The editor, though 
familiar with it in the Calcutta bazaar and in dealers 7 shops in 
England, never saw it wild, though he has seen the common species 
at large in the Calcutta Zoo at Alipore. In captivity in a shop it 
spits at intruders like a cat, while the common Mongoose remains 
quiet. 

SMALL BURMESE MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes birmanicus. 

HABITAT. Cachar, Manipur, and Pegu, probably Lower Burma 
generally. 

DESCRIPTION. Much like the last, but dark grizzled brown, and 
larger, being intermediate in size between it and the common 
mongoose. Head and body about 14 in. long, tail about 9 in. 

NILGIEI BROWN MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes fuscus. 

HABITAT. Hills of Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. Size generally larger than Common Mongoose, 
fur not so coarse, dark grizzled brown, tail and feet especially dark. 
Head and body 18 in., tail nearly as long. 

Like the Ruddy Mongoose, this is a woodland form. 

CEYLON BROWN MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes fulvescens. Native : 
Ram-mugatea, Cingalese. 
HABITAT. Ceylon. 
DESCRIPTION. Averaging smaller than common mongoose, tail 



ORDER CARN1VORA 113 

proportionately shorter ; grizzled brown in colour, generally dark. 
Bare sole of hind-foot not extending to hock as it does in the common 
mongoose ; in this point it agrees with the last species, of which it 
seems to be simply a small southern race 




Stripe -necked Mongoose. 

STRIPE-NECKED MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes vitticollis. Native : Loko- 
mugatea, Ceylon. 

HABITAT, Ceylon and the hills of the west coast of India. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our mongooses, as big as a cat, 
and easily distinguished by the black stripe down each side of the 
neck ; the tail has also a long black tip as in the Long-tailed Mongoose, 
but is much shorter proportionally than in that species. Fur grizzly 
grey on the head and sometimes elsewhere, but the body, or at any 
rate the hind part, more often rusty-red without grizzling. Head and 
body over 20 in. long, but tail not more than 15 in. 

The Stripe-necked Mongoose is not uncommon on the Nilgiris, 
hunting by day, and sometimes at any rate in pairs. 



114 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Crab -eating Mongoose. 

CRAB-EATING MONGOOSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Herpestes urva, Urva cancrivora. 
Native : Arva, Nepalese. 

HABITAT. Himalayas east to South China, not ranging high up. 

DESCRIPTION. The most distinct of our mongooses, large and 
rather thick-set and badger-like, with long, coarse, rough iron-grey 
fur frosted with white tips ; but the most striking point is the white 
stripe along each side of the neck ; feet dark or even black. Head 
and body about 20 in. long, tail about i ft. 

Although distinctly approaching a badger in appearance, this 
mongoose is more like an otter in habits, as it feeds on frogs and 
crabs, and is somewhat aquatic. It has the skunk-like trick of 
ejecting a foul-smelling fluid from its large anal glands. 

The Dogs (CanidcB) are, as remarked in the introduction, easily 
identified by their resemblance to the common pariah dog ; other- 
wise they are not easy to describe, being remarkably well-proportioned 
animals, with no part of the body strikingly developed, though the 
bushy tail is noticeable. In their long muzzles they agree with the 
typical civets, and in having only four toes on the hind-foot,* and the 
first toe of the fore-foot reduced and elevated, with the cats ; but 
their claws, though strong, are blunt and non-retractile. Their legs 
are longer than those of nearly all our other carnivora, and they are 
good and enduring runners. They live on the ground, taking shelter 
in holes, and are not strictly diurnal or nocturnal. The larger kinds 
are more or less gregarious, the smaller, or foxes, solitary. They 

* Some domestic dogs often have the inner toe on the hind-foot (dew-claw) 
developed, but it is loosely attached and often double. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 



are very intelligent, and hold their own with man well on the whole. 
The common Wolf and Jackal are the most typical. 




Wolf. 

WOLF 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cants lupus, pallipes, laniger. 
Native : Bheria> Northern and Central India ; Bighana, Honddr, 
Bundelkhund ; Ldndgd, Gond and Dakhani ; Tola, Canarese ; 
Toralu, Telegu ; Gurg, Persian ; Khar ma, Brahui ; Ratnahun, 
Kashmir ; Chdngu, Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Northern parts of Northern Hemisphere, including 
India generally, but not Ceylon or Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. From a large to a medium (pariah)-sized dog in 
size, with a bushy tail, rather less than half length of head and body. 
The Indian race is of the smaller size and has a closer, thinner coat 
than the large wolves of the north, the Tibetan wolves being especially 
thick and woolly-coated. This variety is found in Ladak ; the 
European wolf in Gilgit, Sind, and Baluchistan. 



Il6 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Colour between grey and buff, more or less clouded with black, 
Indian specimens being browner than the western type, and the 
Tibetan form palest, though on the other hand it sometimes produces 
a black variety. Cubs are sooty-brown with a white patch on the 
chest. Eyes usually yellow, not brown as in most dogs, but the editor 
has seen brown eyes in three specimens, two from Arabia and one 
from Mesopotamia ; the small Indian race of wolf seems to spread 
through Western Asia into Egypt, where it is called a jackal, though 
Herodotus (who must have known our jackal, which extends through 
Asia Minor to Greece) called it a small wolf. At any rate, this small 
warm-climate wolf is the main ancestor of the tame dog, which in 
some specimens of the Alsatian breed closely resembles it. 

Head and body of the Indian race about a yard long, tail nearly 
half of this ; any wolf much over this size belongs to the typical race 
which has always been the wolf, and such specimens may be nearly 
4 ft. long in head and body. 

As Sterndale says: " Wolves vary greatly in colour. Everyone 
who has seen much of them will bear witness to this. ... In India 
one seldom hears of their attacking grown-up men. I remember an 
instance in which an old woman was a victim ; but hundreds of 
children are carried off annually especially in Central India and the 
North-West Provinces. 

" Stories have been related of wolves sparing and suckling young 
infants so carried off. ... The story of the nursing is not improb- 
able, for well-known instances have been recorded of thcferce, when 
deprived of their young, adopting young animals, even of those on 
whom they usually prey. Cats have been known to suckle young 
leverets." 

Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker has recorded in the Bombay Natural 
History Society's Journal a case of a leopardess carrying off and 
fostering a child, and the editor quite agrees with Sterndale as to 
the possibility of wild-animal fosterage of infants, which seem, 
according to all the accounts, to become hopelessly animal in nature. 

Although the wolf kills and eats its descendant the dog, like all 
other domestic animals it can overpower, fraternisation and inter- 
breeding between the two sometimes occur. 

Sterndale says also : " Wolves do, I think, get light-coloured with 
great age. I remember once having one brought into my camp for 
the usual reward by a couple of small boys, the elder not more than 
ten or twelve years of age, I should think. The beast was old and 
emaciated, and very light-coloured, and, doubtless impelled by 
hunger, attacked the children, as they were herding cattle, with a view 
to dining off them ; but the elder boy had a small axe, such as is 



ORDER CARNIVORA 117 

commonly carried by the Gonds, and, manfully standing his ground, 
split the wolf's skull with a blow a feat of which he was justly 
proud." 

In India the wolf, though often hunting in couples, appears not 
to associate in larger packs than six or eight probably family parties ; 
it is seldom found away from open dry country, and, according to 
Mr. A. A. Dunbar Brander, writing in The Field for 1927, p. 506, 
has become of late years very rare in many places where it was once 
common. There is nothing to regret in this, for the wolf is a pest 
to game as well as domestic stock, to say nothing of its being a 
continual danger to man, for it helps to spread hydrophobia as well 
as being a foe to children. 

JACKAL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cam's aureus. Native : Srigala, 
Sanskrit ; Gidhar, Shial, Hindi ; Kola, Mahratti ; Nari^ Canarese ; 
Nakka, Telegu ; Nerka, Gondi ; Shigal, Persian ; Amu, Bhotia ; 
Mye-khwe^ Burmese ; Naria, Cingalese ; Laraiya, Bundelkand ; 
Shal, Shdaj (for male and female), Kashmiri ; Toldgh, Baluchi ; 
Karincha, Ho Kol ; Hiydl^ Assamese ; Meshrong, Kachari ; Hijai^ 
Joksat) Mikiri ; Hian^ Naga. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Europe east to Burma, including all 
India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than an ordinary pariah dog and with 
shorter ears and tail, the latter bushy, but not more than about a 
third of the length of the head and body, which measure from 2 ft. 
to 2 ft. 6 in. in length. Colour tan, with a mixture of black above ; 
tip of tail black. Black, white, and tan varieties have been found. 

The wolf is sometimes as dark and red as the jackal, but its much 
larger size and proportionately longer tail and ears will always 
distinguish it. Sterndale says : " The jackal is one of our best 
known animals, both as a prowler and a scavenger, in which capacity 
he is useful, and as a disturber of our midnight rest by his diabolical 
yells, in which peculiarity he is to be looked upon as an unmitigated 
nuisance. 

" He is mischievous too occasionally, and will commit havoc 
amongst poultry and young kids and lambs, but, as a general rule, 
he is a harmless, timid creature, and when animal food fails he will 
take readily to vegetables. Indian corn seems to be one of the things 
chiefly affected by him ; the fruit of the wild ber-tree (Zizyphus 
jujubd) is another, as I have personally witnessed. In Ceylon he is 
said to devour large quantities of ripe coffee-berries ; the seeds, 
which pass through entire, are carefully gathered by the coolies, 



Il8 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

who get an extra fee for the labour, and are found. to be the best for 
germination, as the animal picks the finest fruit. According to 
Sykes he devastates the vineyards in the west of India, and is said to 
be partial to sugar-cane. The jackal is credited with digging corpses 
out of the shallow graves, and devouring bodies. I once came across 
the body of a child in a jungle village which had been unearthed by 
one. At Seeonee we had, at one time, a plague of mad jackals, 
which did much damage. Sir Emerson Tennant writes of a curious 
horn or excrescence which grows on the head of the jackal occasionally, 
which is regarded by the Singhalese as a potent charm, by the instru- 
mentality of which every wish can be realised, and stolen property 
will return of its own accord ! This horn, which is called Narri- 
comboo, is said to grow only on the head of the leader of the pack. 





Skull of Jackal, showing bony core of " horn," and detail of latter, 
showing through the hair. 

" The domestic dog is supposed to owe its origin to this species, as 
well as to the wolf, but all conjecture on this point can be but pure 
speculation. Certain it is that the pariahs about villages are strik- 
ingly like jackals, at least in many cases, and they will freely inter- 
breed." The hybrids are also fertile, at any rate with the dog, but 
the fact that the wolf sometimes barks like a pariah dog, while the 
jackal's howl, " Dead Hindoo, where, where where, where where, 
where 1 " is quite unlike any noise made by any dog, is one argument 
against any great infusion of jackal blood, to say nothing of the 
different proportions of tail and ears in the jackal from those of primi- 
tive dogs. 

The editor has, however, seen an Indian jackal at the Zoo run to 
and fro for some time with one hind leg tucked up, a common trick 
in small domestic dogs ; it would be interesting to know if this 
occurs in other canines. The " Pheal " cry of the jackal is apparently 
an alarm note, occasioned by the proximity of a tiger or leopard, the 
latter of which is certainly an enemy. The young are brought forth 
in some hole, and are four in number. 

Jackals do not range far up the Himalayas, except near hill 
stations, and are not so common east of Bengal as in India proper, 



ORDER GARNI VORA 119 

or found further south of Moulmein. They much affect human 
habitations, and in the 'nineties; at any rate, were common even in 
Calcutta ; the editor has bolted one from a drain under his front 
door in the official quarters of the Indian Museum. 

The so-called " Wild Dog " which, unlike the wolf and jackal, is 
not a near relative of the tame dog, has a genus (Cyon) of its own. 

DHOLE OR WILD DOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cyon dukhunensis, rutilans. 
Native : Jungli-kutta, Son-kutta, Ban-kutta, Ram-kutta, Hindi ; 
Kolsun, Kolasna, Kolsa and Kolasra, Mahratti ; Reza-kutd, Adavi- 
kutd, Telegu ; Shin-nai, Malabarese ; Eram-naiko, Gond ; Sakki- 
sarai y Hyderabad ; Ramhun, Kashmiri ; Siddaki, Hazi^ Phari, 
Tibetan ; Set-turn, Lepcha ; Paoho, Bhotia ; Bhaosa, Bhunsa, 
Budnsu, Himalayan tribes ; Taukhwe, Burmese ; Anjing-utan, 
Malay. 

HABITAT. Eastern Tibet through the Himalayas south-east 
through Burma and the Malay Peninsula to Borneo ; also Indian 
Peninsula, but not Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Varies in size and thickness in coat according 
to district, like the wolf, but is never so large as the bigger wolves, 
or so small as the jackal. Ears rounded, furry, tail more bushy than 
in the wolf and jackal ; hair between the toes. Not so smartly built 
as the above two, large-footed, and standing lower at the shoulders 
than the croup. Teeth fewer than in the typical dogs, the last lower 
grinders being absent ; teats more numerous than ten, which is the 
typical dog number. 

Colour bright rust-red (whence the name Red Dog) with a long 
purple-black tip to the brush, sometimes containing a more or less 
pronounced white tuft. Some specimens, however, are duller, even 
to brownish-grey, but the greater hairiness of the ears, feet, and tail 
will distinguish these from wolves. Pups are dark sooty-brown. 

Head and body about i yd. long in the Indian race, tail over 
i ft. ; in the Malayan race, which is also much slenderer and thinner- 
coated, only a little over 2\ ft. The Siberian Dhole, which is larger 
than the Indian, and pale fawn with very thick fur in winter, is said 
to be red in summer, and, though there are some small differences 
in the teeth, may really only bear the same relation to our Dhole as 
the Siberian Tiger, with its thick pale winter fur, does to the Indian 
animal. 

The wild dog inhabits forest, except in the Upper Indus Valley, 
where there is none ; it is more sociable than the wolf, uniting in 



120 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

packs of from six to twenty in number ; the females also sometimes 
at any rate breed in society, their litters being from two to six in 
number. Sterndale says : " During my residence in the Seeonee 
district from 1857 to 1864, I only came across them two or three 
times. . . . We once heard a very circumstantial account given of a 
fight, which took place near the station of Seeonee, between a tiger 
and a pack of these dogs, in which the latter were victors. They 
followed him about cautiously, avoiding too close a contact, and 
worried him for three successive days a statement which should be 
received with caution. We have, however, heard of them annoying 
a tiger to such an extent as to make him surrender to them the prey 
he had killed for himself. " 

Colonel J. C. Faunthorpe, writing in The Field for 1927 (p. 426) 
says that it is well known that these animals hunt and kill leopards, 
and expresses his belief in the native story that they kill tigers also. 
There is no doubt that they are excessively destructive to game, and 
sometimes to domestic animals, even buffaloes not being safe from 
them ; their method is apparently for some to tear the animal open 
from behind, while others make a frontal attack. A sambhar stag has 
been known to have nine inches of his windpipe torn out by a bite, and 
a Himalayan black bear to be baited till he was shot out of mercy by 
the witness of the struggle. Although hardly any instance is known 
of the Indian Dhole attacking man, it fears him little, and the large 
Siberian race is considered dangerous, so that there is every reason 
to keep down " red dogs " wherever found. They cannot even 
claim utility as scavengers, as they hunt for themselves, and soon 
clear game out of a district. They are very hard to tame, and rarely 
seen in captivity, but have bred in the London Zoo. 

Colonel Faunthorpe suggests that the rapid extermination of the 
cheetah is due to wild dogs, and, although it has been objected to 
this that the cheetah inhabits open country and the dhole forest, it 
must be remembered that the latter can at need hunt in the open, 
while the cheetah's speed is not lasting, and it is not so good a climber 
as the leopard. 

The Foxes are given a genus to themselves (Vulpes) by some 
naturalists ; and certainly our species at any rate stand apart from 
the previously mentioned canines in their shorter limbs and longer 
tail always at least half as long as the head and body and very 
bushy as also in their vertical pupil and moustaches well- developed 
as in cats, which they resemble in being solitary and to some extent 
in their hunting habits. They are always smaller than the jackal, 
and feed mostly on birds, small mammals, insects, and fruit. 



ORDER CARNIVORA 121 

INDIAN FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vulpes bengalensis. Native : 
Lomri, Lokri^ Hindi ; Kokri, Mahratti ; Khekar, Khikir, Behar ; 
Kheksiyal, Bengali ; Konk, Kemp-nari, Chandak-nari, Canarese ; 
Konka- or Gunta-nakka, Poti-nara, Telegu. 

HABITAT. India only, not ascending the hills, or frequenting 
forest. 

DESCRIPTION. Only about as large as a cat, with large ears and 
slender nose and limbs, which are more or less rusty, the rest of the 
fur being grey more or less tinged with reddish ; this tinge varies 
with locality and season, the colour being greyer, as well as * the fur 
longer, in the cold weather. Tip of brush black. Head and body 
about 20 in., tail about i ft. 

Sterndale says : " This fox is common, not only in open country, 
but even in cantonments and suburbs of cities. Hardly a night 
passes without its familiar little chattering bark in the Dalhousie 
Square Gardens, or on the Maidan [in Calcutta], being heard ; and 
few passengers running up and down our railway lines, who are on 
the look-out for birds and animals as the train whirls along, fail to 
see in the early morning our little grey friend sneaking home with 
his brush trailing behind him. ... It also, like the jackal, will eat 
fruit, such as melons, ber, etc., and herbs. It breeds in the spring, 
from February to April, and has four cubs. ... It is much coursed 
with greyhounds, and gives most amusing sport, doubling constantly 
till it gets near an earth ; but it has little or no smell, so the scent 
does not lie.' 7 When doubling, the fox raises its tail erect ; as its 
scentlessness and its numerous earths put it out of court for ordinary 
hunting, the jackal is the animal hunted with hounds in India. It is 
easily tamed, but said to be liable to hydrophobia. 

The Indian fox does little harm to poultry, its usual food being 
rats, lizards, land-crabs, insects, etc., and no doubt small birds. It 
may not be so common now as Sterndale found it, for the editor 
never once saw it in seven years in India, though he often noted 
jackals (always singly) when travelling by rail in the 'nineties. 

HOARY FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vulpes cana. Native : Poh, Baluchi ; 
Kurba-shdkdl, Persian. 

HABITAT. Baluchistan and South Afghanistan. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our canines, less than the Indian 
fox, but with a longer tail. Colour grey, including the outside of 
the ears, which may be dark brown in the Indian fox ; forehead and 



122 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

sometimes limbs reddish. Tip of brush black. Head and body 
1 8 in,, tail about 14 in. Only two specimens of this fox have" been 
obtained, at Gwadar and at Kandahar. 

DESERT FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vulpes leucopus. Native : Liimri, 
Lokri, Hindi ; Lombar, Baluchi ; Rubah^ Persian. 

HABITAT. South- Western Asia from Arabia east to the Punjab 
and Fatigarh, always in dry districts and desert. 

DESCRIPTION. More like the European than the Indian fox 
though not much bigger than the latter owing to the reddish-brown 
colour of the face, back, and white-tipped brush. Ears and under- 
parts dark, flanks pale grey, feet and front of hind-legs white. The 
upper parts are greyer in summer. The head and body are about 
20 in. long, and the tail a little over i ft. 

The Desert Fox is sometimes found on the same ground as the 
Indian fox, but is the only fox found in desert ; it feeds on gerbilles 
to a great extent, and is swifter than the Indian Fox. It seems to be 
little more than a dwarfed desert race of the common European fox. 

SMALL TIBETAN GREY FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vulpes ferrilatus. Native : Igur, 
Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Tibet, ranging to the Upper Sutlej Valley. 

DESCRIPTION. The most distinct of our foxes, owing to its short 
brush and ears, which last are only 2 in. long, as against 3 in. in 
the much smaller Desert Fox. Legs more thickly clad than in our 
other foxes. Colour buff above, including the ears ; sides iron- 
grey, as is the brush, which is white-tipped ; under-parts white. 
Length of head and body about 2 ft., tail not quite i ft. 

COMMON FOX OR HILL FOX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vulpes alopex, montanus. Native ; 
Luky Laash (male and female), Kashmiri ; Lomri^ Hindi ; Warnu, 
Nepalese ; Rubah, Persian. 

HABITAT. Northern Hemisphere ; in India only the Himalayas 
above 5,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our foxes, with a particularly fine 
white-tipped brush, and large black ears. The Indian race is not so 
red as the English fox, but rather a mixture of buff and iron-grey, 
but the size will always distinguish it, as the head and body are 2 ft. 
or more long, and the tail about 18 in. 



ORDER GET ACE A 123 

As in Europe, it is a poultry thief when it gets the chance ; but 
although it has been hunted in India, Jerdon mentioning that in 
1865 the 7th Hussars had a pack in Kashmir and killed many, it 
seldom lives on rideable ground, and so, as above remarked, the 
jackal takes its place as a beast of chase in the East. 

Like most other mammalian orders, the carnivora are divided 
into sub-orders ; those we have been dealing with belong to the sub- 
order Fissipedia, or pawed carnivores, while the other sub-order, 
Pinnipedia^ contains the flippered carnivores seals, sea-lions, and 
walruses. 

None of these are Indian, or ever have been so far as history goes ; 
but there is archaeological evidence that one may once have occurred 
and perhaps resided in our seas. This is the giant seal known as the 
sea-elephant (Mirounga proboscidea, angustirostris) of the southern 
oceans, which is found in the Pacific even north of the Tropic of 
Cancer. Indian ancient sculptures portray a monster, known as the 
jal-hathi or water-elephant, as a creature with elephant's fore- 
quarters and fish's tail, but with the trunk short, no ears, and the 
teeth of a carnivore. This is not bad as a rough idea of the sea- 
elephant, in which the male has a short trunk, and, as he reaches 
about 20 ft. in length, is a worthy rival of the land elephant. A 
seal's hind flippers look very like a fish-tail, and though the elephant's 
fore-feet are wrong, the carnivore dentition can hardly be imaginary. 
Moreover, two sea-fowl of the southern ocean have been met with 
in Indian seas a diving petrel by Sundevall a century ago, and by 
the editor in our time ; and the Cape Petrel or " Cape Pigeon " by 
Captain Legge in Ceylon. 

We shall see presently that strange sea-beasts have more than 
once occurred as single specimens off Indian coasts, just as the walrus 
does now and then off the British shores. 



ORDER CETACEA 

The remarkable order Cetacea^ or whales and porpoises, are a 
group with no near relations to other mammals, and so fish-like in 
form that they are commonly called fish. They can always be 
distinguished from true fish, however, by having the tail-fin hori- 
zontal instead of vertical, and by the absence of gill-openings. They 
differ from the other fish-like order, the Sirenia or sea-cows, by 
having thin lips with few or no bristles, while the blunt, full-lipped 
muzzle of the Sirenia is plentifully studded with short thick hairs. In 



124 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

both orders the hind-limbs are absent, and the fore-limbs fm*like, 
most so in the Cetacca. Most have a fin on the back. 

The nostrils, except in the great sperm-whale, arc on the top of 
the head, forming the so-called blow-hole, from which the animal 
in large species snorts a jet of spray (no doubt mucus) when it comes 
up to breathe or blow. It is usually attributed to condensation of 
the breath, natural in the cold climates in which the beasts are 
generally met with, but the editor has seen it in Indian waters. 

The Cetacea, breathing air as they do, ought to be able to live 
if they run aground, but they do not survive long in such a case, as 
their great weight compresses their expansible chests so that they die 
from slow suffocation, the weak- walled expansible thorax being 
necessitated by their long stay under water, which requires a deep 
breath to be taken. They are naked-skinned, animal-feeders, and 
not prolific, having only one or two young at a birth, and are never 
under i yd. long, while the larger species are unrivalled for size in 
the animal kingdom. They hardly come into practical zoological 
politics in India, being mostly marine and rare, so here a selection 
will be made, and only familiar or very striking species dealt with. 

The order falls into two sub-orders, the Whalebone Whales 
(Mystacocete), which have no teeth, but ranges of the horny substance 
incorrectly called whalebone, used to strain food from the water, 
and the Toothed Whales (Denticete), which have teeth and no whale- 
bone. Three families of the latter occur with us. 

The Sperm-Whales (Physeterida) have teeth only in the lower 
jaw ; the two known species are extremely different, so that they are 
well placed in different genera. 

GKEAT SPERM-WHALE OR CACHALOT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Physeter macrocephahisi 

HABITAT. Nearly all seas, chiefly the warmer ones ; once a 
common object of pursuit in our area, but only a single specimen 
has been captured in recent times, stranded at Madras. 

DESCRIPTION. Distinguished from all other cetaceans by the 
huge square-cut muzzle, with the blow-hole at its tip, so that the 
" spout " is directed forward. Lower jaw shorter than upper, 
narrow, with about fifty large teeth. No back-fin, but a hump in 
its place. Colour black. Male about 20 yds. long, female about 
half that length ; the Madras specimen was about 8 yds. 

The Sperm-whale goes in herds, and feeds chiefly on cuttlefish ? 
often of huge size. Old males are solitary, and seem often to be 
" rogues/ 7 attacking ships, which have sometimes been sunk by 



ORDER CETACEA 



125 



them. The valuable oil spermaceti is contained in the " case " or 
upper part of the muzzle, the actual upper jaw being long and beak- 
like in the skeleton. 

PIGMY SPERM-WHALE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cogia breviceps, Euphysetes simus. 
Native : Wonga y Telegu. 

HABITAT. Recorded from North Pacific, Southern Ocean, and 
Indian seas. 

DESCRIPTION. -Like a large dolphin or porpoise, with a well- 
developed back-fin ; head and muzzle of ordinary form and moderate 
size, bluntly pointed, but differing much from a porpoise's by having 
the mouth small and some distance back of the snout. About two 
dozen slender pointed teeth in the lower jaw. Colour black, size 
up to 10 ft. or more. Blow-hole on top of the head. 

A specimen was once obtained at Vizagapatam ; nothing is 
known of the habits. The name " Snub-nosed Cachalot/' some- 
times applied to this species, is absurd ; it is a Cachalot all right, 
but the nose is not snub, the muzzle being like that of an average 
fish -or rather a shark in particular, owing to the backward situation 
of the mouth. 

The river dolphins (Platanistida) are a very small family of 
cetaceans all of which inhabit fresh water, and never attain 
a very large size. The characters which distinguish our only species 
from the more typical dolphins (some of which also inhabit fresh 
water) will be given in its description. 

SUSTJ OR GANGETIC DOLPHIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Platanista gangetica. Native : 
Sus, Hindi ; Stistik, Sishuk, Bengali ; Sisumar, Sanscrit ; 
Bhulan, Sunsar y Sindi ; Hiho, Se/io, Assamese ; Huh, Cachar and 
Sylhet. 

HABITAT. Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra, following their, 
larger tributaries nearly up to the hills, and descending into their 
estuaries, but not entering the sea. 

DESCRIPTION. Distinguished from other cetaceans by having 
the eye, which is small in all of them, so reduced as to be hardly 
noticeable, and by the square-cut flippers, which are nearly triangular ; 
a low ridge in place of back-fin ; head low and rounded, neck dis- 
tinctly indicated ; jaws long and narrow, with about sixty teeth, 
longer in front than behind, unlike our other cetaceans. Colour 
slate-colour or black. Length about 7 ft., but said to run up to 



126 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



12 ft. ; the female is considerably larger than the male, which is* also 
thicker-set, with a shorter muzzle, a large female's skull measuring 
over 7 in. more than a large male's. 

The Susu a name preferable to Gangetic Dolphin, as the animal 
is very different from typical dolphins, and not confined to the Ganges 
is one of the most familiar Indian water-animals. It feeds on 
prawns and fish, and is solitary ; it may be seen in the Hooghly off 
Calcutta, though seldom noticed except in the cold weather, when 
it often jumps out of the water. Sterndale says : " Dr. Anderson 
had one in captivity for ten days, and carefully watched its respira- 




Susu or Gangetic Dolphin, 

tions. ' The blow-hole opened whenever it reached the surface of 
the water. The characteristic expiratory sound was produced, and 
so rapid was the inspiration that the blow-hole seemed to close 
immediately after the expiratory act.' He states that c the respira- 
tions were tolerably frequent, occurring at intervals of about one-half 
or three-quarters of a minute, and the whole act did riot take more 
than a few seconds for its fulfilment.' But it is probable that in a 
free state and in perfect health the animal remains longer under 
water. It has certainly been longer on several occasions when I 
have watched for the reappearance of one in the river." The period 
of gestation is said to be eight or nine months, and usually only one 
young one at a time is born, between April and July. The young are 
sometimes caught with their mothers, and are said to cling by the 
mouth to the base of the parent's flipper. 



ORDER GET ACE A 127 

The flesh of the Susu is eaten by many castes of natives, some of 
whom compare it to venison and others to turtle. The oil is also 
useful as an embrocation and illuminant. The creature is quite 
blind, the eye being imperfectly developed. The teeth undergo 
great changes, being pointed in youth and becoming very blunt and 
broad-rooted as the animal becomes aged. 

The typical Dolphins (DelphinidcB) comprise most of the 
cetaceans ; all our species have teeth of even height in both jaws, 
pointed flippers, and are of moderate size ; the form of the head 
varies much. 

In the Porpoises proper (a name often wrongly given to dolphins 
generally) there is no projecting beak, and our species has no back-fin. 

LITTLE PORPOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Phoc&na phoc&noides. Native : 
Mo lagan, Tamil ; Bhulga, Mahratti. 

HABITAT. Indian Ocean, but only inshore. 

DESCRIPTION. Our smallest cetacean, measuring about 4 ft, ; 
forehead high and bulging ; no projection of the muzzle and no back- 
fin, but a long triangular patch of warts on the back. Teeth about 
seventy-two, small, broad lengthways and sharp-edged. Colour 
black, with light patches about the mouth. 

The Little Porpoise feeds on prawns, cuttlefish and true fish, and 
is generally solitary, though the young is often found with the mother. 
It haunts shallow water in estuaries and back-waters, and is sluggish, 
not jumping as dolphins do, but " rolling " like the common porpoise 
of our home waters. 

RIVER PORPOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Orcella brevirostris, fluminalis. 
Native : Lomba-lomba^ Malay. 

HABITAT. Tidal water of rivers running into Bay of Bengal ; 
fresh water of Irrawaddy to a little above Bhamo ; Singapore and 
Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. High-browed and round-headed, without pro- 
jection of muzzle, as in the Little Porpoise, but possessing a back-fin 
and much larger, about 7 ft. long. Colour dark slate in the Indian 
form, paler in the Burmese, which is also whitish and streaked on the 
under-parts. Teeth conical, about sixty in number. 

Anderson, and Sterndale following him, treat the Indian and 
Burmese races as distinct ; but Mr. Oldfield Thomas unites them 
no doubt rightly, as naturalists, specialists in particular, seldom err 



128 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



on the side of " lumping " species. These large river porpoises feed 
on fish, and are gregarious and playful like sea dolphins. They have 
a curious habit of rearing up cind belching water out of their mouths, 
and also of standing up in the water, apparently a pairing gesture. 




Indian Dolphins in outline, (i) Susu ; (2) River Porpoise ; (3) Elliot's Dolphin ; 
(4) Speckled Dolphin ; (5) Common Dolphin. 

The typical Dolphins (Steno, Delphinus) have low rounded 
typical foreheads, long, flat, beak-like jaws furnished all along with 
many narrow pointed teeth, and well-developed back-fins. They arc 
marine, and very swift and lively. 



PLUMBEOUS DOLPHIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Steno plumbeus. Native : La- 
maingj Burmese. 

HABITAT.- Indian Ocean. 

DESCRIPTION. About 8 ft. long ; lead-colour, with the lower 
jaw white ; jaws very long. 

The Plumbeous or Lead-coloured Dolphin is said to be common 
in Burmese estuaries. 



ORDER CETACEA 129 

ELLIOT'S DOLPHIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Steno perniger, gadamu. Native : 
Gadamu, Telegu. 

HABITAT. Indian Ocean east to Australia. 

DESCRIPTION. Length about 7 ft. ; colour dark slate above, 
shading into pale grey below. 

SPECKLED DOLPHIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Steno lentiginosus. Native : Bolla- 
gadimij Telegu. 

HABITAT. Seas around India. 

DESCRIPTION. About 8 ft. long, pale slate speckled with black 
and white. 

SPOT-BELLIED DOLPHIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Steno maculiventer. Native : 
Suvva, Telegu. 

HABITAT. Madras coast, 

DESCRIPTION. About 7 ft. long, black above, grey below with 
dark spots. 

COMMON DOLPHIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Delphinus delphis^ pomeegra. 
Native : Pomigra, Tamil. 

HABITAT. Warm and temperate seas generally. 

DESCRIPTION. A very elegant clipper-built dolphin, slim-bodied, 
with long beak and flippers. About 7 ft. long, dark slate above, 
white below, more or less buff or grey on the flanks. 

The common dolphin is a very swift and playful animal, delighting 
to accompany ships and sport around them, jumping out of the water 
and even springing up and turning on its back before the bows. The 
movements of its tail in swimming are so rapid that the eye cannot 
follow them at any rate that has been the editor's experience. 
Dolphins go in schools, jumping one after the other. 

The only other member of the Dolphin family that need be 
specially noticed here is large enough to be called a whale ; it has 
only once occurred with us, when a shoal was stranded. 

INDIAN PILOT WHALE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Globicephalus indicus. 
HABITAT. Only known from the Calcutta Salt Lake. 
DESCRIPTION. About 14 ft. long ; head high and rounded, no 

K 



130 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

beak ; a long low back-fin. Teeth about thirty only, confined to 
the front half of the jaws. Colour slaty-black. 

All that is known about this species, which is closely allied to the 
well-known European Ca'ing Whale or " Blackfish " (Globicephalus 
melas), is that a large shoal was stranded in July, 1852, in the Salt- 
water Lake, from which Blyth got two specimens. 

The well-known Grampus or " Killer- whale " (Orca gladiator), 
found in all seas, and celebrated for its attacks on other cetaceans, is 
believed to occur in Indian waters. It is the largest of dolphins, 
30 ft. long, with a very high conspicuous back-fin, and coloured 
black above and white below, with white head-patches. 

The Whalebone Whales all belong to one family (Balcenidce) and 
all are large, measuring from 20 to 100 ft. 

The horny plates of " whalebone " or baleen which form a row 
on each side of the upper jaw are set edgeways, and their inner sides 
are frayed out into bristles, so that the roof of the mouth looks as if 
covered with hair. The two branches of the lower jaw together 
form a Gothic arch ; they are only joined by ligament at the tip, 
where there is a strong bony union in the toothed whales, this junction 
in the great Sperm Whale and the Susu extending halfway down 
the jaw, which is thus narrow for a long way. 

The lower jaw with its loose flooring forms a huge spoon, like 
that of the pelican when feeding ; only the bird's lower jaw is only 
spoon-like at that time, and the whale's is permanently expanded; 

These whales feed like ducks on a huge scale, taking in gigantic 
mouthfuls of water swarming with small animal life, and straining 
off this water through the baleen plates, while its floating population 
is stranded on the tongue. Their throats are narrow, and they do 
not take prey larger than dogfish, and often feed on quite minute 
creatures. The whale that swallowed Jonah would have been the 
wide-throated Cachalot an instance of a man being swallowed by 
this whale and escaping with his life by being thrown up occurred 
during the last century. 

The Whalebone Whales certainly known from Indian seas all 
belong to the genus known as Rorquals, Finners, or Finbacks 
(Bal&nopterd) \ they are long slim whales with pleated throats, 
comparatively short baleen plates, and a small fin on the hinder part 
of the back. When the " Right Whales " (Bafana), which have 
more baleen and blubber, and the Cachalot, were common, Rorquals 
were little hunted, but now they are the mainstay of the whaling 



ORDER CETACEA 



that goes on, steam-whalers and better harpoon-guns having 
it possible to attack these swift animals safely, which was 
done in Sterndale's time. 

Whales seem to have been 
common in Blyth's time, about 
the middle of last century. The 
Rev. H. Baker of Alleppi wrote 
to him : u Whales are very 
common on the coast. American 
ships, and occasionally a 
Swedish one, call at Cochin for 
stores during their cruises for 
them ; but no English whalers 
ever come here that I have 
heard of." Sterndale says : " I 
wonder at any whaling vessels 
coming out of their way after 
this species, for I have always 
heard from whalers that the 
finback is not worth hunting. 
It is possible that in cruising 
after sperms they may go a 
little out of their way to take 
a finback or two. . . . They 
are not particularly shy, and 
will sometimes follow a vessel 
closely for days. ... I myself 
was in a sailing vessel going 
about five or six knots, when 
a whale played about for a 
time, and then rose and 
spouted just under the bow, 
covering the forecastle with 
spray. The captain, who was 
standing by me, quite expected 
a shock, and exclaimed, ' Look 
out! hold on.'" This would 
be the vertical spout of a whale- 
bone whale the sperm's for- 
ward " blow " would have been 
flung clear, probably. 



made 
rarely 




1 

r 



132 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

GREAT RORQUAL OR BLUE WHALE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Balcenoptera sibbaldi, indica. 

HABITAT. All seas. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest animal known, from 80 to 100 ft. 
in length ; colour slate, spotted with white on breast, under-parts 
sometimes yellow, whence the name "sulphur-bottom" sometimes 
used. Flippers white inside and edged with white below. 

Any whale over 80 ft. long would be of this species, and two 
or three of such have been recorded as stranded ; the lower jaw of 
one from Amherst Island, Arakan, is preserved in the Indian Museum, 
Calcutta, where in the editor's time it was set up as an arch over the 
main doorway of the Mammal Gallery, inside. This specimen was 
said to be 84 ft. long, and the jaw is nearly 21 ft. ; a few other bones 
were preserved. 

This monster feeds on particularly small prey, small Crustacea, 
etc. It is supposed to be migratory, but stray specimens may occur 
in Indian seas in summer, just as migratory birds sometimes occur 
with us at that time. 

PIKE WHALE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Baltznoptera rostrata^ edeni. 

HABITAT. All seas. 

DESCRIPTION. Small for a whalebone whale, about 25 to 33 ft. 
Black, with the under-parts, inside of flippers, under-side of tail, and 
a band across outside of flippers, white. There is some doubt, 
however, as to whether the only example obtained in Indian seas 
was not a Sei- whale (Balcenoptera borealis), which runs up to 40 ft. 
and is less white below, but spotted with white above, and has the 
fins black on both sides. 

This Indian example, stranded in the Sittoung estuary, was 
37 ft. long ; its skull and some other bones are in the Indian Museum. 

These smaller whales feed more on fish than do the giant species. 

In dealing with cetaceans it is well to remember Blanford's advice 
about dolphins, that " skins are difficult to preserve and of no great 
use in identification ; a good sketch to scale and a skeleton are 
better." No one probably has ever tried to preserve the skin of one 
of the great whales it would be literally " too large an order " 
altogether. As the colours are only or chiefly black, grey, and 
white, a photograph is a good realistic record. 



ORDER SIRENIA 133 

ORDER SIRENIA 

The vegetable-feeding Sirenia^ or Sea-cows, are really as different 
from the Cetaceans as are the hoofed mammals from the carnivores, 
though also fish-like in form with the exception of the horizontal 
set of the tail-fin. There are very few of them, and only one family 
(Manatidce), and the characters of ours may be given in the description 
of the species. 




Dugong. 

DUGONG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Halicore dugong. Native : Muda 
ura> Singhalese ; Duyong^ Malay. 

HABITAT. Warmer parts of Indian Ocean. 

DESCRIPTION. Distinguished from any of our sea mammals by 
the oval flippers, round, truncated, bristly snout, and nostrils situated 
between the eyes and end of muzzle. No back-fin. Colour slaty. 
Teats of female situated under the flippers, while in Cetacea they are 
in grooves where the groin would be if the animals had hind legs. 

Skull very unlike a cetacean's, Roman-nosed like a flamingo's bill, 
with two tusks in the upper jaw, very deeply rooted, but not projecting 
in the female, and only slightly in the male ; grinders broad and flat- 
topped, not in the least like cetacean teeth. Length from about 6 ft. 
to 9 ft. or perhaps even more. 

The dugong is purely a coast animal, avoiding both the open 
sea and fresh water. It feeds on seaweed, and used to be found in 
herds, but has now been much reduced by wasteful hunting, and 
badly needs protection, as it is neither active nor intelligent, and is 
a most useful animal, its flesh being as good as pork and its fat 



134 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

supplying the best of oil. It is said that the nursing female holds 
her young to the breast with her flipper, and some at any rate of the 




Dugong nursing young. 

mermaid legends are no doubt traceable to this animal, northerners 
also getting their ideas of sea-folk from the walrus. 



ORDER RODENTIA 

With the rodents we come again to mammals with ordinary 
paws, and our species are at once distinguished from all our other 
mammals of any shape by the two great incisors in each jaw, followed 
by a long toothless gap. Shrews, as we have seen, much resemble 
the commonest type of rodents rats and mice even to having two 
conspicuously large teeth in front of each jaw ; but in them these 
teeth are immediately followed by others, and they are, besides, 
pointed, whereas those of rodents are chisel-tipped. 

These great incisors of the rodents are rootless and ever-growing 
in adaptation to their hard use in the gnawing so characteristic of 
these animals, and if one be lost or broken its fellow in the other jaw, 
having nothing to bite against and wear it down, develops into a 
tusk-like monstrosity, and often causes death. 

The grinders are broad and adapted for chewing vegetable food, 
which is the mainstay of these gnawers, but many, perhaps most, 
have a strong omnivorous tendency too well seen in rats and take 
animal food of some kind or other. The mouth is always small, and 



ORDER RODENTIA 



135 



situated well back of the end of the muzzle, but not nearly so much 
so as in the insectivores. The moustaches are very well developed. 

Rodents are mostly very small, nocturnal, and prolific, but there 
are numerous exceptions to these rules. They are the most numerous 
in species of our mammals, and generally abundant individually ; 
only the more conspicuous species will be noticed here. 

They are divided into two sub-orders : the Simplicidentata, to 
which the vast majority 
belong, these having 
two incisors only in 
each jaw ; and the 
DupUcidentata, includ- 
ing only the Hares and 
Pikas, in which there 
are a pair of small in- 
cisors in the upper jaw 
situated behind the 
large ones and there- 
fore not to be seen 
unless looked for. As, 
however, the Hares are 
all much like their 
relative the common 
Rabbit, and the Pikas 
like soft-furred Guinea- 




Skull of Rodent (Hare) showing whole of incisors. 



pigs or tailless Rats, it is not necessary minutely to examine their 
teeth to identify them. 

Of the Simplicidentata we have five families, all likewise very 
easy to distinguish. They are : 

The Squirrels (SduridcR), animals with bushy tails ; 

The Jerboas (Dipodidcz), kangaroo-like animals with very long 
hind legs ; 

The Rats and Mice (MuridcB), the general form of which is familiar 
to every one ; 

The Mole-Rats (Spalacidce), with thick, heavy, sausage-shaped 
bodies ; and 

The Porcupines (Hystridda), distinguished by their spines. 

All of them have a more or less rabbit-like muzzle, the shape of 
the head not varying as we have seen it does in the Carnivores, Bats, 
and Primates, 



The Squirrels are the most familiar of our rodents, as they are 
not only common but diurnal as a rule ; they are usually slim 



136 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

climbers, but the family also includes the Marmots, which are thigk- 
set burro wers, though also noticeably bushy-tailed in our species. 
They have five toes on all feet, though the first toe on the forefoot is 
a mere stump. 

The typical squirrels (Sciurus) are at once recognisable by their 
general resemblance to the most familiar of our mammals, the common 
little striped squirrel ; but they are found in three sizes, small species 
like that above-mentioned, medium-sized ones, and large ones 
approaching cats in size, which will be treated first. These last are all 
forest animals, living high up in the trees, and seldom coming to the 
ground. Squirrels feed mainly on fruit, nuts, and shoots, and build 
nests in trees, 

LARGE INDIAN SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus indicus, maximus. Native : 
Kat-berral, Bengali ; Karat, Rasu, Ratuphar, Jangli gilheri, Hindi ; 
Kondeng, Kol ; Per-warsti, Gondi ; Bet udata, Telegu ; Shekra, 
Mahratti ; Kes annaht, Canarese. 

HABITAT. Indian Peninsula east to Manipur. 

DESCRIPTION. A very large squirrel with tufted ears, snub nose, 
and tail about as long as head and body. Colour maroon-red 
almost crimson or red and black ; underparts, face, paws, and a 
band in front of the ears, buff, and often the forelegs. Tail red and 
buff, red, black, and buff, or all black. Nose flesh-coloured and 
eyes light brown, not very dark brown as in most rodents. Head 
and body about 17 in. long the reddest variety is the smallest. 

The large red squirrel is an inmate of large forests, living and 
nesting high up, and having a loud cackling cry. Sterndale saw a 
tame one jump 20 ft. He says : " This squirrel was tolerably 
common in the forests of Seeonee, and we had one or two in confine- 
ment. One belonging to my brother-in-law was so tame as to allow 
any amount of bullying by his children, who used to pull it about 
as though it were a puppy or kitten, but I have known others to bite 
severely and resent any freedom/' It is often exported. 

LARGE MALAY SQUIRREL OR BLACK HILL SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus bicolor, giganteus. Native : 
Shingsham, Bhotia ; Le-hyuk, Satheu, Lepcha ; Chingkrdwah, 
Malay ; Leng-thek, Arakan ; Sheng, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Himalayas from Nepal east to Burma, Siam, and the 
Malay countries. 

DESCRIPTION. A little smaller than the last species, but with a 
longer tail, definitely exceeding the head and body. Ears tufted or 



ORDER RODENTIA 



137 



plain. Colour black to brown above, including the face, tail, and 
limbs, buff below ; the fur is blackest when newly grown, and some- 
times there is in Burmese specimens a pale saddle-mark. Eyes and 
nose dark. 

There is a great deal of variation in colour in this fine squirrel, 

if. 




Large Indian Squirrel. 

some being grizzled or even silvered fawn-colour, but the large size 
and particularly long tail will always distinguish it. It lives in 
pairs as a rule, has a loud, harsh, cackling cry, and eats eggs and 
insects as well as vegetable food. 

LARGE GRIZZLED INDIAN SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus macrurus. Native : Rukiya, 
Dandolena, Singalese ; Peria-anathan, Tamil. 



138 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our three large squirrels, but 
still a big animal as squirrels go, about 14 in. in length of head and 
body, with tail about the same. Ears plain or very little tufted. 
Colour usually grizzly-grey above or on the tail, but sometimes 
black ; sides of head, forearms, a band across the crown, and under- 
parts pale, buff or dirty white, but toes black. The black-backed 
variety is confined to high elevations in Ceylon. 

The middle-sized squirrels are a very confusing lot of animals, 
being not only variable but inclined to run into each other, so all that 
can be done here in their case and in that of the small striped species 
is to describe certain forms which in view of their peculiar colouring 
or their commonness are likely to attract notice. 

ORANGE-BELLIED HILL SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus locria. Native : Lokriah, 
Nepalese ; Zkamo, Bhotia ; Kalli, Kalli tingdong, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Himalayas of Nepal and Sikkim, east through 
Assam hills to Arakan, at fairly high elevations, up to 8,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. About as big as a rat, with tail shorter than 
head and body, and rather long narrow muzzle. Colour speckled 
brown above, some shade of orange or rust-red below. 

PALL AS 'S SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus erythraeus. Native : 
Kherwa, Manipuri. 

HABITAT. Assam south to Chittagong and east to Upper 
Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. About the same size as the last, but with the tail 
longer than head and body. Colour very variable, Blanford describing 
no less than five varieties. Speaking of it as a whole, the upper 
parts are olive or brown to nearly black, the under-parts bay or chest- 
nut, the end of the tail and the feet more or less red or, in dark forms, 
black. 

ANDERSON'S STRIPE-BELLIED SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus quinqtiestriatus* 

HABITAT. Kakhyen Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. About 9 in. in length of head and body and of 
tail, and noticeable for the broad black and white stripes of the under- 
parts, unique among our squirrels ; upper-parts speckled brown. 



ORDER RODENTIA 139 

HOARY-BELLIED HILL SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus locroides. 

HABITAT. Lower levels of the Himalayas from Nepal, extending 
eastwards and southwards to Arakan, Upper Burma, Eastern 
Bengal, and Preparis Island. 

DESCRIPTION. Somewhat like the Orange-bellied Hill Squirrel, 
but with a longer tail and shorter muzzle, and not so richly coloured, 
speckled brown above, buff, fawn, or greyish below. The black 
squirrel of Sylhet and Cachar seems to be a melanistic form of this 
species. 

This squirrel is particularly fond of chestnuts, and mostly to be 
seen when they ripen. 

IRRAWADDY SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus pygerythrus. 

HABITAT. -Irrawaddy Valley. 

DESCRIPTION. Speckled brown or grey above, more or less rich 
buff below ; tip of tail black. Blanford thinks that Phayre's or the 
Laterally-banded Squirrel (S. phayrei) of Martaban passes into this, 
as the black bands along the sides which distinguish it vary in 
distinctness. 

GOLDEN-BACKED SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES, Scientific : Sciurus caniceps. 

HABITAT. Moulmein to Malay Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. A very distinct species owing to its broad feet 
with warts between the pads and to (in some cases) the orange colour 
of the back. This, however, is seasonal, being only seen in the cold 
weather, and the southern variety never has it. The general colour 
is olive above, grey below, and often on the head, southern specimens 
being darker, and Malayan ones also reddish along the sides. 

BLACK-BACKED SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus atridorsalis. 

HABITAT. Lower Pegu and Upper Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. Another form with broad feet and generally 
distinct back-coloration, in this case black ; but with no warts between 
the sole-pads. The striking black back-patch is not known to be 
seasonal, and the general colouring is very variable, greyish or reddish- 
brown, with the under-parts bay to buff. Head and body about 
8 in., as in the last. This squirrel frequents hedges and thickets, 
and has a low cackling cry 



140 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

BAY SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus ferrugineus. 

HABITAT. Burma and Siam. 

DESCRIPTION. Larger than the other medium-sized squirrels, 
the head and body sometimes reaching 10 in., and the tail consider- 
ably exceeding this. Colour chestnut to bay all over, with the 
exception of the tip of the tail, which may be white. 

The rest of our squirrels are all little striped animals, of which 
there are fewer than of the medium-sized ones ; the most noticeable of 
them will be here characterised. None are as much as 8 in. long 
in length of head and body. 

COMMON STRIPED SQUIRREL OR PALM SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus palmarum. Native : 
Gilehri, Hindi ; Berdl, Lakhi, Bengali ; Khadi, Mahratti ; Alalu, 
Canarese ; Vodata, Telegu ; Urta, Wadars ; Chitta Anathan, 
Tamil ; Lena, Cingalese ; " Tree-rat " of some British soldiers. 

HABITAT. India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Brown of some shade, with three cream-coloured 
stripes all down the back ; whitish below, tail grizzled. Head and 
body about 6 in. long, tail a little longer. The editor has seen two 
black specimens. 

" This beautiful little animal/ ' says Sterndale, " is well known to 
almost all who have lived in India, and it is one of the most engaging 
and cheerful of all the frequenters of our Mofussil bungalows, although 
I have heard the* poor little creature abused by some in unmeasured 
terms as a nuisance on account of its piercing voice. - 1 confess to 
liking even jts shrill chatter, but then I am not easily put out by 
noises. ... I can, however, quite imagine the irritation the sharp 
chirrup-chirrup of this little squirrel would cause to an invalid, for 
there is something particularly ear-piercing about it ; but their 
prettiness and familiarity make up in great measure for their noisi- 
ness. They are certainly a nuisance in a garden, and I rather doiibt 
whether they are of any use, as McMaster says, ' in destroying many 
insects, especially white ants, and beetles, both in their perfect and 
larval state/ etc. He adds : ' They are said to destroy the eggs of 
small birds, but I have never observed this myself.' I should also 
doubt this, were it not that the European squirrel is accused of the 
same thing. . . . Our so-called palm squirrel (though it does not 
affect palms any more than other trees) builds a ragged sort of npst 
of any fibrous matter, without much attempt at concealment ; and 
I have known it carry off bits of lace and strips of muslin and skeins 



ORDER RODENTIA 141 

of wool from a lady's work-box for its house-building purposes. 
The skins of this species nicely cured make very pretty slippers. 
They are very easily tamed, and often fall victims to their temerity, 
in venturing unknown into their owner's pockets, boxes, boots, etc. 
One I have now is very fond of a mess of parched rise and milk. It 
sleeps rolled up in a ball, not on its side, but with its head bent down 
between its legs." 

Sterndale, it will be noticed, speaks of this squirrel as frequenting 
Mofussil bungalows, but in the editor's time at any rate it frequented 
towns, being common in open spaces in Calcutta, such as the Maidan, 
and was always present in the grounds of the Indian Museum there 
was a nest under the eaves of his quarters. He has also seen it 
nibbling at the earthen galleries of white ants, and so has no doubt 
that McMaster was right about its insectivorous propensities. 

It is, except in Sind and Baluchistan, where it is scarce, about 
the most familiar of our mammals, and is especially attached to 
human habitations and cultivation, not being seen in forest. In the 
People's Park at Madras it fairly swarmed when the editor visited 
that place. Captive specimens were always to be seen in the Calcutta 
markets, but it does not seem common in the home animal trade. 

JUNGLE STRIPED SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus tristriatus. Native : Same 
as for the common striped species, and Anan in Malabarese. 

HABITAT. From Sikkim to South India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the last, but larger, darker in ground colour 
and with narrower and shorter pale stripes. Head also broader and 
muzzle longer. 

The Jungle Striped Squirrel is a forest animal, rarely frequenting 
houses, and only where the common striped species does not occur, 
besides not showing the same familiarity. Blyth and Jerdon agree 
in crediting it with a different and much less shrill voice, which is 
some excuse for keeping it distinct, though Blanford/who does so, 
suggests that it is the " wild " parent of the common striped squirrel, 
which may have become a parasite of man like rats and mice. 

The case would be even more like that of the Brown and Grey 
Musk-shrews, but there the house form is larger as well as lighter. 
He also suggests that Layard's Striped Squirrel (Sciurus layardi) of 
the Ceylon and Travancore hill-forests may also be a variety of the 
present species ; it is larger and darker still, with the central spinal 
stripe buff, and the side ones darker and less well marked. At any 
rate all these three are closely related, but Blanford doubts if th 
next is really near them. 



142 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DUSKY STRIPED SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus sublineatus. 

HABITAT. Hill-forests of Ceylon and Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller, duller, and less distinctly marked than 
any of the first striped group, the back-stripes being all short, narrow, 
and indistinct. 

HIMALAYAN STRIPED SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus maclellandii. 

HABITAT. South-East Asia from Sikkim to China and south to 
Cochin China. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest and shortest-tailed of the striped 
squirrels, and the only one with ear-tufts, which are white ; colour 
brown with a black line down the back and two or four pale stripes. 

This is not only a high-forest animal, but seldom leaves the trees. 

BERDMORE'S SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciurus berdmorei. 

HABITAT. Martaban to Cochin China, including the Mergui 
Archipelago. 

DESCRIPTION. The longest-headed of the striped squirrels, and 
larger than most ; brown above, with four cream stripes, white 
below. 

According to Blyth, this species is a true ground-squirrel, not 
frequenting trees ; and it is said to frequent cultivated ground like 
the common striped squirrel. 

The flying-squirrels are distinguished by the broad flounce of 
furry skin which extends along their flanks, from the wrist, where 
it is supported by a gristly spur or gaff, to the hind foot ; this acts as 
a parachute to support them in the great leaps they make, and is 
sometimes more or less supplemented by a leg-web, which is, how- 
ever, never so well developed as in most bats and in the Cobego. 
Like that animal, they are nocturnal, but must come out by day at 
times, as some frequently fall victims to the Golden Eagle. Mr. C. H. 
Donald has suggested in the Field this year (1927) that they stay out 
after wet nights to dry their fur in the sun. It is possible also that 
the eagle may hunt later than it is credited with doing a beast 
which merely sails from tree to tree ought to be an easy prey even in 
a bad light. 

The first we have to deal with is a very rare and little-known 
animal, which ha,s a genus to itself. 



PRDER RODENTIA 143 

WOOLLY FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Eupetaurus cinereus. 

HABITAT. Gilgit and possibly Tibet. 

DESCRIPTION. Apparently the largest of our squirrels, at least 
equalling the large red species, and with an even longer tail. Fur 
very dense and long, drab in colour ; claws blunt, leg-web very little 
developed and wrist-spur short. 

The habits of this woolly-coated squirrel can only be guessed at ; 
Blanford suggests that it lives in a very cold climate, among rocks 
rather than trees. 

^ The large Flying-Squirrels of the genus Pteromys are well-known 
animals, well over i ft. in length of head and body, with tail con- 
siderably exceeding these in length. The wrist-spur is long, generally 
equalling the forearm in length, and there is a well-developed leg- 
web extending from heel to heel and enclosing the base of the tail. 
They are all forest animals. 

T-^W* 







Large Brown Flying-Squirrel. 

LARGE BROWN FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteromys oral. Native : Ural, 
Kol ; Pakya, Mahratti ; Parachatea^ Malabarese ; Egala dandolena, 
Cingalese. 

HABITAT. India east to Tenasserim, Ceylon, and the Mergui 
Archipelago, but not north of the Ganges. 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



DESCRIPTION. The largest of this group of squirrels, about 18 in. 
in length of head and body, with the tail about 2 ft. Ears*tufted. 
Colour brown, with a mostly black tail, or grey with the tail black- 
tipped ; white on the under-parts, and sometimes chestnut on the 
upper-part of the flounce. 

This fine squirrel does not avoid villages if they are situated in 
forest ; it eats bark and insects as well as fruit and nuts, and has a 
low, soft, repeated note. It lives in holes and trees, and often sleeps on 
, its back. It is not so active on its feet as ordinary squirrels, but can 
glide nearly eighty yards through the air. 




Flying- Squirrel; showing parachute-skin. 



ORDER RODENTIA 145 

ANDERSON'S OR RED-AND-WHITE FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteromys yunnanensis, alborufus. 

HABITAT. Assam to Yunnan and Eastern Tibet. 

DESCRIPTION. About 18 in. long in head and body ; colour 
bay, more or less mixed with white above, white or yellow below, the 
hinder back in yellow-bellied specimens also yellow. Tail bay, 
reddish-grey, or more or less blackish from the tip forwards. 

As Mr. W. L. Sclater, according to Blanford, refers specimens of 
this squirrel from Assam and Burma to the Tibetan alborufus race, 
the two may here be united. 

HODGSON'S OR ORANGE-BELLIED FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteromys magnificus. Native : 
Surdj-bhagat, Hindi ; Biyom, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Nepal east to Assam Hills, between 6,000 and 9,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. Rather smaller than the Large Brown Flying- 
Squirrel, with shorter and broader head. Colour maroon with a 
yellow spinal stripe and head-spot, or grizzled chestnut without this. 
Under-parts light chestnut ; tail tipped with black. Blanford thinks 
the lighter-coloured specimens without back-stripe are in winter coat. 

The Red-bellied Flying- Squirrel lives on chestnuts and other hard 
fruit, young leaves, and shoots, and breeds in hollow trees in the 
rains, the litter consisting apparently of one only, which when able 
to shift for itself more or less has the parachute much smaller than 
in the adult. 



LARGE RED FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteromys inornatus, albiventer. 
Native : Rusi gugar, Kashmiri. 

HABITAT. Nepal to Kashmir, ranging up to 10,000 ft 

DESCRIPTION. Shape and (probably) size as in the Large Brown 
species ; colour chestnut, pale or whitish below, cheeks pale grey. 

Sterndale says : " This is a common squirrel at Simla. One was 
killed close to the house in which I was staying in 1880 at the Chota 
Simla end of the station by a native servant, who threw a stick at it 
and knocked it off a bough, and I heard of two living ones being 
hawked about for sale about the same time which, to my regret, I 
failed to secure, some one having bought them. They are common 
also in Kashmir, where they live in holes made in the bark of dead 
fir-trees. They are said to hybernate during the [cold] season there. 
A melanoid variety of this species is mentioned by Dr. Anderson as 
being in the Leyden Museum. It was obtained by Dr Jerdon in 

L 



146 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Kashmir, and presented to the Museum by the late Marquis of 
Tweeddale." 

GREY-HEADED FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteromys caniceps. Native : Biyom- 
chimbo, Lepcha. 

HABITAT. Sikkim and Nepal, not above 6 ; ooo ft. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the last, but with smaller head 
and larger ears. Colour reddish-brown, paler and redder below, 
head grey or brown. 

SPOTTED FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pteromys punctatus. 

HABITAT. Karennee and Malacca. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the large red species, but still well 
over i ft. in head and body length, and well distinguished by the 
white spotting on the yellowish-brown head and back ; rest of fur 
pale chestnut, browner on the tail. 

The small Flying- Squirrels (Sciuropterus) are not only smaller 
than the last group the head and body being never more than i ft. 
long and often much less but have shorter and more or less flat 
tails ; the wrist-spur is shorter, not so long as the forearm, and thus 
the parachute is narrower, and the leg-web is hardly at all developed, 
not embracing the tail even at the root. They are pretty little animals, 
but generally not so brightly coloured as the larger kinds that have 
just been noticed. 

HAIRY-FOOTED FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciuropterus pearsoni. 

HABITAT. Sikkim at moderate elevations, east to Yunnan. 

DESCRIPTION. Feet clothed with long hair, and long tufts to 
the ears. Colour grizzled brown, parachute black above, chestnut 
below, belly cream-colour. Head and body of same length as tail, 
8 in. 

SMALL TRAVANCORE FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciuropterus fuscicapillus. 

HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon, on the hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Ears small, but with long tufts. Tail decidedly 
shorter than head and body, which measure i ft. Fur reddish-brown 
above, mixed with blackish, cheeks and under-parts nearly white, 
tail sometimes tipped white. 



ORDER RODENTIA 147 

SMALL KASHMIR FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciuropterus fimbriatus. 

HABITAT. North- West Himalayas, always fairly high, up to 
12,000 ft., and Afghanistan. 

DESCRIPTION. -Nearly i ft. long in head and body, tail rather 
more, ears large but not tufted ; tail not nearly so flat as usual in 
these small flying-squirrels. Coat brown above, light in shade but 
varied with black, more or less pure white below. 

As four young have been found in a pregnant female, this species 
is more prolific than some at any rate of the large ones. 

PARTICOLOURED FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciuropterus alboniger. 

HABITAT. Nepal east to Siam and apparently Borneo ; in the 
Himalayas at moderate elevations. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail considerably less than head and body, 
which are about 10 in. ; ears plain. Colour white below and in the 
young black above, becoming much mixed with greyish or reddish- 
brown in the adult a very remarkable change of colour. 

HORSFIELD'S FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciuropterus sagitta. 

HABITAT. Pegu, from the Sittoung River east to the Malay 
countries. 

DESCRIPTION. A small species with short fur and large plain 
ears. Yellowish-brown above, more or less pure white below. Tail 
hardly as long as head and body, which are about 6J in. 

PIGMY FLYING-SQUIRREL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sciuropterus spadiceus. 

HABITAT. Arakan to Cochin China. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our flying-squirrels, only about 
5 in. without the tail, which is less than the head and body, and 
comes to a point ; ears plain, fur chestnut above, white below, tail 
and extremities darker. 

The flying-squirrels represent the extreme adaptation of squirrels 
to an arboreal life, but in the opposite direction some non-Indian 
forms connect the ordinary squirrels with the marmots, of which we 
have representatives of one genus (Arctomys). These bear much 
the same relation to the squirrels as the badgers to the weasels, being, 
as remarked above, thick-set burrowing animals. Their ears are 



148 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

very short, and their tailswhich vary in length in all our % three 
species always much shorter than in our squirrels, though still 
moderately bushy. They are all hill animals with us, and resemble 
rabbits in their ways, forming warrens, and living on herbs and 
roots. Their note is a one-syllable cry, not a chatter or cackle. 

TIBET MARMOT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Arctomys himalayanus. Native : 
Brin. Kashmiri ; Kadia-piu, Tibetan ; Chibi, Bhotia ; Lho, Lepcha ; 
Pfif, Niti. 

HABITAT. Rukshu and Ladak, Tibet, Kuenlun range. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail about a quarter of the length of head and 
body, which measure about 2 ft. ; colour fawn mixed above with 
black, tail-tip and face all dark. 

The Tibet marmot lives with us on high elevations, from 13,000 
to 18,000 ft. Its note is a chirping bark. 

RED OR LONG-TAILED MARMOT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Arctomys caudatus. Native : Drun, 
Kashmiri. 

HABITAT. North Kashmir and South Ladak. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the last species, but with a 
much longer tail, about i ft. in length. Colour chestnut, the back, 
tail-tip, and a patch round the eye, black. 

The Red Marmot has a long shrill cry, and lives at between 
8,000 and 14,000 ft. elevation, in fairly fertile spots. 

SMALLER HIMALAYAN MARMOT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Arctomys hemachalanus. Native : 
Sammiong) Lepcha ; Jabra, Chipi^ Bhotia. 

HABITAT. Eastern Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our species, about two-thirds the 
size of the others, with a tail of intermediate proportional length, 
about 6 in. Colour only differing from that of the Tibet marmot in 
the reddish hue of the sides. At the time Blanford wrote the Mam- 
malia volume on the Fauna of British India this species was only 
known from captive specimens. 

The Rats and Mice (Muridce) are all, as above remarked, recog- 
nisable by their resemblance to our too familiar self-domesticated 
pests, though some differ in detail, especially in form of tail. As in 
squirrels, the thumb is rudimentary. They are the most omnivorous 
of the rodents, generally small and active, with very long moustaches, 



ORDER RODENTIA 149 

and very numerous both in individuals and in species over fifty of 
the latter are recorded from our area, only a few of which are likely to 
attract the attention of the ordinary observer of animal life. The 
Wadars or tank-diggers, who eat rats, are great authorities on the 
family. 

The first we have to notice has a genus to itself, and its characters 
will be given under the sole species. 

PEPPER-RAT OR MALABAR SPINY MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Platac ant homy s lasiurus. 

HABITAT. Southern Indian hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Small for a rat, but too large to be fairly called 
a mouse, the head and body being over 4 in., and the tail about the 
same. Generally appearance very squirrel-like, the tail being bushy, 
but less so at the root, and the ears longer and narrower than in any 
squirrel, the moustaches also excessively long, and the back having 
numerous spines among the fur. Colour chestnut above and on the 
tail, very pale below, this whitish under-surface sharply defined. 

The Pepper-rat, to give it its native name, is common in large old 
trees in valleys, living in holes which it makes and lines with leaves 
and moss. It is very destructive to pepper, angely, and jack-fruit, 
and also indulges in toddy whenever it can get access to a pot. 
Several may live in one hole, and holes in rocks are used as well as 
in trees. It was at first classed with the dormice. 

The Gerbils or Jerboa-rats (Gerbillus) are more like ordinary rats, 
but have longer hind-legs, so that they are rather like miniature 
kangaroos, and have a corresponding power of leaping. Their tails 
are long, and covered with short hair, longer at the tip. They are 
burrowers, living in dry country. 

COMMON INDIAN GERBIL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gerbillus indicus* Native : Harna- 
mus, Hindi ; Jhenku-indur, Bengali ; Yeri yelka, Wadars ; Tel 
yelka, Yanadis ; Billailei^ Canarese ; Pdndhard undir, Mahratti. 

HABITAT. Baluchistan, India, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the common house-rat up to 
7 in. in head and body, with the tail longer. Hind-foot nearly 2 in. 
from hock to claws. Fawn above, white below, tail-tuft black. 

From its colour and activity in leaping, this pretty rat is called 
" Antelope-rat " in Hindi. It can clear as much as five yards at a 
bound, and escape a dog by jumping over its back. It is nocturnal 
and very prolific, often producing a dozen young at a time, and feeds 



150 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

on grass, roots, and grain, and in 1878-9 was a veritable plague in 
the Deccan over thousands of square miles one of the few recorded 
instances of a rodent plague in India. Sterndale says : " With 
regard to Kellaart's accusation of its being carnivorous at times, I 
may say I have noticed such tendencies amongst several other rodents 
which are supposed to be purely vegetarians. I have also known 
ruminants take to flesh-eating when opportunity offered." The 
Gerbil is recommended as a food for trained hawks. 

DESEET GERBIL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gerbillus hurriance. 

HABITAT. Baluchistan to North-Western India. 

DESCRIPTION. Rather smaller than the last species, with pro- 
portionately shorter ears and tail, the last not exceeding the head 
and body, and the ears being only J in. long, whereas in the last they 
are more than \ in. Colour much duller, drab shading into dirty 
white below, but tip of tail also black. 

The Desert Gerbil haunts drier localities than the common species, 
often actual desert ; it is also diurnal, and, though more local, is 
much commoner than the other species usually is, when the locality 
is suitable to it. 

Of the typical rats and mice the Field-rats or Mole-rats (Nesocia) 
are characterised by a broad blunt muzzle and broad feet ; their tails 
are nearly naked, and scaly as in house-rats. They are mostly out- 
door rats, eating grass, roots, and corn, and living in extensive 
burrows in the ground, the openings marked by heaps of the earth 
they have thrown out, like mole-hills at home. 

SHORT-TAILED FIELD-RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nesocia hardwickei. 

HABITAT. Baluchistan to the Punjab. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of a common house-rat, but with 
a much shorter tail, which may be as little as half the length of the 
head and body, which may measure over 8 in. Ears only \ in. long ; 
fur even, coarse or fine, colour warm light brown, paler below. 

The Short-tailed Field-rat is found in fields or waste land ; Blan- 
ford found two pairs in one earth he dug out. 

COMMON FIELD-RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nesocia bengalensis^ providens. 
Native : Kok, Canarese ; Yenkrai, Bengali ; Golatta koku> Yanadis. 
HABITAT. India, Ceylon, and Burma. 



ORDER RODENTIA 

DESCRIPTION. Larger than the last, with longer tail, about 
three-fourths the length of head and body, which may measure up to 
9 in. ; ears J in. Fur dark brown and coarse, often with many long 
projecting black hairs, pale below. 

This is the common out-door rat of India ; it is fierce and solitary, 
and makes large burrows, sometimes extending over an area of 
several yards, often on the edges of tanks ; it swims well, and is 
destructive in gardens and fields, eating grain as well as grass and 
roots, and often making stores of the former. It is bread and meat 
to the Wadars, who not only eat it, but often get plenty of grain 
from its burrows, sometimes as much as half a seer in one. 

Sterndale says : " In confinement these rats are not engaging 
pets ; they show a considerable amount of surliness and ferocity. I 
have noticed that on approaching the bars of the cage, one would 
grind its teeth, put back its ears, and fly at you with a grunt. " 

This species is one of the rats mainly instrumental in the propaga- 
tion of plague. 




Bandicoot. 

BANDICOOT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nesocia bandicota^ Mus giganteus. 
Native : Indur, Sanscrit ; Ghunse> Hindi ; Ikria y Bengali ; Heggin> 
Canarese ; Pandikoku y Telegu ; Ura-miyo, Cingalese. 



152 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

HABITAT. India and Ceylon. (The Australian mammals called 
bandicoots are not rodents, but small marsupials.) 

DESCRIPTION. Much the largest of our rats, i ft. or considerably 
more in length of head and body, with the tail nearly as much, and 
attaining a weight of three pounds nearly half as much as our 
little Indian fox. Fur dark brown above, drab below, mixed above 
with long black bristly hairs. 

The bandicoot's name in Telegu means pig-rat, owing to its 
habit of grunting, and no doubt also to its large size. It is best 
known in South India, and haunts cultivation and human habitations, 
but Blanford thinks it is also found in forest. It is destructive not 
only to corn and garden produce, but to fowls ; but has far less 
activity and spirit than our common rat at home, and is not such a 
difficult proposition for a dog as it looks. 

SMALLER BANDICOOT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nesocia nemorivaga, elliotanus. 

HABITAT. Bengal east to the Khasi hills and Formosa. 

DESCRIPTION. Much smaller than the true Bandicoot, but 
larger than our other rats generally are, the head and body measuring 
9 in. or over, and the tail about 8 in. Colour as in the large Bandicoot, 
but fur less coarse and bristly. 

The ordinary and most familiar rats and mice belong to the genus 
MuSy which includes more species than any other genus of mammals, 
and all have long scaly tails and pointed noses, the latter distinguishing 
them from the blunt-headed species we have just been discussing. 
They are the most omnivorous and cunning of all rodents, and hold 
their own the best. 

BROWN RAT OR SEWER-RAT 

OTHER NAMES Scientific : Mus decumanus. Native : Ghar- 
ka-chuha, Hindi ; (Chuha alone is probably applied as generally as 
our word " rat") ; Demsa-indur, Bengali ; Manei-ilei, Canarese ; 
Gaval-miyo, Cingalese ; Kymek, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Supposed to be originally Chinese Mongolia, but 
this rat is now the most widely distributed mammal over the world 
except man, by the latter's unwilling assistance. Blanford says it 
" is certainly not indigenous in India, though now found in all large 
towns and villages, along the banks of navigable rivers, and on high 
roads." 

DESCRIPTION. Size very variable, from 7 in. to over 10 in. in head 
and body, which exceed the tail in length/ Ears small, not an inch 



ORDER RODENTIA 153 

long, just reaching eye when laid forward. Fur brown above, more 
or less pure white below, coarse in texture. A black variety occurs 
in Europe, and among domestic rats, which are descended from this 
species, white and pied specimens are usual, and a buff form has 
been bred from a wild English " sport " in recent years. 

The longer and more tapering muzzle is the best distinction 
between this and such of the field-rats as resemble it in size. 

This is the rat par excellence for most people, as it is the best 
known and most abundant in Europe, but in the tropics it is not so 
successful as the Black or Roof-Rat. The names " Brown " and 
" Black " are objectionable for both species, as both may be of either 
colour in some places. 

" Sewer-rat ' ; suits the present species better, as it frequents 
basements and drains, and when living a wild and independent life 
is often partly aquatic in its habits, being a good swimmer and diver. 
It is the most carnivorous of common rats and very cunning and 
fierce. It is instrumental in spreading plague this being, as most 
people know, a rodent disease communicated by fleas but less so 
than the Roof -rat. 

Sterndale says : "I find there is no bait so enticing to the brown 
rat as a piece of chicken or meat of any kind. I have heard stories 
of their attacking children and even grown-up people when asleep, 
but I cannot vouch for the truth of this beyond what once happened 
to myself. I was then inhabiting a house which swarmed with these 
creatures, and one night I awoke with a sharp pain in my right arm. 
Jumping up I disturbed a rat, who sprang off the bed, and was 
pursued and killed by me. I found he had given me a nip just 
below the elbow.'' This habit of biting people is otherwise well 
authenticated, and " rat-bite fever/' a disease caused by the protozoan 
parasite Spirillum morsus-muris, is communicated in this way. 

Sterndale further says : " The brown rat breeds several times in 
a year, and has from ten to fourteen at a time " (according to Blan- 
ford, also as few as four). " It is a difficult matter to stop the burrowing 
of rats ; the best plan is to fill the holes with Portland cement mixed 
with bits of bottle-glass broken in small pieces." 

The Sewer-rat grows to an especially large size in Calcutta, and 
is said, according to Blanford, often to be mistaken for the bandicoot, 
which does not occur there in fact, even the lesser bandicoot is 
scarce. The destructiveness of this rat is to some extent compen- 
sated for by its hostility to the Black or Roof-Rat, which is worse as a 
plague distributor, but its influence in this respect is but little felt in 
India. 



154 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

COMMON INDIAN RAT OR ROOF-RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Mus rattus, alexandrinus ; nearly 
a score more have been applied to this variable animal. Native : 
Chuha, Musa, Kala-mus y Kala-chuha, Hindi ; Gachua-indur, 
Bengali ; Kart yelli^ Tamil ; Ghas-miyo^ Kala-miyo, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Nearly the whole world, but, Blanford thinks, 
" probably indigenous in India and found throughout the country, 
also in Burma and Ceylon, from the sea-level to an elevation of at 
least 8,000 ft. Its wide distribution is due to unwilling human 
transport ; it is the commonest rat on ships, and invaded Europe 
centuries before the Sewer-rat or Brown Rat. 

DESCRIPTION. The typical and original rat ; proportions much 
like those of the mouse on a large scale. Tail usually longer than 
head and body, which measure 5 to 8 in. ; ears large, nearly or quite 
i in. long ; when pressed forward they reach at least as far as the 
eye ; muzzle rather long and pointed ; fur rather long, sometimes 
spiny, and very variable in colour. Usually it is brown above and 
more or less pure white below ; but in Europe it is black, and this 
black form the so-called Old English Black Rat is most often 
found in India in seaports, having evidently been re-imported. As 
the Sewer-rat may also be black, the name is not a good one. 

The Roof-rat, as this species is best called, is essentially a climbing 
rat, and when shifting for itself commonly lives and builds its nest in 
trees, though it sometimes also lives in burrows in the ground. Its 
climbing habits lead it especially to frequent roofs, and thus it is 
particularly a house-rat, and the species mainly influential in spreading 
plague through infection carried by its fleas. The same climbing 
habit evidently favours it in getting access to ships and maintaining 
itself there, and is leading to its re-establishment in Europe, whence 
it had been to a great extent driven by the Sewer-rat, owing to the 
advantage it takes of the numerous overhead wires in towns. 
Although omnivorous, it is less addicted to animal food than the 
Sewer-rat, and less savage generally ; it is also less prolific, the litters 
not usually exceeding nine in number. Both species breed several 
times in the year, and, with the common Field-rat or Mole-rat, are 
the especial pest-rats of India, the most noxious of our small mammals. 

LITTLE BURMESE RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus concolor. 
HABITAT. Pegu and Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. General shape and proportions of ears and tail 
as in the common Roof-rat, but size much smaller, the head and 



ORDER RODENTIA 155 

body only measuring 4 in. in length. Fur brown throughout, coarse, 
spiny above. 

This species shows the close connection between the larger " rats M 
and the small " mice " ; it especially frequents the thatch of houses. 

PERSIAN LONG-TAILED FIELD-MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus arianus, erythronotus. 

HABITAT. Central Asia to Gilgit. 

DESCRIPTION. A large mouse, while the last is reckoned by 
Blanford as a small rat. It is of about the same size and general 
proportions as the last, but with much larger ears, more instead of 
less than \ in. long, and has the under-parts white or very pale, and 
the upper lip and under-side of tail white. It is the eastern form of 
the Long-tailed Field-mouse of Europe, and is a true field-mouse 
in summer, though in winter it will come into houses. 

COMMON HOUSE-MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus musculus, urbanus. Native : 
Lengtia-indur^ Bengali ; Mesuri, Musi, Chuhi, Hindi ; Manei 
buduga, Canarese ; Kusetta-miyo^ Cingalese ; Shintad-gandu, Wadari. 

HABITAT. Nearly throughout our area and most of the rest of 
the world as well ; Blanford says " it is difficult to say whether this 
species is indigenous or introduced " with us probably because it 
is chiefly found in houses but sometimes in gardens and fields near 
villages and towns. A variously-coloured domestic breed is well 
known as a pet and subject for research. 

DESCRIPTION. The original typical mouse, with large ears, 
\ in. long, and tail generally longer than head and body, which may 
reach 3 in. in a large specimen. Fur short and soft, brown above, 
grey below, almost absent on tail, which is all dark. 

Sterndale says : "I have kept these mice in confinement for con- 
siderable periods. . . . Their activity in running up and down the 
wires of a cage is marvellous. They have also an extraordinary 
faculty for running up a perpendicular board, and the height from 
which they can jump is astounding. One day, in my study, I chased 
one of these mice on to the top of a bookcase. Standing on some 
steps, I was about to put my hand over him, when he jumped on to 
the marble floor and ran off. I measured the height, and have since 
measured it again, 8 ft. 9^ in. 

" I consider this species the most muscular of all mice of the same 
size. I have had at the same time in confinement an English mouse 
(albino), a Bengal field mouse, and house mice from Simla of 



156 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

another species, and none of them could show equal activity. I use, 
for the purpose of taming mice, a glass fish-globe, out of which none 
of the other mice could get, but I have repeatedly seen specimens 
of M. urbanus jump clear out of the opening at the top. They would 
look up, gather their hind-quarters together, and then go in for a 
high leap. They are much more voracious than the Simla or other 
mice. The allowance of food given would be devoured in less than 
half the time taken by the others, and they are more given to gnawing. 
What sort of mothers they are in freedom I know not, but one which 
produced four young in one of my cages devoured her offspring 
before they were a week old. I have two before me just now as I 
write, and they have had a quarrel about the highest place on a little 
grated window. The larger one got the advantage, so the other 
seized hold of her tail, and gave it a good nip." 

Mice are, as most people know, born blind and naked (as 
indeed are most rodents) ; a litter may number as many as eight, 
and breeding occurs about four times a year. Sterndale says he kept 
the albino above mentioned for three years a great age for a mouse. 

This mouse is absent from most of North- Western India, where 
its place is taken by the next species. It is so irresistibly attracted 
by canary seed that grass seed is evidently its natural food, though 
in practice it is omnivorous. Paper is a favourite nesting material, 
and important papers should always be enclosed in tin boxes, even 
where there is no danger from white ants. 

PERSIAN HOUSE-MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus bactrianus. 

HABITAT. Egypt east through Asia to North- Western India. 

DESCRIPTION. Similar in size and form to the common House- 
mouse, but with the tail usually shorter than the head and body, 
which may be larger than in the last. Colour fawn, shading into 
white below. 

This may turn out to be the " wild " or independent form of the 
common House-mouse, though also a house species, the colouring 
bearing much the same relation to that of the common kind as does 
that of the Alexandrine rat to that of the " Black rat," or that of 
the brown Musk-shrew to that of the grey species. Its habitat also 
suggests this. 

Sterndale says : " Dr. Anderson got, not long ago, two of these 
mice in a box from Kohat. . . . Whilst we were talking about them, 
we noticed an act of intelligence for which I should not have given 
them credit, had I not seen it with my own eyes. They were in a 
box with a glass front ; in the upper left-hand corner was a small 



ORDER RODENTIA 157 

sleeping chamber, led up to by a sloping piece of wood. The entrance 
of this chamber was barred by wires bent into the form of a lady's 
hair-pin, and passed through holes in the roof of the box, The mice 
had been driven out, and the sleeping chamber barred, for they were 
having their portraits taken. Whilst we were talking we found, to 
our surprise, that one mouse was inside the chamber, although the 
bars were down. There seemed hardly space for it to squeeze through ; 
however, it was driven out, and we went on with our conversation, 
but found, on looking at the cage again, that our little friend was 
once more inside, so he was driven out again, and we kept an eye on 
him. . . . We saw him trot up his sloping board, put his little head 
on one side, and seize one of the wires, which worked very loosely in 
its socket, give it a hitch up, when he adroitly caught it lower down, 
hitched it up again and again till he got it high enough to allow him 
to slip in underneath. . . . He had only been in the box two days, 
so he was not long in finding out the weak point." 

INDIAN FIELD-MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus buduga, Leggada lepida. 
Native : Chitta-burkani, Chit-yelka^ Chitta-ganda, Shintad-phurka, 
Shintad-bhurka, Wadaris ; Chitta-yelka, Yanadis. 

HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. About size of house-mouse, but tail decidedly 
shorter than head and body, fur sandy to dark drab above, white 
below, often mixed with fine transparent spines. Ears smaller than 
in House-mouse, not extending to eye when laid forward as in that 
species. 

Although occasionally found in houses, this mouse is generally 
an out-door species, and is found not only in fields, but in gardens 
and woods ; it is, in fact, the common " country mouse " of India. 
It lives in pairs in burrows, these being marked by a little heap of 
stones near the entrance, and must be a favourite prey of the Roller 
or " Blue-jay," as bird-catchers use it for a bait in catching the birds. 

BROWN SPINY MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus or Leggada platythrix. 
Native : Legydde^ Kal-yelka, Legad-gandu, Rdlelagan-gandu^ Wadaris ; 
Gijeli-gandU) Yanadis ; Kal ilei^ Canarese. 

HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon, north to Sind, but not 
as far east as Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. Larger than the House-mouse, with a thick 
rather hairy tail shorter than the head and body, which are over 3 in 
Fur very spiny, dark brown, with under-parts white. 



158 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

The Legyade lives in pairs in burrows in red gravel soil, shutting 
up its hole when at home with small pebbles, of which a stock is 
kept outside ; the living-chamber is also bedded with small pebbles, 

METAD RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mus mettada, Golunda mettada. 
Native : Mettad, Mettangandu^ Wadaris ; Metta-yclka^ Yanadis ; 
Kera ilei y Canarese. 

HABITAT. Sind to Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. Size of a small rat, with the tail about the length 
of the head and body, which measure 5 in. Ear f in. Fur drab 
above, white below, thick and soft in quality. 

The Mettad is a rat of cultivated land, and very casual in its 
habits ; it is a poor burrower, and often shelters in heaps of stones, 
old field-rat burrows, or even cracks caused by the heat. It lives in 
small parties very likely families, of about half a dozen, as well as 
in pairs ; but the female has up to eight young at a birth. The 
collapse of earth-cracks when the rain comes on seems to be the 
great check on rats of this species, which then perish in numbers, for 
Elliot, from whom the above details are gleaned, states that when the 
rainfall was short in the 1826 monsoon, these rats increased so much 
as to become a plague, ravaging the grain-fields to such an extent 
that farmers could not pay their rents. They hired the Wadaris to 
destroy the rats, but though thousands were killed there was no 
perceptible diminution. 

The Bush-rat occupies a genus to itself (Golunda) among our rats, 
the characters of which can be given under our only Indian species. 

INDIAN BUSH-RAT OR COFFEE-RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Golunda ellioti. Native : Gulandi, 
Canarese ; Gulat-yelka^ Wadaris ; Sora-pauji-gadur, Yanadis ; 
Utu-elli, Tamil ; Cofee-watee-meyo, Cingalese a name which, as 
Sterndale says, seems a corruption of " Coffee-rat." 

HABITAT. Sind to Southern India and Ceylon, but not Bengal ; 
said to be migratory at times. 

DESCRIPTION. A small round-headed rat with a tapering coarse- 
haired tail decidedly shorter than the head and body, which measure 
about 5 in. Fur of coarse and stiff quality, yellowish-brown grizzled 
with black above, grey or dirty white below. Ears rather more than 
\ in. long. 

The Gulandi is a wood-rat, making a round or oval nest of grass 
and herb-stalks in a bush or on the ground. It is solitary and 



ORDER RODENTIA 159 

diurnal, and feeds much on grass roots, but has also proved a pest 
in coffee plantations, where it fed on the buds and blossoms of the 
coffee. In spite of this power of climbing, which is, after all, a usual 
accomplishment in rats, it is a clumsy animal, slow and with little 
power of jumping, and thus easily caught. Malabar coolies, Tennant 
noted, were so fond of fried or curried coffee-rats that they preferred 




Coffee-rat. 

districts which were overrun by them. When an estate has been 
invaded by these rats under pressure of hunger more than a thousand 
have been killed in a day, according to Kelaart. 

It is to be hoped that missionary workers will be careful not to 
discourage the habit of eating such animals among their converts 
rather should they encourage them to regard the creatures as a 
provision for the poor. 

Another representative of a distinct genus of mice ( Vandekurid) 
may be characterised under its single known species. This is the 

LONG-TAILED TREE-MOUSE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Vandeleuria oleracea y Mus oleraceus. 
Native : Marad ilei, Canarese ; Meina-yelka y Yanadis. 

HABITAT. India east to Yunnan, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the House-mouse or a little 
larger, with a very long tail, more than an inch longer than the head 



160 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

and body ; ears large, and inner and outer toes on all feet rather 
widely separable and with nails instead of claws. Fur soft and 
chestnut-coloured above, white below and on the feet ; tail hairy and 
dark-coloured. 

This very pretty little animal is a climber, living and nesting in 
trees, and sometimes in the roofs of houses. It is lively and hard to 
catch. Blanford found three and four young in a nest, and Jerdon 
eight or ten apparently full-grown ones. 

The Voles or Meadow-mice (Microtus) are thickset, short-eared 
little animals with rather short tails and thick fur. They are familiar 
in temperate climates, and with us are only found high up in the 
Himalayas. Only one needs notice here. 

SIKKIM VOLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Microtus sikkimensis. Native : 
Phalchua, Nepalese ; Chikyu, Karanti ; Sing p hue hi, Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Sikkim, above 7,000 ft. up to 10,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail about a third the length of the head and 
body, which measure nearly 5 in. ; ear \ in. Fur brown, dark to 
golden-brown above, much paler beneath. 

The Sikkim Vole lives in forests and nests in hollow trees or under 
roots ; it is also found under stones. 

The Hamsters (Cricetus) represent a further development of the 
chubby vole type, much resembling guinea-pigs, except that they 
have short but noticeable tails. The only species we have is found 
in Gilgit. 

GEEY HAMSTEE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cricetus phceus^fulvus^ isabellinus. 

HABITAT. Central Asia to Gilgit. 

DESCRIPTION. Fur soft and grey above, sometimes with a sandy 
tinge, white below ; tail about a quarter as long as the head and body, 
which vary from less than 4 to more than 5 in. In fact, the animal 
may be described, as far as size goes, as a small rat or a large mouse 
in its two extreme forms, and there is an intermediate one of 4^ in. 
in head and body length. These three varieties are treated as species 
by Blanford, under the three names given above, phceus being the 
smallest and known for over a century. He says, however : " It is 
somewhat doubtful whether these three forms of Cricetus should be 
considered species or only varieties. . . . The different forms occur 
in several places [Gilgit included], but this is not in favour of their 
being distinct/ 7 Many naturalists will probably agree that there is 



ORDER RODENTIA l6l 

here a similar problem to that presented by the two forms of the 
leopard, and lump the lot. In the case of these little vegetable 
feeders, however, it should be possible easily to solve the problem by 
breeding and cross-breeding the three forms in captivity. 




Hamster. 

The true Mole-rats (Spalacidce) contain only one Indian genus, 
the Bamboo-rats (Rhizomys) which, if not nearly so mole-like as 
some non-Indian members of the family, are nevertheless big-headed, 
sausage-bodied, very short-legged animals with very small eyes and 
ears, and tails not more than a third of the length of the head and 
body, so that they are at least much more like moles than the Field- 
rats of the genus Nesocia called Mole-rats by Blanford, which have 
tails more than half of the head and body length, and conform 
generally to the ordinary rat type except for their blunt muzzles. 
The Bamboo-rats, of which we have only three species, are all 
Eastern animals and powerful bur rowers. They have five toes on 
all feet, though the first toe of the fore-foot is very small, and their 
incisors are particularly large and powerful. They are used as 
food by the hill-men of Burma. 

BAY BAMBOO-RAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhizomys badius. Native: Yukron, 
Kakhyen ; Khai, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Eastern Himalayan Terai east through Burma to 
Siam, and the ranges above Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the Sewer-rat, but with the tail 
less than 3 in. long and the little ears hidden in the thick fur, which 
is not always bay or chestnut, but sometimes drab. 

M 



1 62 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

The Bay or Chestnut Bamboo-rat burrows in high grass or 
under roots of trees and lives on shoots and roots, coming out of its 



;?;*$&&-'' s+**& 




Bay Bamboo-Rat. 

burrow to feed, when it is easily caught, being slow and fearless, 
though savage. 

HOARY BAMBOO-EAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhizomys pruinosus. 

HABITAT. Hill ranges south of Assam, Kakhyen Hills, Karennee, 
Cambodia, and South China. 

DESCRIPTION. Much larger than any ordinary rat, the head 
and body being about i ft. long, while the tail is only 4 in., and the 
ears, as in the last, hidden in the fur, which is grizzled dark brown, 
the white hairs being more numerous below. Old females have pale 
brown faces, a peculiar case of the assumption of a special colouring 
in age by their sex, though old male mammals often show distinctive 
colour. 

The female of this Bamboo-rat, at any rate, is not very prolific, 
the litter not exceeding four. 

LAEGE BAMBOO-EAT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhizomys sumatrensis. Native : 
Pwe, Burmese ; Tikus bulo, Malay, which is very like the name for 
Gymnura, and perhaps only means any large rat-like animal. 

HABITAT. From Moulmein and Karennee south-east to Siam 
and the Malay Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. Bigger even than the Bandicoot, the head and 
body being about 18 in. long, though the tail is not more than 6 in. 
The fur is very variable in colour, slate, drab, fawn, or buff, grizzled 



ORDER RODENTIA 163 

with coarse pale hairs, and in young animals bright rusty-red on the 
cheeks. It is thin, and allows the ears to be seen, small though 
they are. 

At the opposite extreme to these clumsy animals come the pretty 
and graceful hopping Jerboas (Dipodidce), of which the characters of 
the one species which just comes within our limits may be given 
under its heading. 

AFGHAN JERBOA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Alactaga indica. Native : Khani, 
Afghan. 

HABITAT. From South-Eastern Persia to the plains south of 
Quetta. 

DESCRIPTION. Like ^v\ery small rat on stilts, with Jbfe limbs 
shorter than the rather long r&bjbit-like ears and a Jo*r|f thin brush- 
tipped tail. The legs below the Trecjt are ver^lbng and spindly, 
and of the five toes only the three centrai-tffies touch the ground ; 
the little fore-feet are five-tof d with the inner toe very small. Colour 
fawn above, white below, With the tail-brush first black then white. 
Head and body very compact, less than 4 in. long ; tail about twice 
that, and leg from hock to claws over 2 in. 

The Afghan Jerboa, like its kind generally, is an active leaper and 
travels at great speed in this way ; no doubt when going slowly it 
walks with alternate steps, like the Egyptian Jerboa so often kept as 
a pet, and never uses the fore-legs in progression at all. It is a good 
bur rower, although so different in shape from most mining animals, 
and goes to ground from October to April, being a hibernator ; even 
during its active period it does not come out by day. A captive 
specimen ate green wheat and other herbage, potatoes and grain, 
and would drink, although Major Money, who records this, said that 
it appeared not to need water when wild. The Egyptian Jerboa in 
captivity drinks by lifting water to its mouth with the paws ; perhaps 
these little animals brush up dew in this way when at large. 

The Porcupines (Hystriddcz) are very different from all the other 
rodents we have been describing ; they are very much larger, and 
their spines are much better developed in length than in any other 
of our mammals, being in fact commonly called quills ; the spines, 
however, are not so fully developed over the body as in the Hedgehogs 
among the Insectivores. They have five toes on all feet, though the 
first toe on the fore-foot is small. They are more exclusively vege- 
table feeders than most rodents, and their young are well advanced 



164 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

at birth, not being blind, naked, and helpless as usual, nor is* the 
litter numerous. All our species are terrestrial and nocturnal. 

The large typical Porcupines (Hystrix) are blunt-nosed, stout, 
thick-set animals of very large size for rodents, weighing over a stone 
and even at times over two. The hinder part of the back and upper 
flanks are covered with long sharp spines so stiff and stout as to be 
used as penholders, and these grade off into shorter spines and hairs, 
while a few long thin bristle-like spines occur on the back. The 
tail is short, and covered with short spines, ending in a brush of 
peculiar quills with narrow roots and blunt open ends. These appear 
to act as a rattle, and the quills rustle as the beast moves, for he 
fears enemies little, being an unpleasant animal to interfere with. 

Sterndale says : " The porcupine attacks by backing up against 
an opponent or thrusting at him by a sidelong motion. I kept one 
some years ago, and had ample opportunity of studying his mode of 
defence. When a dog or any other foe comes to close quarters, the 
porcupine wheels round and rapidly charges back. They have also 
a sideway jerk which is effective." Under these circumstances the 
spines are erected, and are dangerous not only from the wounds they 
produce a goat tethered as a bait for a carnivore has been killed 
thus but still more from the fact that some are always loose and 
liable to be left in the wound, when, unless removed at once, they 
work further in and cause worse trouble. Owing to this it is advisable 
and usual to call dogs off the scent of a porcupine, which they follow 
eagerly. 

Porcupines are dainty feeders, and very destructive in gardens 
and forests ; they often live in colonies, as many as fifteen having 
been killed in a set of burrows by poison gas. It is a pity, however, 
to waste them, as their flesh is about the best afforded by Indian 
mammals, being very like delicate pork. 

All our species are very much alike in general appearance, dark 
brown or black, with a whitish half-collar below the neck, and more 
or less white on the long bristles, back-spines, and tail. 

COMMON INDIAN PORCUPINE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hystrix kucura. Native: Kanta- 
sahi> Sdyt, Sdyal y Sarsel y Hindi ; Sdjru y Bengali ; Chotia-dumsi, 
Nepalese ; Saori, Chaodi, Guzrati ; Salendra, Mahratti ; Yed, 
Canarese ; Ho-igu, Gondi ; Hitava^ Cingalese ; Sinkor, Sindhi ; 
Sikhan, Baluchi ; Skkunr, Pushtu ; Jekra, Korku ; Jiki, Ho-Kol ; 
Yeddu pandi) Telegu ; Malanpani, Tamil. 

HABITAT. India and Ceylon, including Kashmir, but not 



ORDER RODENTIA 165 

extending far up the hills in the Eastern Himalayas. Blanford thinks 
the West-Asiatic Porcupine is most likely only a race of this species. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our Porcupines, over 2 ft. in length 
of head and body, ranging to 2 ft. 8 in., and weighing up to thirty 
pounds ; tail without spines shorter than head. The main distinction 
from the others, however, is the very long crest and mane of bristles, 
which may be i ft. or more in length, and are at least 6 in. long. 
The weapon-quills are also overhung by long bristle-spines. The 




; L 



tail-quills are white, but in some specimens these, and the white 
rings on the long weapon-quills of the back, are more or less orange 
instead of white, though this colour may disappear after a moult in 
confinement. 

Sterndale says : " The Indian porcupine lives in burrows, in 
banks, hill-sides, on the bunds of tanks, and in the sides of rivers and 
nullahs. ... In the jungle its food consists chiefly of roots, especially 
of some kinds of wild yam (Dioscored). I have found porcupines in 
the densest bamboo jungles of the Central Provinces, where their 



1 66 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

food was doubtless young bamboo shoots and various kind[s} of 
roots. . . . The Gonds of Seeonee were always on the look out for 
a porcupine. I described in my book on that district the digging out 
of one. 

u The entrance of the animal's abode was a hole in a bank at 
which the dogs were yelping and scratching ; but the bipeds had 
gone more scientifically to work by countermining from above, 
sinking shafts downwards at various points, till at last they reached 
his inner chamber, when he scuttled out and, charging backwards 
at the dogs with all his spines erected, he soon sent them flying, 
howling most piteously ; but a Gondee axe hurled at his head soon 
put an end to his career, for a porcupine's skull is particularly tender." 

The leopard, being quick-pawed and quick-witted, is said some- 
times to bring the porcupine to book by a sudden blow on the head. 

The female produces from two to four young, which are born 
with their eyes open. Their bodies are covered with short soft spines, 
which, however, speedily harden. "It is said," says Sterndale, 
" that the young do not remain long with their mother, but I cannot 
speak to this from personal experience. I have had young ones, but 
not those born in captivity." 

The voice of the porcupine is a grunt, and it has a habit of gnawing 
bones or elephant tusks which it may find in the jungle. 

BENGAL PORCUPINE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hystrix bengalensis. Native : 
Sajru, Bengali ; Phyu, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Sikkim, and Lower Bengal east to Arakan. 

DESCRIPTION. Not so large as the common species on the whole, 
but still over 2 ft. in length of head and body. Mane-bristles not 
more than 6 in. long, and the crest scanty. Tail black and white. 
Only a few long spiny bristles among the quills ; body spines very 
flat and grooved. 

CRESTLESS HIMALAYAN PORCUPINE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hystrix hodgsoni, longicauda. 
Native : Anchotia-sahi, Anchotia-dumsi, Nepalese ; Sat hung, 
Lepcha ; O-e, Limbu ; Midi, Cachari ; Subon-dem, Manipuri ; 
Suku, Kuki ; Sisz, Daphla ; Tuigon, Sake, Liso, Vikhd, Sekru, 
Naga. 

HABITAT. Nepal to Assam, not ascending the Himalayas to 
more than about 5,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of the large porcupines, being 



ORDER RODENTIA 167 

barely 2 ft. in length of head and body, though the tail is as long as 
that of the large species, 8 in. with the spines. Mane absent or very 
feebly developed, body-spines flat and grooved, long spiny bristles 
among the weapon-quills scanty. Tail-quills partly black and partly 
white. 

Hodgson says that this species is monogamous, and produces two 
young in spring. It breeds readily in confinement, and is, he says, 
eaten even by high-caste Hindus. 

The only Indian species of the other genus of Porcupines found 
with us (Atherura) can be characterised under its name. 

BRUSH-TAILED PORCUPINE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Atherura macrura. Native : Lan- 
dak, Malay. 

HABITAT. Burma east to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. Not so peculiar-looking as the other porcupines, 
being like a huge, spiny, brush-tailed rat in fact, it is sometimes 
called Porcupine-rat the spines as a whole not being long enough to 
obscure the outline of the head and body, which are rat-like, and the 
tail being nearly half as long as these, which measure from i\ to 
nearly 2 ft. A few very long bristle-spines project on the hinder 
back, and the brush at the end of the tail is mostly made up of curious 
flat bristles strongly contracted at short intervals. Colour brown 
for the most part, more or less pure white below, on the long bristles 
and the brush. 

In spite of its very different appearance and far less massive build, 
this animal is said to have the same habits as the typical porcupines 
just described. Its very close African ally, Atherura africana, is said 
to be a staple article of food with the natives of the island of 
Fernando Po. 

In the sub-order of Double-toothed Rodents (Duplicidentatd) 
there are, as before remarked, a pair of little incisors behind the 
ordinary large ones in the upper jaw. Young animals at birth have 
a third pair, but these soon disappear. The incisors in the present 
sub-order of rodents are not so large as in the others, and the animals 
have five toes on the fore- and four on the hind-feet, well covered 
with fur even below. Their eyes are usually large and they have no 
eyelids. The size is always fair or large as rodents go, and the 
feeding habits strongly vegetarian. They live on the ground and 
never have long tails. 

Of the two families of this group, the Hares (Leporidce) are the 



1 68 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

best known of all rodents, owing to the common rabbit being one of 
them, so that their characteristics, long ears and hind-legs and short 
upturned tail or " scut/' are familiar to every one. 

Most of our hares, however, have longer hind-legs and ears than 
the rabbit, and the young are born with their eyes open and are well 
covered with fur, not blind and naked like most young rodents. 
Hares live upon herbage, and generally do not burrow. Most of 
our species are much alike, but easily distinguishable by certain 
special points, particularly the colour of the tail. The flesh in most 
is dark in colour, not white like the rabbit's. Tame rabbits, by the 
way, thrive well in India, but there seems to be no instance of their 
being established wild. Eight species of hares are found with us. 

COMMON INDIAN HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepusruficaudatus. Native: Khar- 
gos/t, Khard, Hindi ; Sdsra, Bengali ; Malol, Gondi ; Kulhai, Kol 
and Sontali ; Koarli> Korku ; Many a at Rajmehal. 

HABITAT. Central and eastern parts of Northern India, but not 
in the South- West Punjab, or in Sind or Western Rajputana. It 
does not ascend the hills. 

DESCRIPTION. A foot and a half or a little more in length of 
head and body ; ears decidedly longer than the tail, which is 4 in. 
with the fur. The female, as in the rabbit, is the larger animal, and 
may weigh five pounds. 

Fur of coarse quality, reddish-brown mixed with black above, 
without black on chest, legs, and upper-side of tail ; throat, belly, 
and under-side of tail white. 

Sterndale says : " The Indian hare is generally found in open 
bush country, often on the banks of rivers, at least as far as my 
experience goes in the Central Provinces. Jerdon says, and Me Master 
corroborates his statement, that this species, as well as the next, take 
readily to earth when pursued, and seem to be well acquainted with 
all the fox-holes in their neighbourhood, and McMaster adds that 
they seem to be well aware which holes have foxes or not, and never 
go into a tenanted one [no doubt warned by scent]. The Indian 
hare is by no means so good for the table as the European one, being 
dry and tasteless, and hardly worth cooking.'' Blanford, however, 
says " much of the usual inferiority is probably due to cookery. 
When jugged this hare is by no means unpalatable." The editor 
found that in Dehra Dun there was a notion probably well-founded 
that hares found near a station were not desirable as food, being 
presumably foul-feeders, as so many Indian creatures are near native 



ORDER RODENTIA 169 

habitations ; and this may account for the hare being unclean in 
Mosaic law. Blanford says that more than once he has found only 
a single young one in a pregnant female, though Hodgson says two 
are usually born. 

BLACK-NAPED HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Khargosh, Hindi ; Malla, Canarese ; 
Musal, Tamil ; Kundeli, Telegu ; Hava, Cingalese ; Lassa^ Mahratti. 

HABITAT. India south of the Godavari, and including the 
Nilgiris ; also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Easily distinguished from the last and all our 
other hares by the conspicuous patch of black velvety fur on the back 
of the neck ; otherwise similarly coloured, and also coarse-furred. 
Size about the same, but weight sometimes more, especially in the 
Nilgiris, where it may even reach eight pounds. 

The Black-naped Hare, on the Nilgiris at any rate, often takes to 
hollow trees when hunted. It breeds there from autumn to the 
beginning of spring, producing one or two young, and is often, if 
well kept and cooked, nearly as good eating as our British hare. 
According to Jerdon it has been introduced into Java and Mauritius. 

SIND HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepus day anus. Native : Lassa, 
Sa/io, Setter, Sindih. 

HABITAT. Most of the Indian desert east of the Indus, Sind, and 
Cutch ; Blanford, who gives these details, thinks it also occurs in 
the Derajat in the Punjab. 

DESCRIPTION. A little smaller than the common Indian hare, and 
with soft instead of harsh fur ; colour much more greyish above, and 
the most marked distinction upper-side of tail blackish-brown, its 
under-side, with the throat and belly, white. 

This hare chiefly affects desert districts. 

BURMESE HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepus peguensls. Native : Yung, 
Phu-goung, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Burma, but not in deep forest or coastland. 

DESCRIPTION. A little larger than the common Indian hare, and 
with large black tips to the ears and the top of the tail black ; all 
under-parts clearly defined, white. Head and body 21 in., but ears 
only 4! in. as against 5 in. in the common Indian species. 

This hare is apparently not at all well known, for Blanford says : 



1 70 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

" I am indebted to Major [later Colonel] Bingham for a good skin of 
this species, of which there was till recently no specimen in Europe." 

AFGHAN HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepus tibetanus. 

HABITAT. Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Upper Indus Valley. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of, or rather less than, the common 
Indian hare, but with soft fur and the ears broader in proportion to 
their length of 5 in. Weight, according to Blanford, three and a half 
pounds. Colour often more greyish than in the common animal, and 
tail marked above with a broad black stripe. The broad ears (3 in., 
laid flat) will distinguish it from the last two species. Although a 
mountain animal, it is found as low as 500 ft. above sea-level in 
Baluchistan. 

WOOLLY HAEE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepus oiostolus. Native : Rtgong, 
Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Tibet and Sikkim. 

DESCRIPTION. Larger than our common hares and with shorter 
ears in proportion, the ears being well furred, not nearly naked as in 
the ordinary species. Body fur more or less curly, especially in the 
young, soft in texture, thick and woolly, fawn-colour with some 
admixture of dark brown. Throat and belly white, rump grey, tail 
white. Young sometimes grey. Ears nearly 5 in. long, while the 
head and body measure 22 in. Hind-foot to hock 4^ in. 

This hare, according to Blanford, may ultimately prove, with the 
next, to be a variety of the widely-ranging Blue or Scotch Hare, but 
does not turn white in winter like that species. 

UPLAND HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepus hypsibius. 

HABITAT. Ladak and Rukshu, at high elevations. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our hares, measuring 2 ft. in head 
and body length, at least in skins, but with short ears for its size, 
4 1- in. in the skin, less than the hind-foot, which is 5 in. Darker above 
and with longer and woollier fur than the last ; tail all white, whereas 
in the last there are a few grey hairs at the root. 

Blanford, however, hints *that this may be only a variety of the 
woolly hare, which seems likely. 



ORDER RODENTIA 171 

HISPID HARE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lepus hispidus, Caprolagus hispidus. 
" Black Rabbit " of Dacca sportsmen. 

HABITAT. Himalayan Terai, ranging south to Dacca. 

DESCRIPTION. The most distinct of our hares, with the ears 
decidedly shorter than the head, instead of at least equal to it, small 
eyes, comparatively short hind-legs, and harsh, even bristly fur much 
mixed with long black hairs and of a general dark rusty grey or 
brown in colour above, dirty white below, with the tail altogether 
brown. Size about equal to the common hare, but the ears less than 
3 in., and tail about 2 in. The general appearance is very rabbit-like, 
so it might just as well be called " Rough Rabbit " as " Hispid 
Hare " ; and it may fairly form a distinct genus. 

It also burrows like the rabbit, but is not social ; its flesh is said 
to be white like a rabbit's, but the condition of the newly-born young 
is not known. In fact, very little is known about it at all, though 
native accounts credit it with living on roots and bark. It also 
frequents tree and grass cover. The more powerful teeth and claws 
in this animal would be enough to make one suspect a difference 
between its habits and those of ordinary hares. 

The Pikas (Lagomyidcz) are also called Piping or Calling Hares, 
or Mouse-hares, but they look more like Guinea-pigs than anything 
else, owing to their short legs, small size, short round ears, and the 
complete absence of a tail. In the character of their coats and the 
furry feet, however, they are hare-like, and resemble rabbits in their 
way of living, being social burrowers. They feed on herbage, and 
live at high elevations among rocks. Their piping call is in strong 
contrast to the general silence of their allies the hares. We have five 
species, all much alike, and none exceeding a guinea-pig in size. 

HIMALAYAN PIKA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lagomys royhi. Native : Rang- 
runt, Rang-duni, in Kunawar ; Gumchen, Bhutia. 

HABITAT. Kashmir eastwards to North-East Tibet and Kansu. 
Range from 11,000 to 16,000 ft. in our hills. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of a small rat, the head and body 
being 6\ in. Colour some shade of brown, with now and then a 
collar of paler tint, which is, however, narrow, not broad like the collar 
of the Red Pika presently to be noticed. The toe-pads of this species 
are exposed, and its ears of moderate size. 

Although this Pika most commonly occurs among rocks, it is found 



172 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

in steep pine-forests in the Eastern Himalayas. Four young have*been 
found in a pregnant female, but there seems to be no other information 
about the breeding of this or any of our other Pikas. 

HODGSON'S OR CURZON'S PIKA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lagomys curzonicz. Native : Abra, 
Tibetan. 

HABITAT. The Chumbi valley ; Blanford believes Sikkim also, 
at high elevations. 

DESCRIPTION. Rather larger than the last, with broad pale 
borders to the ears, which are also of moderate size in this species ; in 
the last, if there is a pale border to the ears, it is narrow. Colour pale 
sandy ; toe-pads concealed by hair. This is a rare animal, nearly 
related to the last. 

LARGE-EARED PIKA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lagomys macrotis, auritus. 

HABITAT. North of the Kuenlun range, and Gilgit, in the latter 
case at a wide range of elevation, from 7,500 to 13,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. About 7 in. in length, thus being intermediate 
in size between the last two species ; ears large for a Pika i in. long, 
whereas in the last two they are not more than f in. ; toe-pads visible. 
Colour from dirty buff to reddish- or darkish-brown, with the feet 
white, whereas in the Himalayan species they are brown, and in 
Hodgson's dirty white. 

The Large-eared Pika is locally abundant on open stony ground 
near the snow-line. 

RED PIKA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lagomys rufescens. 

HABITAT. Persia, Afghan Turkestan, Afghanistan, and the 
neighbourhood of Quetta. 

DESCRIPTION. Size about that of the Himalayan Pika, and ears 
barely longer, toe-pads also exposed ; but distinguished by a broad 
band of whitish hue across the nape ; general colour pale reddish- 
brown, becoming redder behind the pale collar in summer coat, especi- 
ally in front of the shoulders. This Pika ranges lower than the others, 
even down to 5,000 ft. 

LADAK PIKA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lagomys ladacensis. Native : 
Zabra, Karin, Phise Karin, Ladakhi. 

HABITAT. High elevations in Eastern Ladak and Rukshu, above 
14,000 ft. 



ORDER UNGULATA 173 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our Pikas, about 9 in. long, and 
with comparatively large ears, at least i in. long. Toe-pads hardly 
visible in winter, but bare in summer, when also the back is reddish, 
the general colour of the fur being pale yellowish -brown, often redder 
on the face. 



ORDER UNGULATA 

The Ungulata or Hoofed Mammals are animals of good to very 
large size our smallest being as big as a wild rabbit, a large animal 
for a rodent and of very varied form. All our species have the toes 
encased at the tips with hoofs or nails as opposed to claws ; and the 
limbs themselves are adapted solely for progress on the ground, 
not for grasping or digging. The toes are generally less than the 
primitive number of five, and the wrist and heel raised above the 
ground these joints are usually called knee and hock, the true knee 
in the hind-leg being generally tucked up close to the body. The 
body is usually bulky and comparatively short and stiff, the tail 
always thin and often short, and the legs, as has been well remarked, 
reduced to jointed sticks ; the back teeth are broad and specialised 
for grinding vegetable food, which is the sole diet of most. The 
other teeth are often more or less deficient, but may be developed into 
tusks in the males. These also often bear horns, and may differ much 
in appearance from the females, while the young are also often different 
from either in colour ; but they are born perfect and active, and 
closely resembling the parents in form, though generally with longer 
limbs, as they soon take to travelling. The hair of Ungulates is coarse 
and often thin or deficient ; the animals are, so to speak, campers on 
the surface of the ground rather than dwellers in dens. They are 
generally social and polygamous, and have keenly developed senses, 
being especially conspicuous for long-distance scenting powers. 

They are seldom directly dangerous to men, but often very 
destructive to crops. They are valuable for food and are the most 
important of game animals, besides furnishing the most important 
domestic species. 

Three easily distinguished sub-orders are found with us the 
ProboscideOj including Jjie elephant only; the Odd-toed Ungu- 
lates (Perissodactyld)> in which the chief and sometimes the only 
toe is the third the middle toe of the complete five-toed foot ; and 
the Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), in which there are^twcunajri 
toes, the third and fourth being evenly developed and flattened on 



174 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

as to fit like one split hoof, whence thesejmimals 



are often^c^Iled^cloven-hoofed^ 
~~~ I'HerroboscideaTontain only one family, the Elephants (Elephan- 
tidce), and we have one of the only two living species, the characters 
of which are given below. 

INDIAN ELEPHANT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Elephasindicus, maximus. Native : 
Hat hi (tt\a\),Hathni (female), Hindi ; Hasti, Gdja, Sanskrit ; Gdj, 
Bengali ; Ant, Southern Indian languages ; Fi! y Persian ; Allia, 
Cingalese ; Gaja, Malay ; Tsheng, Burmese ; Yani y Gondi ; 
Tengmti) Lepcha ; Langchen, Lamhoche, Bhotia ; Mongma, Naplo, 
Garo ; Miyung, Cachari ; Atche^ Aka ; Sotso^ Supo^ Chu, Tsu, 
Naga ; Sitte, Abor ; Tsang^ Khamti ; Magui, Singpho ; Saipi, 
Kuki ; Amieng) Manyong, Mishmi ; Sdmu, Manipuri ; Tsing, 
Talain ; Tsan, Shan ; Kdksa, Karen. 

HABITAT. India east to Borneo, and Ceylon, not ranging high 
in the Himalayas, but up to several thousand feet in the southern hills. 
Elephants are confined to forest districts, and their range has become 
much restricted within the last few centuries. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our land animals, and well known 
to everybody by the long trunk, at the end of which the nostrils are 
placed, with a finger-like process above and a lip-like one below them, 
which are used as finger and thumb, while the whole trunk serves as 
an arm. Lower lip small, pointed and spout-like. Head very large 
and neck short, body bulky, sloping from shoulders to croup, though 
the limbs, which are thick and very straight, are of about equal length ; 
wrist and ankle low down, and knee also set low, so that the limbs 
resemble those of the primates more than those of other Ungulates. 
All the five toes are also present, and joined into one pad, but only 
four bear nails in the hind-foot, and sometimes in the fore, which is 
larger and rounder. Tail thin and long, with a row of very coarse 
bristles on each side near the end ; with the exception of these, some 
long, thin, straggling hairs on the lower lip, and the well-developed 
eyelashes, the animal is usually almost hairless. Young elephants, 
however, have a good deal of hair, which may be quite thick on the 
head, and Bishop Heber records a small female " almost as shaggy as 
a poodle-dog/ 7 evidently a reversion to a hair-clad ancestor very like 
the extinct Mammoth, which was nearly related. Eyes very small 
and ears large and flat. 

Colour of skin slaty, the head and ears often with flesh-coloured 
patches speckled with black ; hairs black as a rule, but there is a red- 




ORDER UNGULATA 175 

haired race in Burma, and the white elephants, which are commoner, 
or, rather, less rare, in the eastern part of the animal's range, have the 
hairs sandy, the skin being flesh-coloured. The only one the editor 
has seen, exhibited recently in the London Zoo, also had the iris white 
instead of brown as usual. 

No teeth in the fore -part of the jaws except one pair of incisors, 
short and not noticeable in females, young, and some males known as 
maknas, which are vastly in the majority in Ceylon ; but the ordinary 
male or tusker has these incisors in the form of very long, continually 
growing ivory tusks. A tusk of 8 ft. is jecorded. 

Grinders very long, composed of alternating plates of harder 
enamel and softer ivory ; 
only one and a half are in 
use at a time, for these 
teeth are being cut during 
all the animal's lifetime, 

moving forwards from the ^_^__~ 

back, so that the half-tooth Grinder of Elephant (upper surface), 

may be either one that 
is nearly worn out or about to be shed, or one that is coming into use. 
The total number is six for each side of each jaw, and the part of 
the tooth exposed is but a small portion of its total depth. Sterndale 
says : u In the wild state, sand and grit, entangled in the roots of 
plants, help in the work of attrition, and, according to Professor 
Boyd Dawkins, the tame animal, getting cleaner food, and not having 
such wear and tear of teeth, gets a deformity by the piling over of the 
plates of which the grinder is composed. An instance of this has 
come under my notice. An elephant belonging to my brother-in- 
law, Colonel W. B. Thomson, then Deputy Commissioner of Seeonee, 
suffered from an aggravated type of this malformation. He was 
relieved by an ingenious mahout, who managed to saw off the project- 
ing portion of the tooth, which now forms a paper-weight. In my 
account of Seeonee I have given a detailed description of the mode in 
which the operation was effected. 

The skull of the elephant possesses many striking features quite 
different from any other animal. The brain in bulk does not greatly 
exceed that of a man, therefore the rest of the enormous head is formed 
of cellular bone, affording a large space for the attachment of the 
powerful muscles of the trunk, and at the same time combining 
lightness and strength. This cellular bone grows with the animal, 
and is in great measure absent at birth. In the young elephant the 
brain nearly fills the head, and the brain-case increases but little in 
size during growth, but the cellular portion increases rapidly with the 



176 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

growth of the animal, and is piled up over the frontals for a consider- 
able height, giving the appearance of a bold forehead, the brain 
remaining in a small space at the base of the skull, close to its articula- 
tion with the neck ... the brain itself is highly convoluted. The 
nasal aperture or olfactory fossa, is very large, and is placed a little 
below the brain-case. Few people who are intimate with but the 
external form of the elephant would suppose that the bump just above 
the root of the trunk, at which the hunter takes aim for the ' front 




Elephant's Skull in Section, (b) Brain-case ; (s) cellular part of skull ; (n) nasal 
opening ; (m) grinder. 

shot ' is really the seat of the organ of smell, the channels of which 
run down the trunk to the orifice at the end." 

" As regards the size of elephants," Sterndale says, " few people 
agree ; the controversy is as strong on this point as on the size of tigers. 
I quite believe few elephants attain to or exceed 10 ft., still there are 
one or two recorded instances, the most trustworthy of which is Mr. 
Sanderson's measurement of the Sirmoor Rajah's elephant, which is 
10 ft. 7 1 in. at the shoulder a truly enormous animal. I have heard 
of a tusker at Hyderabad that is over 1 1 ft., but we must hold this open 
to doubt till an accurate measurement, which I have applied for, is 



ORDER UNGULATA 177 

received. Elephants should be measured like a horse, with a standard 
and cross-bar, and not by means of a piece of string over the rounded 
muscles of the shoulder. Kellaart, usually a most accurate observer, 
mentions in his Prodromus Fatmce ZeylaniccR having measured a 
Ceylon elephant nearly 12 ft. high, but does not say how it was done.' 7 

The elephant is liable to malformations of the tusks. " I have 
heard,' 7 says Sterndale, " of their overlapping and crossing the 
trunk in a manner to impede the free use of that organ." The editor 
well knew an elephant, Jingo, formerly shown in the London Zoo, 
which had precisely this defect. 

Neither Sterndale nor Blanford mentions the individual differences 
in elephants by which Indians divide them into different castes : the 
Koomeriah, a massive majestic animal ; the Mirga, the opposite 
extreme, a long-legged weed ; and the Dwasala, the average middle- 
class elephant, such as most specimens are. 

The habits of elephants have long been well known, and need only 
a brief summary here. They frequent high grass as well as forest, 
and feed on grass as well as on leaves, twigs, bark, and fruit. They 
usually drink twice a day, filling the last foot or so of the trunk with 
water, and then squirting it into the mouth. Tame animals eat loose 
grain in the same way. They require a very large quantity of food, 
Sanderson having found six or seven hundred pounds of green fodder 
to be only a day's supply for one. 

The females and young are gregarious, but males are often solitary, 
not only young animals which have not gained a position as herd-bull, 
but the old bulls themselves, which do not always stay with their herds, 
and often become dangerous u rogues," so that the idea that such 
noxious animals are soured by expulsion by a rival is not always 
correct. It is said to have been noticed that rogues became more 
common during the Great War when, of course, little shooting went 
on and a recent writer states that probably any male elephant over 
a certain age is a dangerous animal for an unarmed man to meet. 
Rogues have a price set on their heads, but otherwise elephants are 
protected in our Eastern empire. The leader of the herd is never 
the herd-bull, but a female. 

Elephants are fond of bathing as well as wallowing, when the 
weather is hot ; they also squirt water over themselves, and even, 
when none is available procure it by thrusting the trunk into the 
mouth. The editor has seen an animal in the London Zoo behave 
thus when heated, and noticed that the water was full of particles of 
bread, etc., so that it is evidently the fluid contents of the stomach 
that are thus utilised, rather than some internal secretion, though 
such a secretion may form part of it, At any rate the elephant has 

N 



178 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

. 

no water-storing arrangement in its interior such as is found in the 
stomach of the camel. Elephants are fond of shade, and will often 
take up dust, etc., to cover their backs when exposed to the sun. 
They are restless animals, but remain quiet during the middle hours 
of the day and night. They lie down when sleeping, but are seldom 
seen thus. When kneeling down, they extend the fore- legs in front, 
and really kneel on the two knees behind, the feet extending back- 
wards ; they go down steep hills in this way, resting on the wrists or 
fore-" knees " when going up such places. They will also use their 
feet to make footholds where possible, and owing to this adaptability 
of limb are remarkably good climbers for their huge bulk and weight. 
They can only walk or trot or rather shuffle, being, it is said, so 
incapable of any sort of spring that they cannot cross a trench 6 in. 
beyond the length of their stride, which in a large specimen is 6| ft. 
This is attributed to the straightness of their limbs, and if disabled in 
one hind-leg they are helpless, no doubt for the same reason, so that 
the tiger sometimes captures an unwary young one by tearing out 
its hind-leg tendons with his claws and then waiting till the herd 
has at last left it. Elephants are powerful and enduring but very slow 
swimmers, and support their young, if very small, at such times with 
their trunks calves rather older ride on their dams' backs in the water. 

At birth the calf is only i yd. high, with the trunk i ft. long and 
not very flexible ; it begins to eat grass at about six months old. 
Usually only one is born, though twins occur at times, and the 
gestation period is from eighteen to twenty-two months. While 
quite small, the calf runs under its mother's body ; it sucks with the 
mouth like other young mammals, but the teats of the parent are not 
placed as in other ungulates, but in the arm-pit another resemblance 
to the primates. Calves are usually born from September to 
November , they are rarely produced in captivity in most places, 
but not uncommonly in Burma, and quite regularly in Siam. 

Elephants are not mature till after twenty-five years, and are 
supposed to live till 150 ; captive ones have been known to exceed 
a century. The adult male becomes periodically mast or mad, and is 
then dangerous, but warning of the attack is given by an exudation 
from small holes in the temples ; and Sanderson observed this in 
some females also. 

The most acute sense of the elephant is smell, but the trunk has a 
well-developed sense of touch, and the skin generally is more sensitive 
and easily injured than would be expected from its thickness. 

The animalis highly-strung and emotional, and has even been known 
to shed tears when forced to leave its home, while large specimens 
when caught and tied will even die at times from shock. It is natural 



ORDER UNGULATA 179 

that the beast should be nervous of soft ground, as it is in great danger 
of getting bogged in such circumstances. Many are also timid with 
othjgr animals, and not every one is suitable for shikar by any means. 
^Besides the " trumpeting " and a roar, the elephant emits an alarm- 
callby blowing through the trunk while rapping it on the ground, 
besides rumbling in the throat if discontented, and squeaking through 
the trunk in pleasure^ 

About the intelligence of the elephant there is much difference 
of opinion. Sterndale says : "I think one as often sees instances of 
decided stupidity on the part of elephants as of sagacity, but I think 
the amount of intelligence varies in individuals. I have known cases 
where elephants have tried to get their mahouts off their backs two 
cases in my own district ; in the one the elephant tried shaking and 
then lying down, both of which proved ineffectual ; in the other it 
tried tearing off the rafters of a hut and throwing them over its back, 
and finally rubbing against low branches of trees, which proved 
successful. The second elephant, I think, showed the greatest amount 
of original thought ; but there is no doubt that the sagacity of the 
animal has been greatly overrated. . . . 

" On the other hand, we do hear of wonderful cases of reasoning on 
the part of these creatures. I have never seen anything very extra- 
ordinary myself; but I had one elephant which almost invariably 
attempted to get loose at night, and often succeeded, if we were 
encamped in the neighbourhood of sugar-cane cultivation nothing 
else tempted her ; and many a rupee have I had to pay for the damage 
done. This elephant knew me perfectly after an absence of eighteen 
months, trumpeted when she saw me, and purred as I came up and 
stroked her trunk. I then gave her the old sign, and in a moment she 
lifted me by the trunk on to her head. I never mounted her any other 
way, and, as I used to slip off by a side rope, the constant kneeling 
down and getting up was avoided.'' 

On this subject, Blanford remarks that the elephant is remarkably 
docile, no other known mammal being capable of domestication when 
adult to the same extent, and that docility in animals is frequently 
confounded with intelligence. 

This is true, but it must be remembered that docility alone will 
not enable an animal to learn much it must have some intelligence 
to grasp what is required of it, and elephants from ancient times 
have been known as capable of being taught very many tricks. Also 
individual differences in intelligence must be taken into account, as 
well as the highly-strung nature of the elephant, nervousness often 
inhibiting intelligence even in man. The propensity of an elephant 
to put anything it can seize under its fore-legs when in danger of being 



180 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

bogged, which makes it then so dangerous to its riders, seems to 
indicate intelligence, and also the cunning of " rogues." Napier, 
imported with other elephants into the Andamans for timber-work, 
was at large for fourteen years, and was so cunning that he would never 
return from an excursion by the same route as that by which he had 
gone out. Trainers and keepers who work with elephants are, the 
editor believes, impressed with the sagacity of the animals, and 
they would seem to be the best qualified to judge ; in any case, this 
subject is perhaps the most interesting connected with this wonderful 
animal. 

A few lines may be added on the one living relative of our elephant 
and on its ancestry. The African elephant differs from the Indian in 
being taller and slighter, with an evenly rounded forehead like the 
young of our species, in having two lips at the end of the trunk, and 
no finger, and only three nails on the hind-feet ; while there are tusks 
in both sexes, and the pattern of the grinders is different. But the 
most conspicuous difference is in the ears, which in the African animal 
are enormous, meeting on the nape above, and reaching down to the 
throat below. In size it is at its best larger than the Indian animal, 
but it varies much locally, and a pigmy race exists in West Africa 
in which a full-grown male is not bigger than a dray-horse. The 
species also appears less docile in captivity and fiercer when wild, 
as well as less sensitive to sun and less dependent on the neighbourhood 
of water. 

The remains of various ancestral elephants lead from the Mastodons, 
best known from America, to various proboscideans disinterred in 
Egypt by that admirable naturalist the late Dr. Andrews, and end 
in a form about the size of a hog with a very short trunk and several 
incisors, the upper outer ones rather enlarged and pointing downwards, 
which afterwards changed direction and became the tusks, while the 
front teeth of the lower jaw disappeared in time, the jaw ultimately 
shortening and the whole skull becoming high and short. 

The limbs, however, were from the first very much the same as 
they are at present, having merely become elongated while the body 
became shorter. 

These early forms were no doubt well covered with hair, of which 
the Mammoth had a plentiful coat ; and, as we have seen, remains 
of this occur in our species to-day. 

The Perissodactyla, or Odd-toed Ungulates, contain three families, 
with but a single genus in each the Horses, Tapirs, and Rhinoceroses. 
The Horses (Eguida) are distinguished by having but a single toe 
on each foot, with a large rounded hoof ; the Tapirs (Tapiridai) by 



ORDER UNGULATA 



181 



being odd-toed only behind, where there are three toes on each foot, 
while the fore-feet are four-toed, though here also the third toe is the 
biggest ; the Rhinoceroses (Rhinocero tides) by having three toes 
on all feet. 

We have only one species of the Horse family, which, in spite of 
their notoriously noisy gait, are the most confirmed tip-toe walkers 
of all animals, going on the end of one toe only. 




Asiatic Wild Ass. 



THE ASIATIC WILD ASS 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Equus hemionus, anager. Native : 
Ghor-khar, Hindi ; Ghour^ Kerdecht, Persian ; Koiilan, Kirghiz ; 
Kiang, Dzightai^ Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Western Asia east to Central Asia and south to North- 
West India to Bikanir and the Rann of Cutch. 



1 82 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. Stands from n to 12 hands at the shoufder, 
which is lower than the croup, and in general form resembles a mule, 
with the ears longer than in the horse but shorter than the ass's, and 
the tail more bushy than the ass's, but less so than that of the horse. 
Mane short and erect, " chestnuts " present on the fore-legs but not 
on the hinder pair. Colour dun or chestnut, sometimes sandy grey, 
with the muzzle, legs, and under-parts white, and the mane, tail-tuft, 
and a stripe down the back dark brown. 

There are two well-marked varieties, the Southern or Onager, which 
is lighter in colour, and the Kiang or Central Asian, which is darker 
and redder, with a rather thick coat in winter. This is often the 
larger, and looks more horse-like in fact, some writers have actually 
called it a horse, while from ancient times the other has always been 
called an ass or a " wild mule." The two forms have often been, and 
are still sometimes, ranked as distinct species, but such good all-round 
naturalists as Blyth and Blanford have united them, and in zoological 
matters it is generally the most scientific policy to follow the 
" lumpers " rather than the " splitters )} where species are concerned. 
The Asiatic Wild Ass lives in herds of very various sizes as few as 
four or as many as a thousand having been seen together, but a score 
would probably represent the average. It frequents dry or actually 
desert open country, generally plains, but also takes to the hills, where 
it is a fine climber like the mule. It feeds on grass and other herbs, 
and has an incredible power of thriving on little food ; a writer in the 
Geographical Journal \ Colonel Meinertzhagen, in 1927 relates how 
he found some grazing, and on going to the spot and gathering 
every plant to be found in an area of 100 yards by 10, got not 
enough to make a meal for a guinea-pig ! 

This creature is the swiftest of all wild equines, and can rarely be 
fairly run down by one rider, though Blanford relates that some have 
been ridden down and speared on the Rann of ditch. He believes, 
however, that these specimens were mares in foal in which case the 
act was a most brutal one. The foals are supposed to be born, in our 
trans-Indus territory, from June to August. Some foals are captured 
by being ridden down by relays of horsemen, and the animal is well 
known in captivity, both in the East and at home. Sterndale says : 
" I remember we had a pair of these asses in the Zoological Gardens 
at Lahore in 1868 ; they were to a certain extent tame, but very 
skittish, and would whinny and kick on being approached. I never 
heard of their being mounted." 

Some met with by Colonel Waddell at Lhasa made friends at once 
with the British forces' mules, and two which were being taken home 
of which only one arrived, the other having been drowned en route 



ORDER UNGULATA 183 

though they would not bear being mounted, could be handled, and 
consented to wear ponies' rugs at night. 

Some of the ancients could go further than this with them, for 
Herodotus says that the Indian contingent of Xerxes' great army had 
chariots drawn by wild asses. 

The Onager race has always been esteemed for sport and even for 
food, being, curiously enough, lawful meat for Mohammedans at the 
present day. 

The Kiang is regarded by sportsmen in Tibet rather as a nuisance 
than anything else, its curiosity and noisy galloping antics scaring off 
game which they desire to shoot. 

There is a difference of opinion as to whether the Asiatic ass 
neighs or brays, some observers crediting it with the one noise and 
some with the other. Apparently " the brays have it." 

As so many people in India are interested in horses, it may be worth 
while to mention that the real original wild horse as opposed to the 
" feral " descendants of escaped stock such as the American mustangs 
is now known to exist in Western Mongolia. It was originally 
described as a new species, Equus prjewalskii^ but is a most obvious 
hog-maned, switch-tailed, black-pointed dun pony, only differing 
from some tame horses in having no forelock, and the first few inches 
of the tail short-haired. In winter the coat is thick, and bay rather 
than dun. The foal has mane, legs and tail nearly all dun. 

The Tapir family, most of the very few species of which are 
American, has also only one representative with us. 

MALAYAN TAPIR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tapirus malayanus, indicus. 
Native : Tara-shu, Burmese ; Kuda ayer, Tennu, Malay. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim to Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION. A thick-set animal of pony size, standing from 
9 to over 10 hands, and recalling both a pig and a pony in appear- 
ance ; the snout is longer than a pig's and much more flexible a short 
trunk, in fact ; the ears are small and rounded, and the tail very short. 
The four toes of the front feet and the three of the hind all bear hoofs, 
but the weight is also partially borne on foot-pads behind these. 
Coat very short and close throughout, with no trace of the short hog- 
mane of the American Tapirs. Colour very remarkable ; in the adult 
white on most of the body, black on the limbs and the whole fore- 
quarter except the tips of the ears, which are white ; in the young, 
until about five months old, black, boldly streaked and spotted with 
pale markings, which are buff on the upper and white on the lower 



184 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

parts ; the trunk is also much shorter than in the adult, and the coat 
so close that the little animal looks as if painted. Young American 
Tapirs are also like this, though the adults are utterly unlike our species 
in their colour, which is brown. 

The Tapir has a well-developed set of incisors in both jaws, like 
the horses, but the teeth are mostly smaller, and have not the " mark " 
on the crown. The outer upper pair are canine-like, and indeed 




Malayan Tapir. 

bigger than the small canines. The grinders are tubercled, more like 
primate than ungulate teeth. 

The Tapir is a shy forest animal, fond of water, and feeding on 
succulent vegetation. It is easily tamed, but not very common in 
captivity ; in fact, no Tapir is abundant, nor have any ever been so, 
judging by the rarity of fossil remains. Yet this family have a wider 
range over the globe than the more active and abundant horses. 
Their feet are particularly interesting as showing a stage through which 
ancestral horses passed. The coloration also, although so different 
in the young and adult states, is protective in both cases, in our species 
at least, for the young animal is said to be invisible when lying down in 
cover in the hot hours, its spots on the dark background simulating 
sun-flecks, while the adult, when living near rocky streams, is similarly 
protected by resembling when in repose a grey boulder. The animal 
is fond of water, and is said to be able to walk along the bottom 
when out of its depth. 



ORDER UNGULATA 185 

The Rhinoceroses (RhinocerotidcE) are the only mammals with 
three toes on all feet. They are large generally huge beasts with 
naked or very sparsely hairy skins, long bulky bodies, short legs 
in which the joints are placed as in ordinary quadrupeds, not as in 
elephants and large heads on short necks, the profile being concave 
or "dished" till the nose is reached, which is decidedly arched, 
and ends in a lip pointed in all our species. The eyes are small, and 
the ears oval and moderate. The three hoofs of the feet do not 
support the whole weight, which rests in part on a pad behind them. 
The tail is thin and short. The skin in all our species but not in 
the African two is thrown into more or less marked folds. 

What has given these animals celebrity, however, is the horn or 
pair of horns if one can speak of a pair when the two horns, when 
present, are set tandem fashion, not abreast as in other two-horned 
animals. 

The single horn is always on the bulged bones of the nose, as is 
the first of two, the second being on the forehead about above the eye. 
These are the only horns which are genuinely horny all through, those 
of cattle, antelopes, etc., being composed of a bony core with a mere 
plating of horn, like claws and hoofs, while the horns of deer are pure 
bone: 

(^This " genuineness " of the rhinoceroses' horns may have been the 
reason why the horns were so much esteemed in olden times for the 
manufacture of drinking-cups, the legend being that any poison 
poured therein would split them. The Chinese still value them as 
medicine, and Indians consider the urine medicinal.^ to \xj^\ 

vT.his idea has had some effect in reducing the numbers of these 
animals in Asia at any rate ; while their flesh is also good eating and 
their thick hide was much used for shields, being capable of turning 
even a bullet when dried, though not on the living animal when fired 
at direct.) 6 C^c }^\ 

In any case, however, they are solitary and not conspicuous with 
us even where they do occur, frequenting high grass or forest, where 
they feed on the local vegetation, and being silent animals. They 
are fond of water and of wallowing in mud ; and although so unwieldy 
can trot and even gallop freely. 

Their grinders are well developed, but the teeth in the fore-part 
of the jaws deficient ; but in the lower jaws there are in our species 
two short sharp tusks variously regarded as canines or outer 
incisors, which are used in attack. Our three species are easily 
distinguished by the special characters of their skins, of which the 
two main folds, common to all, are found, one behind the shoulder, 
and the other in front of the haunch. They have one young at a 



i86 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



birth, but estimates of the gestation period vary, from over to under 
a year. 




Great One-horned Rhinoceros. 

GREAT ONE-HORNED RHINOCEROS 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhinoceros unicornis. Native : 
Gainda, Genra^ Gargadan, Hindi ; Gonda, Bengali ; Gor, Assamese. 

HABITAT. Low country of Assam, The distribution has long 
been in process of reduction ; in the nineteenth century the animal 
extended along the Terai to Nepal and Sikkim, and in the sixteenth 
ranged even to Peshawar according to the Emperor Baber, who, 
like so many of our own soldiers of repute, was an excellent practical 
naturalist. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our rhinoceroses and the fourth 
largest land mammal, the other three being the African and Indian 



ORDER UNGULATA 187 

elephants and the African Square-lipped or " White " Rhinoceros. 
The record height at the shoulder is 5 ft. 9 in., but the horn rarely 
exceeds i ft. There is no difference in its length, or indeed any other 
obvious difference, in the two sexes. Skin very strongly tubercled 
and thrown into heavy folds, which form collars round the throat, the 
last of which is deepest and forms a conspicuous horizontal dewlap 
in front of the chest ; on the shoulder a fold runs back from a fold 
which crosses the nape, but dies away before it reaches the shoulder- 
fold. Colour of skin slate ; it only bears hair on the ears and tail. 

The "great Indian rhinoceros, now so sadly restricted in range, is 
the most celebrated of all, the single horn and mailed appearance of 
the skin having much impressed the ancients, who did not know much 
of the other species. It lives chiefly in grass jungle, where the height 
of its cover secures it from observation. It is believed to be a grass- 
feeder, and to live for a hundred years at any rate it has lived for 
about half that time in captivity, more than once. A pair lived forty- 
five years in the Barrackpore Park, and Blanford cites fifty or sixty 
years. The only voice of the beast recorded is a grunt. It has a 
curious habit of forming piles of dung by depositing it in the same 
spot, and in captivity has a trick of grinding its horn down flat against 
any available hard surface. 

Old writers made much of the supposed enmity of the rhinoceros 
to the elephant, and elephants themselves believe in it still, and so 
do their mahouts. Blanford says the animal is quiet and harmless 
as a rule, but it is quite possible that it has not always been so, since 
it is obvious that in animals capable of inflicting harm those that are 
also willing and anxious to do so are most likely to come into conflict 
with man and be killed off, which must in time have its effect on the 
race. Elephants, we know, are very nervous, but if any wild animals 
were inclined to attack them it would be a " rogue " rhinoceros, if 
such existed or still exist, since they are the most obvious rivals. In 
any case this fine beast should never be shot now unless it shows 
vice or on the rare occasion of a royal visit, for which it is worthy game. 
It could quite possibly be domesticated and used for haulage or 
ploughing ; the editor when in India heard of one which was used 
as a pack-animal to carry a rajah's ladies' attire to be washed, and the 
old rulers of India used to put rhinoceroses into the battlefield with 
iron tridents fastened to their horns, a use which implies some amount 
of discipline, j) 

All rhinoceroses, however, are rare in captivity ; in seven years 
in India the editor, though constantly in touch with Calcutta dealers, 
never saw one on sale. Not only their scarcity, but the fact that, 
compared with the elephant, they are a poor show and of little use, 



i88 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



accounts for this and for their high price, governed by the small 
demand, 




Outlines of Burmese Rhinoceros (above) and Indian Rhinoceros (below) to show 
difference in skin-folds. 

BURMESE OR LESSER ONE-HORNED RHINOCEROS 

OTHER NAMES Scientific: Rhinoceros sondaicus. Native: 
Gainda, Hindi ; Kyeng, Kyan-tsheng y Burmese ; Kunda, Kedi> 
Kweda, Naga ; Bdddk, Malay. 

HABITAT. Locally from the Sundarbans east to Borneo, and 
except, of course, in the first-named locality, on hilly ground up to 
perhaps 7,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. The name Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros is not 
very appropriate, as the difference in size is not apparently very great, 
a specimen of the present animal of 5 ft. 6 in. high being on record ; 
while Blanford, though saying its head is much smaller than that of the 
last, gives the same basal length 23 in. to the skulls of both, while 
assigning less than 2 in. difference in width, though breadth of skull 
is, as he notes, a variable character in rhinoceroses. 

Skin tessellated, but not tubercular, and showing a little hair 
on the upper parts ; throat-fold before the shoulder not hanging below 
the anterior ones, and folds generally less heavy. Fold proceeding 
from the nape-fold running nearly straight up and forming a second 
nape-fold, just before the shoulder, so that the nape-skin is bounded 
by folds at each end. Colour of skin as in the last ; horn shorter, 
and apparently not found in the female, which is commonly hornless. 



ORDER UNGULATA 189 

This rhinoceros, which may just as well be called Burman as Javan 
so many Indian animals having Burman representatives is not 
only different in haunts and food from the last, but is said to be more 
gentle in disposition ; not much, however, is on record about it, 
though it is so much more widely distributed than the other. 







Hairy Two -horned Rhinoceros. In distance Burmese Rhinoceros (above) and 
Indian Rhinoceros (below). 

HAIRY TWO-HORNED RHINOCEROS 

.OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Rhinoceros sumatrensis, lasiotis. 
Native : Kyan-shaw, Burmese ; Bdddk, Malay. 

HABITAT. Tipperah east and south to Siam and Borneo ; rare 
in Assam. 

DESCRIPTION. Considerably smaller than any other rhinoceros, 
barely reaching 4 ft. 6 in. at the shoulder ; but the first of the two 
horns this species possess is far longer than the horns of our others, 
reaching 32 in. The second horn is quite short. Skin with a thin 
coat of hair something like a buffalo's, the ears and tail particularly 
hairy ; skin-folds not so well marked as in the other species, and that 
before the haunches dying out before it reaches the back. Colour 
of skin some shade of brown, with the hair either brown or black. 
The amount of hair is also variable, the so-called Hairy-eared or Ear- 
fringed Rhinoceros, once regarded as a species, being merely an 
especially hairy and reddish variety. 

The Hairy Rhinoceros is particularly interesting, as exhibiting 
some remains of the full coat which invested the Woolly Northern 
Rhinoceros of the Stone Age, and also as forming a link between the 
other Asiatic species and the smooth- skinned, two-horned African 
kinds. 

Like the last species, it is a forest animal and goes some distance 



190 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

up the hills. The type of the Hairy-eared variety was caught in 
Chittagong in 1868 owing to getting bogged in a quicksand. It was 
noticed that when approached by elephants when tied up she roared 
with fright, and when conducted to a river could not swim, but 
only paddle enough to keep her head above water, so that she had 
to be towed. Anderson, however, heard of a rhinoceros being seen 
swimming in the sea in the Mergui Archipelago. The Chittagong 
rhinoceros above alluded to made the record price for a wild animal, 
the London Zoological Society having paid ^1,250 for her. 

Mason says the Karens are afraid of a " fire-eating " Rhinoceros, 
the animal being supposed to attack fire. Blanford doubts this, but 
Mason quotes an African author on the propensity of one of the 
African species to do so. Rhinoceroses have poor sight, but good 
hearing, and their scent is keen. They are touchy animals in some 
cases, and there would be nothing more wonderful in such a beast 
charging on the scent of fire and glare than in most mammals being 
scared by these ; reaction to a strange stimulus need not necessarily 
be the same in all. 

Of the even-toed ungulates we have, counting the domesticated 
camel, five families : 

The Pigs (Suidce) differ from all our other hoofed mammals in 
their long conical snout terminating in a vertical disk in which the 
nostrils are pierced ; the Camels (famelidce) in having two toes only, 
padded rather than hoofed, the two small back ones being absent. 

The Chevrotains or Mouse-deer (Tragulidce) are like tiny hornless 
deer, not reaching a yard in total length, but have the mouth more 
deeply cleft than in deer, approaching the carnivores in this respect. 
All our other even-toed ungulates are over a yard in length. 

Of these, the Hollow-horned Ruminants (Bovidcz) are distinguished, 
in the case of the males and of most females, by having horns con- 
sisting of a bony core encased in a horny sheath. Oxen, goats, sheep, 
and antelopes belong to this group, the most varied of all mammalian 
families. 

In the Deer (Cervidce) the males, except the Musk-deer, dis- 
tinguished by his long tusks, have in all our species branched horns 
(properly called antlers) which really have no horn in them at all, 
but are, as above remarked, pure bone \ they are also not permanent, 
but shed and renewed regularly. Female deer cannot be distinguished 
by any general character from hornless female antelopes, but only by 
knowledge of the particular species ; however, as no one has any 
business to be shooting either, this does not matter so much. Possibly 
the two families ought really to be united* 



ORDER UNGULATA 



191 



Pigs (Suidce) are among the most distinct of animals in appearance ; 
in addition to the peculiarity of their snouts above-mentioned, their 
heads are large, their eyes and ears small, their 
necks very short, their bodies heavy and their 
legs comparatively small. The back hoofs are 
better developed than in most of the even-toed 
group, and in all the feet all the foot- bones are 
perfect and separate, as in mammals with paws. 
The mouth is deeply cleft as in carnivores. 

Pigs have also a full set of teeth ; the lower 
incisors are peculiar in projecting forwards, and 
the canines in the males project out of the mouth 
as tusks, the upper as well as the lower pair 
inclining upwards. These teeth grow continu- 
ally like the incisors of rodents, and are so 
placed as to wear each other to an edge, being 
used in attack for ripping. The short-tusked 
sows bite like most other mammals, a rare 
action in even-toed ungulates. 

The grinders are adapted for more or less 
succulent food, rather like our own, and not so 
much for consuming harsh grass and twigs. 
Pigs, as all know, are omnivorous, and freely 
eat any animal food they can get, while in 
their vegetable diet, though eating grass, herbs, 
and shoots, they show a strong liking for such articles as roots and 
fruits both hard and soft. In fact, their diet is practically the same 




Bones of Pig's Foot, 




Teeth of Boar. 



192 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



as that of the bears among the carnivores ; but while the bears dig 
for hidden food with their claws, the pigs " root " it up with their 
strong gristly snouts They use their fore-feet in feeding, however, 
to hold down food. Their coats are thin, harsh, and bristly, and the 
young porkers differ much from the adult, being striped. The tail 
is small, and poorly covered. 

Several are born in a litter, and are not so active and independent 
at first as most young hoofed animals, being concealed in a nest for 
a few days. 

Although much valued as food wherever religion does not prohibit 
their use, pigs are in some respects most noxious animals, owing to 
their destructiveness to crops of various kinds ; the males are also 
often dangerous. On the other hand, they destroy snakes, etc. 

They are cunning and very courageous, keen-scented, and far 
more active than would be expected from their heavy build. Their 
habits are sociable, though the herds are not. very large as a rule, and 
greatly attached to cover, where they pass the day. 

They are fond of water, and delight in wallowing in mud ; but 
they are not naturally dirty animals, their bad reputation in this 
respect being derived from unfortunate tame pigs kept in close 
captivity. 

Only three species are found in our area. 




Wild Boar. 

INDIAN WILD BOAR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sus cristatus, indicus. Native : 
Suar, Bura- or Bad-janwar, Hindi ; Dukaru, Mahratti ; Paddi, 
Gondi ; Pandi^ Telegu \ Handi> Mikka, Jenadi, Canarese ; 



ORDER UNGULATA 193 

Rajmehal ; Tan-wet, Burmese ; Walura, Cingalese ; Gurdg, Kuk, 
Persian ; Katu-pani, Tamil ; Bir Sukri, Ho Kol ; Sukaram, Mala- 
barese ; Band, Nepalese ; Ripha, Phdk, Bhotia ; Sarao, Daphla ; 
Bali, Techim, Mishmi ; Sniang, Khaso ; Vdk, Garo ; Omar, Hono, 
Kachari ; Kubak, Tharo, Kashag, Mengi, Vdk, Naga ; Eyeg, Abor ; 
Mu, Khamti ; Ok, Manipuri ; Vu, Kuki ; Wa, Singpho ; Kalet, 
Talain ; II to, Karen ; Mu, Shan ; Babi utan, Malay. 

Some of these names, where several are in use in one place, pre- 
sumably indicate differences in age or sex, like our words " boar/' 
" sow," and " porker " or " pig." 

HABITAT. Indian Empire generally, including Ceylon, but not the 
outlying island groups. In the hills this boar ranges up to 15,000 ft. ; 
but Blanford thinks the species inhabiting Afghanistan and Balu- 
chistan may be the European form (Sus scrofd}, which is stouter in 
build and has a woolly under- coat, and the last grinders smaller. 

DESCRIPTION. Height from about a yard at the shoulder, or even 
an inch or two more, in males, down to about 2 ft. in the small Malay 
Peninsula race. Coat coarse, developed into a crest on the spine, 
becoming thinner downwards. Tail thin, fringed at the tip, barely 
reaching the hocks. Colour grizzly or rusty grey, blacker in the 
younger animals, the mane, cars, and feet black ; some specimens are 
dull brown. First coat of young pigs dark brown striped lengthways 
with buff. 

Tusks of full-grown male up to 9 in. long, though a foot, including 
the root portion, is on record. Where feeding is good, in Bengal, 
the swine are heavier in build than in less fertile tracts ; a boar may 
weigh four maunds. 

Sterndale says : " It is gregarious, living in herds, usually called 
sounders. . . . An old boar is generally the chief, but occasionally 
he gets driven from the herd and wanders solitary and morose, and 
is in such a case an awkward customer to tackle. An old boar of this 
kind is usually a match for a tiger, in fact few tigers, unless young and 
inexperienced, would attack one. I have known two instances of 
tigers killed by boars ; one happened a few miles from the station of 
Seeonee, to which place we had the animal carried. On another 
occasion, whilst on tour in the district, a deputation from a distant 
village came into my camp to beg of me to visit them, and shoot 
a large boar which had taken possession of a small rocky hill, and from 
it made his nightly forays into their ricefields, and was given to 
attacking those who approached him. I went and got the boar out 
and shot him, but lost a tiger, who also sneaked out and broke through 
a line of beaters ; these two were the sole occupants of this small 
isolated knoll, and lived evidently on terms of mutual respect. The 

o 



194 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

boar was the largest I had ever seen or killed, but, as the sun was 
getting fierce, and I had far to ride to camp, I regret I left him to the 
villagers without taking any measurements. It is allowable to shoot 
hogs in some hilly part of India where riding is out of the question, 
otherwise the shooting of a boar in riding country is deservedly looked 
upon as the crime of vulpicide would be in Leicestershire a thing not 
to be spoken of. The boar possesses a singular amount of courage ; 
he is probably the most courageous of all animals, much more so than 
the tiger, but unless irritated he is not prone to attack at first sight, 
except in a few cases of solitary individuals, like the one above men- 
tioned. I was once rather ludicrously and very uncomfortably held 
at bay by a boar who covered the retreat of his family. One evening, 
after dismissing my amldh, I took up a shot-gun, and, ordering the 
elephant to follow, strolled across some fields to a low scrub-covered 
hill where I thought I might pick up a few partridges or a pea-fowl 
before dusk. On entering the bush which skirted the base of the hill 
I was suddenly brought up by a savage grunt, and there in front of me 
stood an old boar with his bristles up, while the rest of his family 
scampered off into the thicket. I remembered Shakespeare's (the 
poet's not the gallant shikari general's) opinion : 

' To fly the boar, before the boar pursues, 
Were to incense the boar to follow us/ 

and therefore stood my ground, undergoing the stern scrutiny of my 
bristly friend, who cocked his head on one side and eyed me in a 
doubtful sort of way, whilst he made up his mind whether to go for 
me or not, whilst I on my part cogitated on the probable effect at close 
quarters of two barrels of No. 6 shot. However, he backed a bit, 
and then sidled to the rear a few paces, when he brought up with 
another grunt, but, finding I had not moved, he finally turned round 
and dashed after his spouse and little ones. . . . J believe a wild pig 
will charge at anything when enraged. I had an elephant who, 
though perfectly staunch with tigers, would bolt from a wild boar. 
The period of gestation is four months, and it produces twice a year ; 
it is supposed to live to the age of twenty years, and, as its fecundity 
is proverbial, we might reasonably suppose that these animals would 
be continually on the increase, but they have many enemies, whilst 
young, among the felines, and the sows frequently fall a prey to tigers 
and panthers. Occasionally I have come across in the jungles a heap 
of branches and^grass, and at first could not make out what it was, but 
the Gonds soon informed me that these heaps were the nests or lairs of 
the wild pigs, and they invariably turned them over to look for 
squeakers. . . . Many castes of Hindus, who would turn with abhor- 
rence from the village pig, will not scruple to eat the flesh of the wild 



ORDER UNGULATA 195 

boar. On the whole it is probably a cleaner feeder, but it will not 
hesitate to devour carrion if it should come across a dead animal in its 
wanderings:" 

BANDED OR ISLAND PIG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Susvittatus^ andamanensis. Native: 
Babi utan, Malay. 

HABITAT. Malay Peninsula and islands east to Flores ; Anda- 
mans and Nicobars. 

DESCRIPTION. The Banded Pig is better called Island Pig, as it 
mainly inhabits islands, and is in some races self-coloured, without 
the tan band along the muzzle which commonly distinguishes it ; the 
hair along the spine is black, the body dark brown and tan. The 
Andaman and Nicobar race is all black, and of small size, Andamanese 
specimens being only about 20 in. at the shoulder, though Nicobar 
ones are rather larger, with noticeably larger grinders. The last of 
these teeth is shorter than the two preceding ones taken together, 
while in the common Indian boar it is longer in the lower jaw, and 
generally in the upper also. 

The tail in the Island Pig is short, and in the Nicobar race covered 
scantily with long hairs ; the young are striped with buff and brown as 
usual. 

The editor had an opportunity of bringing two young boars of the 
Andaman race, still showing stripes, from the Andamans to the 
Calcutta Zoological Gardens, and one of them bred with a sow which 
had been there some time. Although she looked like a very hairy 
domestic pig, the young were fully striped, and very lively and playful. 
In the Andamans this pig is a favourite game animal of the native 
pigmy hunters, who always dock the tail of those they kill. 

Mr. Miller, the American naturalist, though, as Lydekker states in 
his Catalogue of the Ungulate Mammals in the British Museum, 
referring the Andaman pig to the Banded or Sus vittatus group, yet 
emphasises its relationship to the Tenasserim form of the Indian boar, 
which looks as if it might be ancestral to both, and appears to connect 
the two. 

PIGMY HOG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sus salvanius, Porcula salvania. 
Native : Sano banel, Nepalese. 

HABITAT. Himalayan Terai. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest pig known, less than i ft high at 
the shoulder. Upper tusks short, tail very short, and naked like the 
ears ; snout shorter than in the large pigs. Coat very coarse and 



196 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



scanty, some shade of brown in colour ; young striped brown and 
buff. 

The Pigmy Hog goes in herds of about a dozen, comprising both 
sexes ; it is seldom met with, and, owing perhaps to unfamiliarity with 
man, is remarkably fierce, the males attacking readily. It is extremely 
good eating, and, as it is too small to be seriously dangerous or destruc- 
tive, is worthy of a wider distribution. It is very rare in captivity ; the 




Pigmy Hog. 

editor has only seen one living specimen, and that not in India, but in 
the London Zoological Gardens. 

The Ruminants, to which all the remaining Ungulate families 
belong, all have the incisors wanting, or nearly so, in the upper 
jaw, where there is a hard pad against which the lower incisors 
bite ; the lower canines are generally incisor-shaped, and lie 
close up against the true incisors. Their characteristic act of 
rumination, or chewing the cud i.e. the food they have hastily 
swallowed is connected with their complex stomach, which always 
has three, and generally four, compartments : the very large paunch, 
which comes first, and is a storage bag like the crop of some birds ; 
the honeycomb-bag (reticuluni) lined with hexagonal cells ; the 
reed or true digestive stomach (abomasum) which comes last, and the 
third compartment, not present in all the families, which is lined with 
folds like the leaves of a book, and is called the manyplies (psalterium). 
When enough food has been collected in the paunch, the animal 
seeks repose, and, often lying down, chews over again the food, which 



ORDER UNGULATA 197 

rises up in boluses into the mouth, and again swallows it. Thus the 
food, gathered without loss of time, is made the most of at leisure. 

Of the two families in which the stomach lacks the third compart- 
ment or manyplies, the Camels (Camelidce) are only represented with 
us by the tame 

ONE-HUMPED CAMEL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Camelus dromedarius. Native : 
Unt. 

HABITAT. Only known in the domestic state, chiefly in Northern 
Africa, east to Arabia, and Northern India, though escaped animals 
have reverted to the wild state in Spain and in Australia. 

DESCRIPTION. This is hardly necessary, but some structural 
peculiarities may be noticed. The outer incisors are present in the 
upper jaw, and the young have the full set ; there are normal canines 
in both jaws, and the first grinders are canine-like ; thus the beast has 
a formidable set of pointed teeth, and fights by biting, unlike other 
ruminants. The first and second compartments of the stomach both 
have water-storage cells which can be closed, but the well-known 
power of abstaining from water is largely a matter of training, and in 
any case is only for a few days, and is not to be compared with that of 
many other mammals not provided with storage arrangements. 

The equally well-known hump, which is mostly composed of fat, 
absorbed in time of dearth, is very variable, and little developed in 
the fast camel or dromedary breed ; there is no sign of it in the skeleton. 
The curious two-toed padded feet, with blunt claws rather than hoofs, 
are supposed to be especially adapted to traversing sand ; and camels 
are, indeed, mostly used in dry countries, and are apt to slip and dislocate 
the hind-legs unless the hocks are tied when brought on to muddy 
ground. But camels bred on such land can traverse it, and the wild 
camels of Spain inhabit marshes. Camels can subsist on very coarse 
vegetation and are very destructive in forests ; the males are also very 
savage in the rutting season, when they blow out the soft palate like a 
red bladder. They lie down squarely, tucking the limbs under them 
like carnivores, not sideways as most ungulates do, and there are 
horny pads on the breast and on the true knee or stifle which is let 
down very low to support the weight. 

The Chevrotains, Deerlets, or Mouse-deer (Tragulidce) form the 
other family without the manyplies compartment of the stomach, 
and exhibit a considerable approach to the pigs in structure, though 
looking like small hornless deer. They were formerly classed mis- 
takenly with the Musk-deer. They have the deep mouth of a pig, and 



198 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

the front grinders are narrow with cutting edges, though the- lower 
canines are incisor-like, and the upper incisors wanting, as in the typical 
ruminants. The upper canines are developed into long tusks in the 
males, and project from the mouth, but downwards in the ordinary way, 
not outwards as in boars. The feet, though like those of deer or antelopes 
outwardly, and especially slender, have the bones of the small outside 
toes fully developed as in pigs, running right up under the skin to the 
wrist or knee, and heel or hock. The hind-quarters of the little animals 
are high, and the tail and ears short ; they lie down as camels do, and 
also sit up like carnivores. They are solitary and secretive, live in 
forests, feeding on more or less succulent vegetation and fallen fruit, 
and have one or two young at a time. They are particularly interest- 
ing as survivals from a time when all ruminants were hornless. We 
have only four species, all belonging to the genus Tragulus, about the 
size of hares or rabbits, and with short close-lying coats, coloured alike 
in adults and young. In captivity these animals should be fed on 
salad and sliced roots and fruit, and be well bedded down or kept, if 
in cages for transport, on a cane-barred floor, as a hard uniform floor 
results in swollen and enlarged hocks. They have bred in captivity, 
and are sometimes, but rarely, brought to Europe. 




Indian Chevrotain. 



MEMINNA OR INDIAN CHEVROTAIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Tragulus meminna. Native: Pisari, 
Pis or a, Pisai, Hindi ; Mugi, Central India ; Turi-maoo, Gondi ; 



ORDER UNGULATA 199 

Jitri-haran, Bengali ; Gandwa^ Una ; Yar, Kol ; Wal-muha^ 
Cingalese; Kmu-pandi^(.^\i\ Kuram-pandi^Taxml] Kur-pandi^ 
Canarese. 

HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION Tail very short, hardly half length of head ; 
throat and backs of legs hairy as in most ungulates ; colour olive with 
lines of more or less pure white spots along the body, throat striped 
with white. Height up to i ft. at shoulder, length a little over 18 in. 

Sterndale, who kept some young specimens, says : " They are 
timid and delicate, but become very tame, and I have had them 
running loose about the house. They trip about most daintily on 
the tips of the toes, and look as if a puff of wind would blow them away." 
In spite of this fairy-like attribute, the gait is stiff, and Indians believe, 
as Europeans used to about the elephant, that they have no knee- 
joints. At large the Meminna takes refuge and spends the heat of 
the day in crevices in rocks, and here the young usually twins are 
brought forth at the end of the rains or the beginning of the cold 
weather. The rutting-season is about the middle of the year, and then 
only are the pair found together. The voice is a weak bleat. 

It is said that the animal fears to go about much when leaves are 
falling, lest these, being pierced by its little hoofs, should act as clogs. 

The last one the editor saw alive, at the shop of Mr. G. Palmer, 
in London, was so tame that it could be handled and nursed by 
children. 

KANCHIL OR LITTLE MALAY CHEVROTAIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tragulus javanicus, kanchil. 
Native : Kanchil > Pelandoc, Malay ; Yun, Burmese. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim east to Java ; Cambodia and Cochin 
China. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest of our hoofed animals, only about 
1 8 in. in length of head and body ; tail more than half as long as head, 
throat and backs of all legs below knee and hock naked. Colour 
brown, nape and back mostly black ; three white longitudinal stripes 
on throat. 

This little animal, famed in Malay folk-lore for its cunning, like 
the fox in ours, is said to abound in Malay mangrove- jungle. Like 
the last species, it will breed in captivity, though also timid and delicate. 
The young may be single or twins. 

Probably these minute ungulates really are very cunning, other- 
wise they could not have survived through long ages, being defenceless 
and not prolific. The present one is the most abundant and widely 



20O 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



distributed species, and so is very likely the best able to look after 
itself. 




.. 
Larger Malayan Chevrotain. 

NAPU OR LARGER MALAY CHEVROTAIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tragulus napu. Native : Napu, 
Malay. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our species, over i ft. at the 
shoulder, and more than 2 ft. long. Tail about as long as head, 
throat and backs of lower hind legs bare. Coat coarser than in the 
small species, and colour much greyer and not so reddish, especially 
on the flanks. Five white stripes on the throat, not always distinct. 

The Napu is not nearly so common an animal as the Kanchil, 
and is not credited with so much acuteness. 

RED OR STANLEYAN CHEVROTAIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tragulus Stanley anus. 

HABITAT. Malayan Peninsula and islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Intermediate in size between the Kanchil and the 
Napu, but distinguishable from both by its brighter and more uniform 
chestnut coloration, with little or no black along the neck. 



ORDER UNGULATA 2OI 

The typical Ruminants, with incisiform lower canines, and complete 
ruminant stomach but incomplete foot-bones to the small side toes, 
are divided into the two families of Deer or Antlered Ruminants 
(Cervidce) and the hollow-horned and very varied Bovidce. 

The latter, containing such very different types as the buffaloes and 
gazelles, are hard to describe generally except by the character of the 
hollow bone-cored horns, absent in some females. In size, shape, 
length of tail, and character of coat there is very great variation, and 
also in habits. 

One curious trait is, however, to be noted, the tendency for the 
females to develop greater speed than the males, though this is found 
in deer also. 

The Sheep (genus Ovis) are short-tailed animals, with fairly long 
legs and short, blunt, compact hoofs, with the small back hoofs much 
reduced so as not to be readily noticeable. The wild forms may have 
a woolly under-coat, but no wool is to be seen on the surface, the 
visible coat being composed of close-set hair, mostly short. In fact, 
the animals would look more like deer than sheep were it not for the 
horns, which are very characteristic, thick at the base, and rapidly 
tapering and arching outwards and downwards, with a spiral tendency. 
In the females, however, they are much shorter and tend more to a 
simple backward curvature. Sheep may be ruifed, but are never 
bearded on the chin like goats, nor have the males the strong odour 
of those animals. In all the feet there are gland-pits between the two 
large front hoofs. 

Sheep are hill animals, and good climbers, but do not usually 
frequent such broken and difficult ground as goats ; they also live 
mostly on herbage, not being so fond of browsing. They are swift 
of foot and keen of scent and sight, so that the open and comparatively 
easy ground they often frequent makes them all the harder to stalk. 
They are perhaps the best of all game animals, affording plenty of 
scope for skill, a fine trophy and the finest of mutton, while at the same 
time doing no harm, which cannot be said of all game. 

In stalking sheep, as in the case of all mountain game, it is impor- 
tant to get above them, as they look out for danger chiefly from below. 

We have three species, two of which vary much locally. 

ARGALI 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ovis ammon, hodgsoni, poll. 
Native : Nyan or Nyanmo (female), Hyan, Nyang, Nyand, Tibetan ; 
Kuchkar^ Mesh (female), Wakhan. 

HABITAT. Central and Northern Asia from Bokhara to Western 



2O2 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



Kamtchatka. There are nearly a dozen local races, of which two 
come into our area the Tibetan race, hodgsoni, in North Ladakh, and 
the Pamir race, poli, in Hunza. Both are high-level animals, the 
Tibetan in summer ranging about 15,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of known sheep, reaching nearly 



-~-^ i /:; ;siS 




Argali (Pamir or poli race). 



12 hands at the shoulder in the Tibetan form, the Pamir variety 
being rather smaller, but still over 40 in. Ewes are but little smaller 
than rams. Tail very short, only 3 in. with the hair. A short mane 
down the back of the neck, and in our races at least, a ruff on the front 
and sides of it, in old rams. Colour brown above, white on the 
limbs, muzzle, ruff, and stem ; mane black or blackish, but wanting 



ORDER UNGULATA 



203 



in ewes, which also are less pure and distinct in the white parts. There 
is a gland-pit below the eye. Horns of rams of huge size and strongly 
wrinkled, in the hodgsoni race extremely 
thick at the base, describing nearly a 
circle and then turning out a little. A 
length of 57 in. round the curve is 
recorded, and a basal girth of 19 in. 
Ewes' horns are said to reach 2 ft., but 
are generally 6 in. less. The poll race 
has less massive but much longer horns, 
describing the full circle and then turn- 
ing outwards and backwards for about 
half as much ; such horns have even 
reached 75 in., and, though 17 in. is 
the record girth, are naturally far more 
imposing in appearance than the more 
massive Tibetan type. About 3 ft. for 
a ram of this race, and 4 ft. for a Pamir 
poli ram, would be fair measurements. 
The more western typical Argali, found 
outside our limits, has measured 62 in. 
in length of horn and 20 in. in basal girth. 

Although many game animals exceed this giant sheep in size, its 
gallant carriage and splendid horn-curves give it unsurpassed dignity, 




Horns of Argali (Tibetan race). 




Horns of Argali (Pamir or poli race). 

and its high speed, which is not affected by the rarefied atmosphere 
which tries other animals so severely, and keen sight and scent, are 
worthy of its appearance. 

In summer rams associate in small flocks by themselves j they are 



204 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

often difficult to find, even where numerous, as they are so local in 
their habits that one may range over a good deal of country and be 
within a mile or two of a flock without knowing it. 

When found, too, the ground they are on is often too open to give 
a chance of stalking such vigilant animals successfully, while attempts 
to drive them result in scaring them off altogether. Thus the hunt 
resolves itself into waiting till the animals shift their ground into a 
locality which gives the stalker a chance, a combination of circum- 
stances which has given the Argali the reputation of being one of the 
hardest of game animals to bring to book. 

Its chief natural enemies are the large Tibetan wolves, which 
account for many in winter, and should always be killed off anywhere 
near sheep ground, if possible. 

There was a report that the poll sheep were much reduced in 
numbers, but a recent American expedition to the Pamirs reported 
coming across, altogether, about a thousand rams and six hundred 
ewes. 

The rutting-season is in mid- winter, and the young are born 
about mid-summer. 

These giant sheep appear to be exceedingly rare in captivity ; 
the editor has only seen one captive Argali, a male specimen exhibited 
in the London Zoological Gardens some years before the war. This 
was of the Ammon type. 

URIAL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ovis vignei, cydoceros. Native : 
Utial, Punjabi ; Koch, Gad, Gar and (female), Baluchi and Sindhi ; 
Ska, Ladakhi (with suffix po for ram and mo for ewe) ; Urin^ Astor ; 
Kar, Gad (female), Brahui ; Koh-i-dumba, Afghan. 

HABITAT. Central Asia from Turkestan, east to North- West 
India, descending to sea-level locally in Sind and the Punjab. The 
Tibetan race or Sha (vignei) used to be considered distinct from the 
Baluch and North- West Indian Urial (cydoceros)^ and the two represent 
local races of the species, which has other local forms elsewhere. 

DESCRIPTION. Of about ordinary sheep size, seldom over i yd. 
at the shoulder in the Ladak race or Sha, which is the larger. Tail 
absolutely as well as relatively longer than in the Argali 4 in. No 
mane, but a ruff in full-grown rams, in two halves on the throat. 

Colour, pale reddish-brown in summer, drab in winter, limbs, 
belly and stern white in adult rams, ruff black, or in old animals black 
and white ; a more or less black patch behind the shoulder ; ewes 
and young nearly uniform brown. A gland-pit below the eye is 
present. 



ORDER UNGULATA 



205 



Horns of ram wrinkled, describing nearly a circle, about 2 ft., 
but ranging up to a length of 37! in. round the curve, and a basal 
girth of ii | in., a more ordinary girth being 10 in. The horns of 
the Sha form are the more massive, but its ruff is said to be poorer. 
Ewes have but short and slightly curved horns. 

The Urial differs from all other wild sheep in having a wide range 
in elevation and a corresponding tolerance of climate from the cold 
of Tibet, at 14,000 ft., to the heat of Indian low levels. 




Urial (the hair below the chin is a neck-ruff, not a beard). 

Its haunts are also varied, from open valleys in Ladak to rocky 
hill-sides in the Salt Range ; it sometimes enters scrub-jungle, and 
may be found on bleak and barren mountains or on grassy ground 
below forest. It is fond of salt, and hence often found near salt- 
mines. 

The herds vary from three to ten times that number, and generally 
contain both sexes, though in the summer rams often associate away 
from the ewes. In the Punjab Urial mate in September, but as in 



206 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Astor the lambs are born early in June, the inference is that the mating 
is later there, unless the gestation period be more than six months, 
which seems unlikely it has been variously given as seven and four. 
Domestic sheep go about five months with young. Urial will 
sometimes associate with these, and have bred with them freely. 
This is probably a case of species-crossing, as tame sheep are evidently 
derived from the European Mouflon (Ovis musimon), which has a 
most tame-sheepish face and " baa," while the Urial is said by 
Blanford to have " a kind of bleat," implying that the note is not 
quite the same. It also utters an alarm-whistle. 




Skull of an Argali-Urial Hybrid (once named as a species, Ovis brocket). 

A very interesting case of the rare crossing of species of wild 
mammals has been recorded of this species by Sterndale, but in the 
Proceedings of the London Zoological Society, and not in his book 
on Indian mammals. A male Argali, it seems, took and kept 
possession of a flock of Urial ewes in Zanskar for some time, and 
sired many lambs before wolves killed him in one winter. The 
hybrids proved fertile and bred back to the Urial, and the flock thus 
reverted to the Urial type. The half-bred Argali-Urial, which the 
natives also called Nyan-sha, were rather large animals with white 
ruffs ; the quarter- Argali- Urial, of the second generation, were more 
like Urial, with some black on the neck, but more massive horns. 
A hybrid between Argali ewe and Urial ram has also been found 
with a flock of Argali. 

The Urial at its western limit, the Kopet Dagh range dividing 
Turkestan from Persia, is, according to Lydekker, large in size 
the horns sometimes measuring nearly 4 ft. round the curve and very 
white in the ruff, thus approaching the smaller races of the Argali, 
some of which inhabit regions not far removed. This seems to show 
there had been interbreeding at some period ; as sheep are easily 



ORDER UNGULATA 



207 



driven away from a region, gaps in the distribution might well occur ; 
or possibly it was in this region that Urial and Argali began to be 
differentiated. The Red Sheep (Ovis orientalis) of Asia Minor is 
said to approach the Urial type locally, while on the other side it is 
connected with the Mouflon ; and in Eastern Kamtchatka we get a 
race of the American Bighorn (Ovis canadensis), an animal which 
comes next to the Argali in size and is even more variable locally. 
It looks very much as if all the sheep of the most typical kinds 
Argali, Urial, Mouflon, etc. were, like their age-long enemies the 
wolves, varying races of one species distributed all round the Northern 
Hemisphere. 




Bharal. 

BHAEAL OR BLUE SHEEP 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ovis bharal, nahura. Native : 
l^ Bharut, Hindi ; Na, Sha, Tibetan ; Nervati, Nepalese ; 
Gnao, Bhutanese ; War, on the Sutlej. 

HABITAT. Yarkand and Tibet to Moupin and Kuenlun, and 
along the axis of the Himalayas sometimes south of it, but always 
at levels of about 10,000 ft. up to 16,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. About ordinary sheep size, rams about i yd at 
shoulder, but ewes decidedly smaller. Tail much longer than in 
our other two species 7 in. in rams ; no ruff or mane. Colour very 



208 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

distinctive, grey, bluer in winter and browner in summer ; belly and 
stern white, as are the limbs, except for black marks down the front. 
The tail-end is also black, and the ram has a black face, fore-neck, 
and flank- stripes separating the grey and white portions. 

Horns of ram much smoother than in our other sheep, arching 
outwards at first, but then turning back ; thus they look like ordinary 
sheep horns in front, but from the side are rather like an S, whereas 
in the others they form a C or Q, according to length. They have 
been known to reach over 30 in. (32*1 and 30*5) with a girth of 13 in., 
but 2 ft. for the length and n-in. girth are the more usual thing. 
Ewes have small diverging horns shorter than the head. No gland- 
pit below the eye. 

In this and several points the Bharal is more like a goat than a 
sheep, and, especially in form of horns, comes very near the Caucasian 
goat Capra cylindicornis, but it has neither bearcl nor scent, does not 
resemble any goat in colour, and certainly looks sheepish, not at 
all goat-like, in general appearance. In its habits, however, it is 
partially goat-like, frequenting precipitous and humanly inaccessible 
ground as well as undulating country ; it avoids even bush-cover 
and keeps to levels above forest. It is very hard to see when lying 
down among rocks, as it often does ; and even captive specimens in 
the London Zoological Gardens, where the species bred well, were, 
as the editor can testify, often quite hard to make out on the rockwork 
in the enclosure they occupied some years ago. 

The herds are sometimes large, even up to a hundred animals, 
the sexes associating except, generally, in summer. This species is 
equally good as mutton as the others ; but it will not breed with tame 
sheep as Urial do, so far as is known another proof of its goat affinities, 
for it is very doubtful if goats ever breed with sheep even when both 
are tame, much less produce fertile hybrids with them, though there 
is a very ancient belief that they do, possibly founded on the existence 
of hairy tame sheep of various kinds. 

The goats (genus Capra) are generally similar to sheep, but have 
no gland-pits below the eyes or between the large hoofs of the hind- 
feet, while they carry their tails, which are never so short as in some 
sheep, more jauntily, and, in the male sex at any rate, have chin- 
beards and a strong scent. Their coats often show some long hair, 
and they may be with or without woolly under-fur. Their horns, in 
the males, are very different from those of sheep, less massive, cork- 
screw- or scimitar- shaped, not at all C-like. 

In habits, too, they differ considerably, having less speed, but 
being far better climbers, frequenting precipitous and broken ground, 



ORDER VNGULATA 



209 



and often entering cover. Thus they are more easy to stalk in some 
cases, but their pursuit is dangerous on account of the bad ground. 

They browse much as well as feeding on herbage, and like a greater 
variety of food than sheep ; hence they can more easily pick up a 
living. The females are good eating, but the males too rank for 
European tastes, though natives like the meat. 




Markhor (race with open-spiral horns). 

MARKHOR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Capra megaceros,jerdoni>fahoneri, 
Native : Mark/tor, Afghan, Panjabi, and Kashmiri ; Rdche, Ladakhi ; 



2IO 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



Rezkuh, Matt (male), Hit, Haraf (female), Brahui; Pachiti, Sard 
(male), Buzkuki (female), Baluchi. 

HABITAT. Mountain ranges in Afghanistan, south of Kashmir, 
east to the Chenab, Baltistan, Astor, Gilgit, Hazara, and near Quetta. 




Markhor (race with screw-spiral horns). 

DESCRIPTION. A very variable animal the most so of all goats 
and perhaps of all ruminantsbut distinguished by the homs^Lthe 
giale always being like some t kind of screw, and by the female,,- unlike 
those of other wild goats, being bearded on the chin. Coat with no 
under-fur or hardly any, brown in summer and grey in winter, nearly 



ORDER UNGULATA 211 

white in old males in summer. These are not only well bearded on 
thT^Hln7~^r'veiy~sEaggy down neck and breast as well ; the front 
of the beard is black, and the tail and front of the lower part of the 
legs also dark, while the kids, which are drab, have a dark streak 
down the spine. 

Horns of males vary greatly according to locality, the spiral, 
which turns outwards at first, being like that of a corkscrew in Pir 
Panjal specimens, and even more open in those from Astor and 
Baltistan. This is \hzfahoneri form. The Cabul form, megaceros, 
has the horns much straighter, but with the open twist. The Sule- 
man Range form, jerdoni, looks very different, the horns being more 
like an ordinary screw than a corkscrew, with a close spiral running 
round a straight core. The various forms, however, though once 
considered distinct species, run into each other, but the last is smaller 
than the rest some of which may be about 3 ft. 6 in. at the shoulder 
in males and less fully bearded. Femaleshave short twisted horns. 
The best horns of the open-spiral variety may measure over 5 ft. 
round the curves, and nearly 15 in at the base, but horns 4 ft. when 
thus measured are good ; and this measurement would be near the 
record for the straight, close-spiralled form, 49 in. being the limit. 
Measured straight from base to tip the dimensions are naturally much 
less. 

The Markhor frequents the most difficult and dangerous groknd 
of any game, \^^^z,^^^^^vcSi^^ the best of all this agile group, 
and keeps to forest wlierever this exists, though in summer the does 
range above it. Owing to its want of under-fur, it is comparatively 
sensitive to cold, and cornes down to the valleys when snow falls 
on the heights. 

The young may be twins or single, and are produced in May and 
June, at any rate in Astor and Gilgit. The animals will breed in 
captivity in Europe, and have crossed with tame goats. 

The editor has seen a case in which a Markhor buck in the London 
Zoological Gardens was worsted in a fight with a much smaller 
Mouflon ram, but possibly in the open the result might have been 
different. 

HIMALAYAN IBEX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Capra sibirica. Native : Sakin, 
Skin, Dabmo (male), Danmo (female), Ladakhi ; JBuz, Kunawar ; 
Kail, Kashmiri ; Tangrol^ Kulu ; Skin, Balti. 

HABITAT. Altai to Himalayas as far as the source of the Ganges. 

DESCRIPTION. A thickset goat of large size, but not so big as 
the largest Markhor, and more heavily built. Coat with no long 



212 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



hair except the full chin-beard, confined to the male, which has also 
a coarse mane on the spine. Colour brown in summer coat, very dark 
but diversified with whitish back-patches in old bucks ; in winter 
dirty white. Extremities and the "beard and mane of bucks dark. 




Ibex (Western form). 

Under the winter coat is a thick growth of wool. Buck's height 
about 40 in. at shoulder ; does much smaller, in fact, a third less. 
Horns broad in front, knobbed at intervals, narrow behind ; they 
curve backward in scimitar shape. Four feet round the curve is 



ORDER UNGULATA 213 

very good, but 6 in. more is on record. Does have horns about i ft. 
long, rough, and oval in section, not triangular like the bucks 7 . 

Our Ibex, which is hardly more than a large,, fine full-bearded 
race of the well-known European Ibex (C. ibeoc} now only found in a 
few places in Piedmont is an animal of high elevations at all seasons, 
its thick coat enabling it to stay more or less near the snow-line even 
in winter, when it takes to steep places where much snow cannot 
lie. The rutting-season is at this time, and the sexes then associate ; 
but in summer old bucks go to the steepest places at great elevations, 
where they spend most of the day, coming down to feed in the mornings 
and evenings. 

The young, single or twins, are born in May and June. Ibex 
set sentries when feeding, which warn the herd by a whistle. Wary 
as they are, however, the nature of their haunts renders stalking fairly 
easy. They are much shot for the under- wool, or pashm ; but this is 
a wasteful way of obtaining the article, and it would be wiser to 
obtain male kids to rear and experiment in crossing them with tame 
goats, as the hybrid would probably be fertile, and the fine pashm 
could be bred into the tame stock, some breeds of which have such a 
coat already. 

PASANG OR WILD COMMON GOAT 

OTHER NAMES. -Scientific : Capra &gagrus y hircus. Native : 
Pasang (male), Boz (female), or Boz-Pasang, Persian ; Borz, Afghan ; 
Sair, Sarah, Phashin, Pachin, Borz-Kuhi (last for male), Baluch ; 
Chank (male), Hit, Haraf (female), Brahui ; Ter, Sarah, Sindhi. 
Often called Sind or Persian Ibex by sportsmen, but the name Ibex 
is best kept for the last species only, leaving Pasang for the present 
one. 

HABITAT. High ground from Western Asia to Sind. With us 
it does not extend east or north of the Bolan Pass and Quetta, near 
which place it meets the Markhor, and hybrids have been found, 

DESCRIPTION. Extremely like many of the tame goats descended 
from it ; but the female is beardless, while tame she-goats usually 
have a small thin beard. Beard of male full, but confined to chin ; 
a neck -mane in winter. Coat bright brown in summer, greyer in 
winter. Old bucks have the face, spine, tail, and beard black, and 
black stripes down the legs ; and their coat is lighter than the does'. 
In winter, if in a cold climate, there is an under-coat. Height of a 
buck about i yd. at shoulder ; does are smaller. 

Horns with the same curve as in the Ibex, but very different other- 
wise, the fronts being sharp-edged and jagged and the backs rounded ; 
anything much over i yd. along the curve is good, but 52 J in. is on 



214 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

record ; but the girth of these at the base was only 7 in., as opposed 
to over ii in. in record horns of the Ibex. Female horns are small, 
nearly upright, and oval in section. Doe Pasang can be distinguished 
from doe Ibex also by being white underneath, Ibex being pale brown 
there. 

The Pasang, which is simply the ordinary goat in its original 
wild state, and might be called Wild Goat if the name were not so 
indefinite, is found low down in our limits, but haunts cliffs and crags, 
and is extraordinarily active. Its young number from one to three, 
and Blanford thinks they are born early in spring in Sind, having 
seen a very young kid caught on March nth. With regard to tame 
goats, Sterndale says : " Mr. Blyth some years ago pointed out 
that a hind- quarter of goat with the foot attached can always be told 
from the same piece of mutton by the absence of the feet-pits in the 
goat. ... I noticed in 1880 at Simla herds of goats with horns quite 
of the Markhor type, and one old fellow in a herd of about one hundred, 
which was being driven through the station to some rajah's place in 
the vicinity, had a remarkably fine head, with the broad flat twist of 
the Markhor horn. I tried in vain to get a similar one ; several 
heads were brought to rne from the bazaar, but they were poor in 
comparison. Goats are more prolific than sheep. The power of 
gestation commences at the early age of seven months ; the period is 
five months, and the female produces sometimes twice a year, and 
from two to occasionally four at a birth. The goat is a hardy animal, 
subsisting on the coarsest herbage, but its flesh and milk can be 
immensely improved by a selected diet. Some of the small domestic 
goats of Bengal are wonderful milkers. I have kept them for years 
in Calcutta for the use of my children, and once took two of them 
with me to Marseilles by the c Messageries ' steamer. I prefer them 
to the larger goats of the north-west. My children have been 
singularly free from ailments during their infancy, and I attribute 
the immunity chiefly to the use of goats' milk drawn fresh as required." 
With regard to the resemblance of some tame goats 7 horns to those 
of Markhor, Kinloch has pointed out that the spiral runs in a different 
direction in the two cases, turning outwards in the Markhor and 
inwards in the tame goat when screw-horned. There are, however, 
exceptions to this, and the fact that Pasang and Markhor have been 
known to interbreed, as noted above, and that Markhor breed readily 
with tame goats, indicates that there may be a Markhor strain. in 
some, if the hybrid be fertile. As, however, there is a screw-horned 
breed of tame sheep in Eastern Europe, and in this case Markhor 
admixture is out of the question, it is on the whole probable that 
tame goats are practically pure Pasang. 



ORDER VNGULATA 



The Tahrs (genus Hemitragus) are effeminate-looking, short- 
horned, beardless goats, but have as strong an odour as the more 
ordinary kinds, and resemble them in other respects. We have 
two of the three known kinds. 

HIMALAYAN TAHE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hemitragus jemlaicus, Capra jem- 
laica. Native : Tehr y Jehr, near Simla ; Jharal, Nepalese ; 
Krds, Jagla, Kashmiri ; Jhula (male), Tahrni (female), Kunawar ; 
Esbu (male), Esbi (female), on Sutlej above Chini ; Kart, Kulu and 
Chamba. 

HABITAT. Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. A yard or a little more at the shoulder in the 
buck, the doe much smaller. 
Colour, brown of various shades, 
generally dark, darkest in old 
bucks, drab in the young. Coat 
all round the neck very full in 
old bucks, forming a shaggy 
mane down to shoulders and 
knees. Tail carried low. Horns 
compressed, sharp-edged in front, 
diverging and bending back- 
wards, and only about i ft. long 
even in bucks, though 16^ in. 
is on record. Female horns are 
not much shorter than the aver- 
age buck's, and may measure 
10 in. The female has four 
teats, whereas she-goats gener- 
ally have only two. 

The Tahr likes high levels, 
but seldom goes above forest, as > 
it likes cover, especially in the 
case of the male ; the ground it 
frequents is nearly as bad as Tahr. 

Markhor country in fact, the 

two on the Pir Panjal are found together, according to Kinloch, who 
says that Tahr ground proper has one advantage over Markhor 
ground in that there is usually something to hold on to if one slips. 
Oak and ringal are the favourite cover. 

Tahr become very fat in autumn, and Indians then like even the 
old buck, although it smells much worse than other goats. 




2l6 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Mr. R. I. Pocock has observed, in the case of specimens kept in 
the London Zoological Gardens, where the species has lived and bred 
well, that the smell, which is only perceptible at certain seasons, is 
not the usual goat odour, but resembles that of cormorants. The 
female is good eating even for Europeans, like she-goats generally. 
Does go with young for six months, and generally produce one only, 
in June or July. Hodgson, who gives these details, apparently on 
native evidence, found that no young were produced when tame 
Tahr in his possession paired with domestic goats ; yet he records a 
case in which a male Tahr paired with a female spotted deer, and the 
latter produced offspring, which grew up into a fine animal more 
resembling the dam than the sire. Sterndalc accepts this account 
without comment, but Blanford doubts it, and in view of the apparent 
inability of Tahr to breed with goats, it certainly seems unlikely. 
Hybridism, how r ever, is a very curious thing, and unexpected results 
often are chronicled ; thus, cattle do not breed with buffaloes, and 
yet produce offspring, and fertile offspring at that, with the American 
bison, which seems a more remote animal ; and pea-fowl have never 
bred with turkeys, but have done so with guinea-fowl and common 
poultry., 

NILGIRI TAHR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hemitragus hylocrius. Native : 
Warri-ddu, Warri-dtu y Tamil \ Mulla-dtu, Malabarese ; Kard-ardu, 
Canarese. 

HABITAT. Southern Indian hill-ranges Nilgiris, Anamalais, 
and Western Ghats, 

DESCRIPTION. A more Ieggy_and shorter-bodied animal than 
the Himalayan Tahr, with a shortcoarse^oat and no hairy develop- 
ment even in the buck except a short mane on the ridge of the neck 
and shoulders. Height up to 42 in. at shoulder in bucks, does about 
i yd. Colour dark brown, darkest in old bucks, which have a 
whitish saddle. Does and kids greyer. Horns like those of the 
northern Tahr, but gpiwex outside instead oFflat, and running a little 
longer sometimes, up to 16 in. in bucks, while 17 in. is on record, and 
doe horns may be n in. 

This goat, though the tallest of our species, is the least imposing, 
having neither beard nor the large mane of its Himalayan relative, 
and very ill deserves the name of Ibex given it by sportsmen ; it 
would be better to use the native name Warri-dtii, as the buck's horns 
are commonly only i ft. long the length of a doe's in the true Ibex. 
It keeps as a rule at heights of from 4,000 to 6,000 ft., but may come 
lower, and haunts crags or grassy slopes, spending the middle of the 



ORDER UNGULATA 



217 



day on rocky ledges. The does, which have but two teats like other 
she-goats, not four like the northern Tahr, produce twin kids at 
almost any time during the year ; they are good eating, but the male 
is rank-scented, and it would be interesting to know the character 
of the odour in this species, which has never been sent to England 
in captivity. It is much troubled by leopards, which should wherever 
possible be killed down near its haunts, as the species, though not 
a particularly attractive one, is interesting from its living so far 
away from other goats, stranded, as it were, on our southern hills. 

The typical Goat- Antelopes or Capricorns (Nemorh&dus), devoid 
of beard and scent, and with short, black, ringed horns, look rather 
like coarse she-goats. Their tails are short, and their general habits 
goat-like, except that they are not nearly so social as true goats are. 
We have but two species. 

SEROW 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nemorh&dus bubalinus, suma- 
trensis. Native : Sarao, in the North- West Himalayas ; Aimu^ in 
Kunawar ; Ramu^ Halj, Salabhir, Kashmiri ; Nga^ Leeshams of 
Sanda Valley ; Pay pa, Shans ; Shanli> Chinese of Burmo-Chinese 
frontier ; Goa, Chamba ; 
Yamu, Kulu ; Thar^ Nepali ; 
Gya y Bhutanese ; Sichi, 
Lepcha ; Tau-tschiek, Tau- 
myinj Burmese ; Kambing- 
utan, Malay. 

HABITAT. Kashmir, 
east to Yunnan and south 
to Sumatra ; the eastern 
form sumatrensis is treated 
as distinct by Blanford, but 
he expresses doubt on the 
subject. 

DESCRIPTION. A 
coarse-looking, leggy, large- 
headed animal about r yd. 
at the shoulder, with large 
cars, a gland-pit under the 
eye, and a coarse coat : 

developed into a slight serow. 

mane down the back of 

the neck. Horns jStjoft, sharp, slightly curved back, and ringed 
except at the ends ; usually less than i ft. in length in males, though 




2l8 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

13! in. is recorded. The record female horns are 8| in. TJie sexes 
on the whole differ remarkably little, but the general colour is very 
variable individually and locally. The western form is black, with 
tan flanks and white stockings ; the eastern may be all tan except a 
black spinal stripe. There is a white-maned species in China. 

The Serow is, as shown by its many native names, a well-known 
animal, but is nowhere abundant, and is very shy. 

It frequents thick forest or rocky hillsides, at between 6,000 and 
12,000 ft., and is generally solitary ; but the pair must be more or 
less attached, as Kinloch heard of a case in which an unwounded 
male charged when his mate had been shot. The Serow is, indeed, 
remarkable for courage, and will fight to the death with wild dogs ; 
the same quality makes it dangerous to man when wounded. 

It is as awkward in gait as in appearance, but a very fine climber, 
and Kinloch considered it probably the best performer of the difficult 
feat of going down steep hills. Like a carnivore, it has a lair or 
den in some sheltered spot, very often a cave. Its alarm-note is 
a combination of snort, scream, and whistle, just as its appearance 
suggests the cow, donkey, pig, and goat. Kinloch, who makes this 
comparison, says that he has heard Serow screaming when they had 
not apparently been alarmed, so that they may call to each other in 
this way. 

There is difference of opinion about the time of the birth of the 
kids, which may apparently take place either in spring or in autumn. 
One only is born, and the gestation is said to last eight months. The 
flesh of the Serow is coarse, and, as its horns and skin are poor trophies, 
the only inducement it offers to the shikari is that of difficulties to 
overcome. 

GORAL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nemorhadus goral > Cemas goral. 
Native : Goral \ North- West Himalayas ; Pij^ Pijur, Rat, Rom> 
Kashmiri ; Sah> Sutlej Valley ; Suh-ging, Lepcha ; Ra-giyu> Bhu- 
tanese ; Deo Chdgal^ Assamese. 

HABITAT. Himalayas, Siwaliks, and Naga Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Much like a drab she-goat, rather over 2 ft. at 
shoulder, with white throat and dark spinal and leg-stripes ; tail 
also black. Horns nearly parallel, about 6 in. long in bucks, for 
which the record is Q| in., the does' record being 7| in. Coat rather 
coarse ; no face-glands. 

The Goral is the least interesting of our ruminants in appearance, 
but must have a good idea of looking after itself, for it is a common 



ORDER UNGULATA 



219 



animal between 3,000 and 8,000 ft., often lives near habitations, and 
is not easily driven away by shooting. 

Although not herding like a true goat, it is often found in pairs or 
small parties of about half a dozen, feeding in morning and evening, 
and frequenting various situations, either rocky, wooded, or grassy. 
The young are said to be born in spring after half a year's gestation. 




Goral. 

The alarm-note is a hissing snort. Goral are not very shy, and 
Kinloch considers their pursuit excellent training for beginners, as 
it is " like miniature ibex shooting." 

The other member of the Capricorn group we have forms a very 
distinct genus (Budorcas) } little known till of recent years. 



220 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Takin. 

TAKIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Budorcas taxicnlor. Native: Takin 
(pronounced " takhon," nasally). 

HABITAT. Mishmi Hills and Eastern Tibet. 

DESCRIPTION. A heavy, clumsy-looking animal of about 10 
hands at the withers, which are high ; tail very short, limbs short and 
stout, with unusually large back hoofs. Head large and neck short, 
so that the general appearance is something between a bull and a 
goat ; the profile, however, is arched like a ram's, and the horns are 
rather like those of the Gnus of Africa, thick, rising close together, 
curving sharply outwards for a little almost at once, and then turning 
equally sharply backwards for the rest of their length, which may be 
2 ft. in bucks, and in does half as much. Sterndale well says that 
the front view resembles a trident with the central prong removed. 
Coat long and thick, varying much locally, with the extremities 
generally black, and a mixture of black in the yellowish or reddish- 
brown body-colour. There is a very handsome variety in which the 
colour is golden throughout ; possibly this beast was the " ram with 
the golden fleece " secured by Jason in the old Greek Argo-legend. 

The Takin may be solitary or associate in herds ; it frequents steep, 
bushy, and difficult ground at high elevations, and not much is 
known of it at present, though two living specimens have been 
exhibited at the London Zoological Gardens, of which one was on 
view at the time this revision was being written. 



ORDER UNGULATA 



221 



The Gazelles (Gazet/a) are quite in accordance with the popular 
idea of an antelope, very graceful, slender, goat-sized creatures with 
long slim necks and legs, and large beautiful dark eyes. Their coats 
are smooth, their tails rather short, and their horns often absent in 
females ringed and slightly bent backwards and outwards in males. 
They frequent dry open country and are sociable and remarkable 
for speed. In all our species the main colour is fawn or sandy. 




Indian Gazelle (male and female). 

INDIAN GAZELLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chinkdra, Chikdra^ Rat-punch, 
Hindi ; Kal-sipi, Mahratti ; Tiska^ Budari^ Mudari, Canarese ; 
Barudu-jinka, Telegu ; Porsya (male), Chari (female), Baori ; Ask, 
Ast, Ahu, Baluch ; Khazm, Brahui ; Sank-hule, Mysore. 

HABITAT. From the eastern shore of the Persian Gulf through 
Baluchistan south to Central India and Mysore ; not found in the 
Western Ghats and Konkan, or east of Palamow and Western Sirguja, 
or of Seonec and Chanda in the Central Provinces, or much south 
of the Kistna. 



222 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of a small goat, a buck being little 
over 2 ft. at the shoulder, and weighing about 50 Ib. (does weigh less 
by 10 Ib. or more). Knees with tufts of hair ; tail decidedly longer 
than a goat's or wild sheep's, over 8 in. A small gland below 
the eye. Horns of buck but slightly curved, turning slightly out- 
wards, backwards, and forwards at the tip, with one or two dozen 
rings ; generally they are less than i ft. long, 14 in. is the record. 
Horns of does are straight, generally smooth, and quite short, the 
record being only 8 in. Blanford once got a dark-faced doe with 
ringed horns 7^ in. long in Baluchistan, which he at first considered 
a distinct species, and called it Gazellafuscifrons, but it later turned 
out to be only a variety. Generally the face is not much darker than 
the general pale chestnut of the upper parts ; the white of the lower 
body does not reach up to the tail in this species, and there are no 
light side-stripes, though these are found on the sides of the face. 

Sterndale says : " This pretty little creature, miscalled c ravine- 
deer,' is familiar to most shikaris. How it got called a deer it is 
difficult to say, except on the principle of ' rats and mice and such 
small deer.' The Madras term of ' goat-antelope ' is more appropriate. 
I remember once, when out on field service with the late Dr. Jerdon 
in the Indian Mutiny, a few chikara crossed our line of march. A 
young and somewhat bumptious ensign, who knew not of the fame 
of the doctor as a naturalist, called out c There are some deer, there 
are some deer! ' * Those are not deer,' quietly remarked Jerdon. 
4 Oh, I say/ exclaimed the boy, thinking he had got a rise out of 
the doctor, ' Jerdon says those are not deer ! ' 'No more they are, 
young man, no more they are ; much more of the goat much more 
of the goat.' " In justice to the frivolous youth, it may be said that most 
antelopes do look very like deer in general form, and the term " goat- 
antelope " is wanted and was used by Sterndale for the capricorns we 
have just been considering, which are " much more of the goat " 
than gazelles, albeit gazelles and goats are both hollow-horned 
ruminants ; moreover, deer as a family differ little from these except 
in the antlers of the males. 

" This gazelle," proceeds Sterndale, " frequents broken ground, 
with sandy nullahs bordered by scrub-jungle, and is most common 
in dry climates. It is unknown, I believe, in Bengal, and, according 
to Jerdon, on the Malabar coast, but is, I think, found almost every- 
where else in India. It abounds in the Central Provinces, and I 
have found it in parts of the Punjab, and it is common throughout 
the north-west. It is a restless, wary little beast, and requires good 
shooting, for it does not afford much of a mark. When disturbed they 
keep constantly shifting, not going far, but hovering about in a most 



ORDER UNGULATA 



223 



tantalising way. Natives it cares little for, unless it be a shikari with 
a gun, of which it seems to have intuitive perception ; but the ordinary 
cultivator, with his load of wood and grass, may approach within 
easy shot ; therefore, it is not a bad plan, when there is no available 
cover, to get one of these men to walk alongside of you, whilst, with 
a blanket or horse-cloth over you, you make yourself look as like your 
guide as you can. A horse or bullock is also a great help. I had a 
little bullock which formed part of some loot at Banda a very 
handsome little bull, easy to ride and steady under fire and I found 
him most useful in stalking blackbuck and gazelle. When alarmed, 
the chikara stamps its foot and gives a sharp little hiss. It is generally 
found in small herds of four or five, but often singly. Jerdon, however, 
says that in the extreme north-west he had seen twenty or more 
together, and this is corroborated by Kinloch." 

Blanford says that he believes this gazelle never drinks. He 
also states that the doe is often seen with two fawns, and that the 
flesh is excellent. 




Persian Gazelle. 



PERSIAN GAZELLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gazella subgutturosa. Native : 
Ahu, Persian. 

HABITAT.- Persia and Central Asia to the Gobi Desert, entering 
our territory north of Quetta. Common in Afghanistan. 



224 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. About the same size as the last, and with horns 
similarly ringed, but turning inwards at the tips, and a little longer 
at their maximum, 14*7 in. Female without horns. Tail moderate. 
Colour much as in the last, sandy above, white below, the white, 
however, extending up the stern to the root of the tail. Knee-tufts 
present, and pale side- and face-stripes. 

The Persian Gazelle is said by Blanford to be more strictly a 
desert animal than the chikara, though he states that this is most 
abundant in the Indian Desert. 

TIBETAN GAZELLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gazella picticaudata. Native : Goa, 
Rdgao, Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Tibet, Ladakh, and north of Nepal and Sikkim. 

DESCRIPTION. About the same size as the others, but lower on 
the legs, which have no knee-tufts ; face- glands only indicated by 
bare patches, and ears shorter than in the others ; tail a mere stump. 
Horns longer than in the others, commonly 13 in., while 15! in. is 
recorded. Rings of horns more numerous than in the other species, 
over two dozen, but less distinct ; the curve of the horns is also different, 
as they bend strongly backwards, though the tips curve forward as in 
the Chikara. 

In this species also the female has no horns. Winter coat full and 
fine, and forming a sort of moustache round the mouth, grizzled 
fawn at this season, but curiously enough with a grey shade in summer. 
White under-parts not so clearly defined as in the last two, but white 
on stern including the tail, which has a black tip ; no light and dark 
streaks on the face. 

The Goa keeps at high elevations between about 13,000 and 
18,000 ft. associating in small parties, and being often found singly 
in summer. It is not very shy or easily frightened even by noise or 
human scent. 

Allied to the Gazelles is a peculiar Tibetan antelope, which forms 
a genus of its own (Pantholops}* 

CHIRU 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pantholops hodgsoni. Native : 
Chiru, Nepalese, and Tibetan ; also called in the latter language Tstis 
(male), Chus (female). 

HABITAT. Tibet, Ladakh, north of Kumaon and Sikkim. 

DESCRIPTION. About the same size as the common Blackbuck, 



ORDER UNGULATA 



225 



2 1 ft. at shoulder, but more heavily built, with a puffy and slightly 
bearded muzzle, and longer tail, which measures 9 in. Horns with 
the fronts well ringed, erect, long, 
slender, and nearly straight, but 
turning a little inwardly after diverg- 
ing at first. They are unusually 
uniform in size, generally 2 ft. or 
an inch or two over, but a length 
of 27^- in. is known. Coat exceed- 
ingly dense, woolly at roots, very 
pale brown, with the face and 
streaks down the legs black in 
bucks ; in the does, which have no 
horns, these dark markings are 
absent also. Horns of buck black. 

The Chiru is an animal of 
high elevations, between 12,000 and 
18,000 ft. Unlike the Goa, it is 
shy and wary, and though some- 
times found alone or in small 
parties, it may collect in herds of 
hundreds. In summer the sexes 
separate ; pairing is said to take 
place in winter, and the gestation 
period to be six months, one fawn 
being born. When lying down for 
the day the Chiru has a peculiar 
habit, according to Kinloch, of 
scraping out lairs or beds deep 
enough to conceal its body, pre- 
sumably for protection against 
wind, as the long horns, which are 
still visible, would betray it to 
enemies. In Chang Chenmo he 
found many bucks, but only saw 
one doe in three visits. 

Chiru. 

Our Common Antelope is the 

only member of the genus Antilope as now restricted, and so can claim 
to be the Antelope par excellence. 




226 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Blackbuck. 

BLACKBUCK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Antilopc cervicapra, bezoartica. 
Native : Mirga^ Ena (male), Sanskrit ; Ear an, Harna (male), Harni, 
Kalwit (female), Mrig, Hindi ; Kala (male), Goria (female), Tirhoot ; 
Kalsar (male), Baoti (female), Bchar ; Bureta, Bhagalpur ; Baraut, 
Sasin, Nepalese ; Phandayat, Mahratti ; Bdhmain-haran, Uriya ; 
Chigri, Hule-kara, Canarese ; Irri (male), Sedi (female), Jinka, 
Telegu ; Alali (male), Gondoli (female), Baori ; Bddu, Ho Kol ; 
Kutsar, Korku ; Veli-man, Tamil. 

HABITAT. India, generally, but not ascending the Himalayas, 
and not found in Burma or Ceylon, the Gangetic delta, or the Malabar 
coast south of Surat. Commonest in the north-west and Deccan. 



ORDER UNGULATA 227 

DESCRIPTION. A singularly elegant and well-proportioned animal, 
about 32 in. at shoulder in the male ; tail short, about 7 in. Does 
are smaller, and generally hornless. Horns of male well ringed anc} 
spiral, varying much in number of turns and in degree of divergence. 
Measured straight, they are generally under 2 ft., but there is a record 
of 28| in. Does, when horned, have smooth, backward-turning 
horns ; such does are very rare, Blanford having only met with one, 
while Sterndale mentions none at all. Coat close and short, mostly 
black in old bucks, with white underparts, eye-rings, and muzzle, 
and back of neck fawn. Does and young bucks fawn, white below. 
Old bucks become gradually blacker with age, but in some cases at 
any rate reassume the fawn coat for a certain time every year. The 
longest horns are to be got in the north-west. 

The Blackbuck is^pne of the most beautiful of existing animals ; 
besideit^gazelles loolTspi nelly, and most other animals unfinished or 
coarse^ l^The buck has a peculiar courting pose in which he shows of| 
as distinctly as any bird, turning his head well back and his tail for- 
ward, so that the brown nape is concealed and the white underside 
of the tail-exposed, while the large gland-pits under the eye are widely 
opened.] y(He is extremely polygamous, for though pairs may be, 
found, any-number of does from ten to fifty are generally appropriated 
by one old male, who may tolerate a few young brown ones, or drive 
them off to herd by themselves. Great herds, even of thousands, e^ 
both sexes may, ho\\^yer, sometimes be found, including both adulti 
and immature bucksy ) They do not avoid cultivation, but are not 
found in any sort of nigh cover, and rarely even among bush, nor do 
they frequent either hills or swamps. Grassy plains are their usual 
haunts, and grass their ordinary food. Blanford thought they never 
drank, though he had been told they did, and pointed out that they 
abound between the salt Chilka Lake in Orissa and the sea, where a 
well supplies the only fresh water ; but since his time they have been 
observed in this locality at the edge of the water, with lowered heads 
as if drinking, so that they can probably safely drink salt water, as 
oceanic birds are known to do. 

When alarmed, the herd bound into the air, one after another, 
when starting to run ; they are very fast, especially the does, and as 
a general rule can escape from greyhounds, except on heavy sand, fine 
pasture, or heavy soil in the rains. The Cheetah, however, can often 
run intOgthem, the buck, which brings up the rear, being generally 
taken, frhey are clever at hiding. Sterndale says : "In my book 
on Seeonee I have given a case of a wounded buck which I rode down 
to the brink of a river, when he suddenly disappeared. The country 
was so open and I was so close behind him that it seemed impossible 



228 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

for him to have got out of sight in so short a space of time,; but I 
looked right and left without seeing a trace of him, and, hailing some 
fishermen on the opposite bank, found that they had not seen him 
cross. Finally my eye lighted on what seemed to be a couple of 
sticks projecting from a bed of rushes some 4 or 5 ft. from the bank. 
Here was my friend submerged to the tip of his nose, with nothing 
but the tell-tale horns sticking out. 

" This antelope attaches itself to localities, and after being driven 
away for miles will return to its old place. The first buck I ever shot 
I recovered, after having driven him away for some distance, and 
wounded him, on the very spot I first found him ; and the following 
extract from my journals will show how tenaciously they cling some- 
times to favourite places : i I was out on the boundary between 
Khapa and Belgaon, and came across a particularly fine old buck, 
with very wide-spreading horns ; so peculiar were they that I could 
have sworn to the head amongst a thousand. He was too far off for 
a safe shot when I first saw him, but I could not resist the chance of 
a snap at him, and tried it, but missed ; and I left the place. My 
work led me again soon after to Belgaon itself, and whilst I was in 
camp there I found my friend again ; but he was very wary ; for 
three days I hunted him about, but could not get a shot. At. last 
I got my chance ; it was on the morning of the day I left Belgaon. 
I rode round by the boundary, when up jumped my friend from a 
bed of rushes, and took off across country. I followed him cautiously 
and found him again with some does about two miles off. A man 
was ploughing in a field close by ; so, hailing him, I got his bullocks 
and drove them carefully up past the does. We splashed through a 
nullah, and waded through a lot of rushes, and at last I found myself 
behind a clump of coarse grass, with a nullah between me and the 
antelope. They jumped up on my approach, and Blacky, seeing his 
enemy, made a speedy bolt of it ; but I was within easy range of him, 
and a bullet brought him down on his head with a complete somer- 
sault. Now this buck, in spite of the previous shot at him, and being 
hunted about from day to day, never left his ground, and used to sleep 
e^ye/y night in a field near my tent. 

'' This antelope has been raised by the Hindoos among the constella- 
tions harnessed to the chariot of the moon. Brahmins can feed on its 
flesh under certain circumstances prescribed by the ' Institutes of 
Menu/ and it is sometimes tamed by fakirs. It is easily domes- 
ticated, but the bucks are always dangerous when their horns are 
full grown, especially to children. KThe breeding season begins in the_ 
spring, but fawns of all ages may be seen at any time of the yeaiv 
The flesh of this species is among the best of the wild ruminants." 



ORDER UNGULATA 



229 



The doe has a hissing alarm note, and the buck grunts when 
excited, as when displaying. The animals live and breed well in 
captivity, in England as well as in India. 

The Nilgai also has a genus of its own. 




Nilgai. 

NILGAO OR NILGAI 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Portax pictus^ Boselaphus trago- 
camelus. Native : Nilgao (male), Nilgai (female), Lilgao, Lilgai, 
Rojh) Rojhra (male), Rooi (female), Hindi ; Gtiraya Gondi ; Maravi, 
Maim, Kard-kadrai, Mdnu-potu, Canarese ; Murim (male), Susam 
(female), Ho Kol. 

HABITAT. Indian Peninsula, but not ascending the Himalayas 
or ranging south of Mysore. It does not reach the Indus, and is 
commoner in the north-west and Central Provinces than the south. 

DESCRIPTION. A large animal, about 13 hands at the shoulder, 
and recalling an ill-shaped horse in form, with withers higher than 
croup, tail tufted and reaching to hocks, carried tucked in like a 



230 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

donkey's. Neck with a short hog- inane at the back, and a tuft of 
hair on the throat of the bull. Small face-glands, but a moist ox-like 
muzzle. Horns normally present only in male, short and smooth, 
slightly curved forward at the tips. Coat smooth, blue roan in the 
male, with the long hairs and ear-tips black, and throat-patch, two 
cheek-spots, and two fetlock-rings white. Cows and calves light 
chestnut. Gelding males have this colour, but possess horns, and 
horned cows are on record The record for the horns is only nf in., 
and they are usually about 8 in. 

The Nilgao used often to be called Blue bull, and though Nilgai is 
used by Blanford and most modern writers, this name really applies to 
the female, which is not blue, and Nilgao, which Sterndale uses, is 
more correct. He says : " The nilgao inhabits open country with 
scrub or scanty tree jungles, also, in the Central Provinces, low hilly 
tracts with open glades and valleys. He feeds on beyr (Zizyphus 
jujubd) and other trees, and at times even devours such quantities of 
the intensely acrid berries of the aonla (Phyllanthus emblicd) that his 
flesh becomes saturated with the bitter elements of the fruit. This is 
most noticeable in soup, less so in a steak, which is at times not bad. 
The tongue and marrow-bones, however, are generally as much as the 
sportsman claims, and in the Central Provinces at least, the natives 
are grateful for all the rest. 

" He rests during the day in shade, but is less of a nocturnal feeder 
than the sambar stag. I have found nilgao feeding at all times 
during the day. The droppings are usually found in one place. The 
nilgao drinks daily, the sambar only every third day, and many are 
shot over water. Although he is such an imposing animal, the blue 
bull is but poor shooting, unless when fairly run down in the open. 
With a sharp spurt he is easily blown, but if not pressed will gallop 
for ever. In some parts of India nilgai are speared in this way. I 
myself preferred shooting them either from a light double-barrelled 
carbine or large-bore pistol when alongside ; the jobbing at such a 
large cow-like animal with a spear was always repugnant to my 
feelings. They are very tenacious of life. I once knocked one over 
as I thought dead, and putting my rifle against a tree, went to help 
my shikaree to hallal him, when he jumped up, kicked us over, and 
disappeared in the jungle ; I never saw him again. A similar thing 
happened to a friend who was with me, only he sat upon his supposed 
dead bull, quietly smoking a cigar and waiting for his shikarees, when 
up sprang the animal, sending him flying, and vanished. On another 
occasion, whilst walking through the jungle, I came suddenly on a 
fine dark male standing chest on to rne. I hardly noticed him at 
first ; but, just as he was about to plunge away into the thicket, I 



ORDER UNGULATA 231 

rapidly fired, and with a bound he was out of sight. I hunted all 
over the place and could find no trace of him. At last, by circling 
round, I suddenly came upon him at about 30 yds. off, standing 
broadside on. I gave him a shot and heard the bullet strike, but 
there was not the slightest motion. I could hardly believe that he 
was dead in such a posture. I went up close, and finally stopped in 
front of him ; his neck was stretched out, his mouth open and eyes 
rolling, but he seemed paralysed. I stepped up close and put a 
ball through his ear, when he fell dead with a groan. I have never 
seen anything like it before or since, and can only suppose that the 
shot in the chest had in some way choked him. . . . 

" The nilgao is the only one of the deer and antelope in India that 
could be turned to any useful purpose. The sambar stag, though 
almost equal in size, will not bear the slightest burden, but the nilgao 
will carry a man. I had one in my collection of animals which I 
trained, not to saddle, for such a thing would not stay on his back, 
but to saddle-cloth. He was a little difficult to ride, rather jumpy at 
times, otherwise his pace was a shuffling trot. I used to take him 
out into camp -with me, and made him earn his grain by carrying the 
servants 7 bundles. He was not very safe, for he was, when excited, 
apt to charge ; and a charge from a blue bull with his short sharp 
horns is not to be despised. In some parts the Hindoos will not touch 
the flesh of this animal, which they believe to be allied to the cow." 
In this belief they are unconsciously right, for the nilgao is one of 
the animals which connect the antelopes with the oxen ; but it is a 
pity they are so scientific in this point, for it is one of the worst crop- 
destroyers in the country, being a grazer as well as a browser, and not 
at all averse to cultivated country. The cow, although decidedly 
smaller, is faster than the bull, and, Kinloch says, cannot be ridden 
down by one man. She produces a single calf or twins after a gesta- 
tion of eight or nine months. Nilgao breed well in captivity, either 
in India or at home, and have long been very well-known menagerie 
animals. They have been trained to draught, but are said to be 
almost impossible to stop if they bolt. 

The last of our antelopes is another sole member of its genus, and 
very different from all the rest. 

FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tetraceros quadricornis. Native : 
Chousingha, Chouka, Doda, Hindi ; Bhir-kura (male), Bhir (female), 
Gondi ; Bhirul, Bheel ; Kotari, in Chutia Nagpur ; Kurus y Kotri, 
Gondi (Bastar) ; Kond-guri, Kaulla-kuri > Canarese ; JangH bakri, 



232 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



in the Dcccan ; but Sterndale says he has heard this name % and 

Bhirki, which Blanford gives as used at Saugor, applied to the 

Barking Deer presently to be mentioned. 

HABITAT. India generally, except the plain of the Ganges and 

the Madras part of the Malabar coast ; not Ceylon or Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. A small animal with narrow muzzle. Croup 

higher than the withers, where the male measures only about i in. 

over 2 ft., the female being still smaller. She is hornless, whereas 

the male has one or two pairs of short straight horns, the longer placed 

in the usual position between the 
ears, the shorter, which vary much 
in development, between the eyes. 
The longer horns are generally 
not more than 4^ in. long, and 
commonly 3 in. ; the record for 
the front horns is 2\ in., and i in. 
is more usual ; but an animal with 
a fore horn of 3 in. and a hind one of 
7 J in. was recorded in the Bombay 
Natural History Society's Journal 
in 1928. The fore horns may be 
absent in fully adult animals in the 
Madras Presidency ; but Blanford 
points out that they develop com- 




Four-horned Antelope. 



paratively late, a male from Nimar that he knew not having developed 
them till the third year, though early in the second the back pair 
were well developed. Tail rather long, 5 in. ; coat short and coarse, 
light brown with dark stripes down the legs, but varying a good deal 
in shade - 

The Four-horned Antelope is a denizen of bush and thin forest, 
solitary or at most found in pairs. Sterndale says it is " very shy 
and difficult to get, even in jungles where it abounds. It was plentiful 
in the Seeonee district, yet I seldom came across it, and was long before 
I secured a pair of live ones for my collection. It frequents, according 
to my experience, bamboo jungle. ... It is an awkward-looking 
creature in action, as it runs with its neck stuck out in a poky sort 
of way, making short leaps ; in walking it trips along on the tips of 
its toes like the little mouse-deer (Memznna). ... It is not good 
eating, but can be improved by being well larded with mutton-fat 
when roasted. 77 Blanford, however, thinks it better than that of most 
Indian deer, though not equal to antelope or gazelle. He says it 
pairs in the rains, the single or twin young being born in the beginning 
of the year, after, according to Hodgson, a six months' gestation. 



ORDER UNGULATA 233 

Blanford also states that this antelope is easily tamed ; but small 
though it is, it can, like most horned animals, be dangerous. A native 
keeper in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens told the editor that it 
would attack with a spring ; and even 3-in. or 4-in. horns are not 
pleasant to receive in one's stomach 1 

The Cattle (genus J3os) are large, heavily-built animals with longer 
tails than our other ruminants, a large, moist, naked muzzle, and horns 
in both sexes. The back hoofs are fairly developed, but there are no 
foot- or face-glands. The Indian Empire is exceedingly rich in 
species of these fine animals, far more so than any other region. 

They are social, and for the most part grass-eaters and fond of water 
and of salt. The species are markedly different in appearance and 
habits ; yet all are easily recognisable as oxen. Although sometimes 
dangerous and destructive, they are, on the whole, the most valuable 
of all mammals. They very rarely bear more than one calf at a 
birth. 

ZEBU 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bos indicus. Native : Gai, Hindi. 
It is unnecessary to give other native names, as this is simply the 
common domestic ox of India, and readers will know the names applied 
to cattle in their district. 

HABITAT. Africa and South-East Asia ; always as a tame animal, 
except in a few localities in India where it has become " feral," i.e. run 
wild. Blanford gives as these localities Oudh, Rohilkund, Surat, 
Mysore, Nellore, Char Sidhi, the mouth of the Megna, etc. 

DESCRIPTION. Differs from European cattle, the descendants of 
Bos taunts^ the Aurochs, now extinct as a wild animal, in its less 
divergent and more backwardly-directed horns, its deeper dewlap 
extending forward to the chin, its rounded instead of square-cut 
hind-quarters, its longer legs, and often in the possession of a fatty 
hump. The colour varies much, as in taurine cattle, and sometimes 
resembles theirs ; but generally is less variegated, and in a very 
common form the adult bull is blackish, shading into iron-grey, the 
cow pale iron-grey, and the calves of both sexes white. Iron-grey 
males, however, are very common also. The size of the breeds varies 
much more than in taurine cattle, the large Guzerat cattle being larger 
than any European breed, and the small Gainis about the size of 
sheep. 

Compared with European cattle, Zebu are very silent, and when 
they do low the voice is different ; they are more active, often trotting 
freely even when not of the specialised long-legged Mysore trotting 



234 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

breed ; they do not seek shade or stand in water like taurine qattle, 
and their beef has not the distinctive flavour of the meat of these, 
but does not taste stronger than mutton. 

When wild, they can exist in spite of the presence of tigers, which 
are so destructive to the tame stock. Jerdon says of their habits when 
wild near Nellore, " The country they frequent is much covered with 
jungle and intersected with salt-water creeks and back-waters, and 
the cattle are as wild and wary as the most feral species. Their 
horns are very large and upright, and they were of large size. I shot 
one there in 1843, but had great difficulty in stalking it, and had to 
follow it across one or two creeks." The term " feral " here is wrongly 
used, as it properly means secondarily wild or " run wild," but Jerdon's 
meaning is obvious. It would be interesting to know exactly where 
wild Zebu are to be found now, and what their colour is. The name 
Zebu, by the way, is not Indian, and its origin is unknown ; possibly it 
may be derived from Zebu or Cebu in the Philippines, if such cattle 
are kept there, for some specimens early brought to Europe may 
have come thence. 

The evidence above given is in favour of Zebu being a distinct 
species from taurine cattle, and so nearly all naturalists have regarded 
them ; but Mr. R. I. Pocock has very ably argued that they are only 
a highly-specialised race of taurine cattle. In favour of this view it 
may be stated that no ancestral form has been found among the 
several fossil species found in India, and that the Aurochs, the ancestor 
of taurine cattle, survived in Europe down to the seventeenth century, 
so that it seems strange, if Zebu were ever a wild species, that they 
should have become extinct in India, and yet now thrive there as 
feral animals. 

It is possible that Zebu have a cross of the Banting, presently to be 
noticed, and that their presence in Africa may be due to very early 
importations from Asia. Cattle which display a combination of 
taurine and zebuine characters may be of mixed blood, or the resem- 
blances may be due to the principle of " analogous variation," whereby 
one species takes on some character of another independently, as when 
the ass shows a drooping mane like the usual domestic horse (though 
both are equally hog-maned when wild), or the horse displays an 
ass character by having no hind " chestnuts." In this case, crossing 
cannot have come into play, the ass-horse mule being almost always 
sterile. 

Cattle hybrids, by the way, are remarkable for fertility, as will 
shortly be seen. 



ORDER UNGULATA 



235 




Gaur. 

GAUE OR GAYAL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bos gaurus, frontalis, Gavceus 
gaurus, frontalis. Native : Gaur, Gaurigai, Hindi ; Gdydl, Orissa ; 
Gaor (male), Gaib (female), Chutia Nagpur ; Pera-mao, Southern 
Gonds ; Gaviya^ Mahratti ; Karkona, Karti^ Kardyenum, Kard- 
korna, Daddu, Canarese ; Katu yeni, Katu erimai y Tamil ; Pyoung, 
Burmese ; Saladang, Malay ; Mithan, Assamese. 

In various parts of Peninsular India, the names Ban-boda, Ban- 
parra, Ran-hila, Ran-pads^ Jangli-khulga, Ban-bhainea, and Arna, 
are used, according to Blanford, who points out that all these names 
mean u wild buffalo," so that Indians miscall the beast as persistently 
as the European sportsmen who call it Bison ; the real Bisons of 
Europe and North America being very different animals, shaggy, 
bearded, and short-horned. 

HABITAT. Peninsula of India, east and south through Assam 
and Burma to the Malay Peninsula and Siam, but only where large 
forest areas exist. It does not ascend the Himalayas, and is now 
extinct in Ceylon, though it seems formerly to have existed there ; 
possibly it was exterminated by some cattle disease, to which danger 
it is always liable. 

DESCRIPTION. A very large massive ox with high-ridged fore-baqjp 
and deep carcase, but comparatively fine limbs and small compact 



236 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

hoofs. Tail reaching hocks ; coat close and short, becoming very 
scanty above in old buHspwhich are nearly black. Younger animals 
are browner, cows and quite young bulls often redder ; an almost 
chestnut cow was in the Indian Museum in the editor's time. Both 
sexes have white stockings, and the poll pale grey, drab, or nearly 
white. Calves have a black spine-stripe. 

The lighter animals are found in the drier parts of the country, 
and the colour tends to be lighter in the cold weather. Horns nearly 
C-shaped, curving first outwards and then inwards, and with a slight 
backward bend at the tip ; on the whole not very unlike those of 
European cattle except for the want of forward inclination. (T^he 
colour is also somewhat similar, pale greenish or yellowish with black 
tips)) Two feet round the curve is ordinary for a bull's horn, and a 
record for a cow's ; the bull record is 39 in. with a basal girth of 19 in., 
though 22 in. have been measured as girth in 3 2 -in. horns. Very 
large bulls may be 6 ft. at the shoulder, but cows arc not over 5 ft. 

Sterndale says : " The Gaur prefers hilly ground, though it is 
sometimes found on low levels. It is extremely sjryjmd retiring in its 
habits, and so quick of hearing that extreme care has to be taken 
in stalking to avoid treading on a dry leaf or stick. I know to my cost 
that the labour of hours may be thrown away by a moment of 
impatience. In spite of all the wondrous tales of its ferocity, it is as 
ja rule a timid, inoffensive animal. ^Solitary bulls are sometimes 
dangrou^if suddenly come upon. I once did so, and the bull turned 
and dashed up-hilllDeForeT!~couId get a shot, whereas a friend of mine, 
to whom a similar thing occurred a few weeks before, was suddenly 
charged, and his gun-bearer was knocked over, f The Gaur seldom 
leaves its jungles, but I have known it do so on the oorders of the Sona- 
wani forest, in order to visit a small tank at Untra near Ashta, and the 
cultivation in the vicinity suffered accordingly^ 

" Hitherto most attempts to rear this animal in captivity have failed. 
It is said not to live over the third year. Though I offered rewards 
for calves for my collection, I never succeeded in getting one." 
Blanford, however, mentions a bull from the Malay Peninsula exhibited 
in the London Zoological Gardens in the early 'nineties. This the 
editor saw, and noticed what had been recorded, that the breath of 
the animal was even sweeter than that of ordinary European cattle, 
recalling the odour of violets. Recent correspondents of The 
Field stated that the Gaur has a great dislike for the buffalo, and may 
kHl tame ones. As anlrmabitant of hill forests, however, it must seldom 
meet this rival, though it is sometimes found in long grass cover on the 
flat, and its ordinary food is grass, occasionally varied by leaves and 
bark. 



ORDER UNGULATA 237 




Gayal. 



A domestic form of the Gaur, the Gayal or Mithan, formerly 
classed as a distinct species (Bos frontalis), is kept by various tribes 
in the hill-tracts from Assam to Chittagong, and is known as Sandung 
by the Manipuris, Shel or Shio by the Kukis,f/iongnua by the Hughs, 
Bui-sang or Hui by the Nagas, Phu by the Akas, Siha by the Daphlas, 
and Nuni in Burmese. The names Gdydl and Mithan, as we have 
seen, are applied to the wild Gaur also, and Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker 
has proved that the two forms are not distinct, but intergrade. 

Typical Gayal look decidedly different from Gaur. The colour 
is the same, unless they are white, pied, yellow, or black-stockinged, 
but the horns are merely slightly-curved cones, all black, except in 
albinistic specimens, and the poll between them is straight, not 
transversely arched as in Gaur, nor is the forehead concave as in that 
form, while the head is shorter and broader, the back-ridge lower, 
the legs shorter, and the whole animal smaller. There is also a 
decided dewlap on the fore-neck, which is wanting in the Gaur. 

These animals are not worked, but occasionally a bull is killed 
for meat. The milk is said to be used, but Blanford doubts this, 
on the ground that the Indo-Chinese tribes who own Gayal do not 
drink milk. It is possible, however, that they may use more or less 
solid preparations of it. 

Gayal shift for themselves by day, but spend the night at the village, 
to which they are much attached. They are much hardier than Gaur, 
and are fairly well known in captivity. They will breed with Zebu, 
and a Gayal- Zebu hybrid bred at the London Zoological Gardens in 
the 'eighties produced offspring with an American Bison, this being 
apparently the first recorded instance of a double hybrid. 



238 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

BANTENG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bos sondaicus, Gavceus sondaicus 
Native : Tsaing, Burmese ; Sapi-utan, Malay ; Banteng^ Javanese. 

HABITAT. Burma east to Bali. 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the Gaur, but smaller and slighter, with 
longer head, legs, and tail, which last reaches below the hocks, shorter 
horns and lower back-ridge. There is also a dewlap, and a white 
stern-patch as well as the white stockings, while the body-colour is 
generally chestnut, though bulls are often black, especially in localities 
east of Burma, where bay is more usual. Calves have a black spine- 
stripe, but no white stockings. The forehead is not concave, nor the 
poll between the horns transversely arched ; in old bulls it is here 
covered with callous horny skin. 

The horns of the bull turn out and up, and then back and in, and 
rather resemble some Zebu horns ; 2 ft. 6 in. in length have been 
measured, with a basal girth of 17 in., but usually they are considerably 
smaller, and those of cows in the eastern domestic form at any rate 
for Banteng are domesticated in Java and Bali are short and directed 
straight back, thus also resembling some Zebus. The largest Bur- 
mese bull recorded was 16 hands at the shoulder, but a Javan bull 
has measured 5 ft. 9^ in., which would be about the ordinary height 
for a Gaur. 

The Banteng, however, is a less ponderous animal, and, if less 
imposing, is more elegant, especially when the bull is black and 
contrasts with the red cows. Wild Banteng affect grass-jungle rather 
than hill forest. They are largely bred in Bali for export, and supply 
beef to Singapore. They have bred in captivity in the Calcutta 
Zoological Gardens, where the editor noticed the young bull in the 
family he watched became black as soon as full-sized ; and the great 
Dutch naturalist, Mr. F. Blaauw, has bred them freely at his park at 
Gooilust in Holland. 

With regard to the possible descent of the Zebu, more or less, from 
the Banteng, the hump of the former cannot have anything to do with 
this, as has been suggested ; because the hump of the Zebu, when 
present, is, like that of the camel, not correlated with any peculiarity 
of the backbone, which is quite normal in these animals. The ridge 
of the fore-back of the white-stockinged bovines we have been 
discussing is quite different in character, being less abrupt and formed 
by the prolongation of the dorsal spines of the vertebrae, Banteng, 
like Gayal, will breed with ordinary cattle. 



ORDER UNGULATA 239 

YAK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bos grunnlens. Native : Banchour, 
Hindi ; Yak, Bubul, Soora-goy, Dong, Brong-dong, Pegu, Tibetan ; 
Boku (old bull). Dong and Brong-dong mean the wild animal 
and Pegu the tame one. 

HABITAT. North Ladak and Tibet to Kansu. 

DESCRIPTION. A jimssiye^ short-legged .animal, with_Jthe coat 
thick but short except on the crTes!7Hanks, shoulders, and thighs, 
along which parts it is very long and forms a sort of flounce. Tail 
very bushy, more so than a horse's, reaching the hocks. Bull from 
between 5 ft. and 6 ft. at shoulder. Horns more like those of European 
taurine cattle than in any other species, having a forward as well as 
outward and upward inclination. Anything over 2 ft. is good, the 
record being 40 in., with a basal girth of nearly 19 in. Cows have 
smaller horns and are decidedly less in dimensions altogether. Colour 
black in the wild race, often variegated with white or all white in the 
tame, which is not nearly so large and is sometimes hornless. 

Wild Yaks live in the bleakest situations on the mountains, and 
range up to 20,000 ft. in summer, when cows and young collect in 
herds, larger at times than those formed by our other cattle, even up to 
a hundred animals or more, bulls being found alone or in quite small 
parties, except in pairing-time, in winter, when each associates with a 
few cows. These large animals can subsist on a diet of coarse grass, 
and are such inveterate herbage-eaters that tame ones will not eat 
grain, a habit often productive of much inconvenience, as where they 
are kept they are often the only baggage-animals obtainable. 
Generally speaking the tame Yak serves in Tibet all the uses of oxen 
elsewhere, as a worker and provider of milk and meat. It is a fine 
climber, and can plough through snow in a remarkable way. Snow 
is eaten in winter by these animals, which are in every way well adapted 
to a cold region, and have been introduced into Canada. They are 
well known in captivity in Europe. In the Himalayas they are crossed 
with the Zebu, the hybrid being known as Zo. 

The tame Yak is notorious for its grunting, having indeed been 
calleaiEejG,rainting Ox, as well as Horse-tailed Buffalo ; the_W]ld_Yk 
is said not to grunt, but can probably~3o so ; only, being its own master, 
H seldom has anything to grunt about. The tame animal is often 
vexatiously stupid and obstinate ; its aversion to grain might perhaps 
be overcome by mixing this at first with chaffed grass or hay. 

Wild Yaks are timid, but, as might be expected, will charge at 
times if wounded. 



240 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Buffalo. 

BUFFALO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bos bubalm. Native : Bhains (the 
tame race), Arna (male), Ami (female), Arna-bhainsa, Jangli bhains, 
Hindi ; Jfang, Bhagalpur ; Mams, Bengali ; Gera erumi, Gondi ; 
Karbo y Malay ; Mi Harak, Cingalese ; Bir, Biar, Ho Kol ; Moh, 
Assamese ; Siloi, Kuki ; Gubui> Rili, Ziz, Le, Naga ; Misip, 
Cachari ; Iroi, Manipuri ; Kywai, Burmese ; Pana, Karen. 

HABITAT. In the wild state, the plains of Eastern and Central 
India, south to about the Godavari and Pranhita. The wild buffaloes 
of Burma and the Malay Peninsula are suspected by Blanford of 
being feral or descendants of escaped animals ; perhaps the same may 
be suggested with regard to the buffaloes which are common in 
North Ceylon, as there are no wild ones in Southern India ; moreover, 
buffaloes have run wild in the Philippines and on Melville Island off 
the northern coast of Australia. 

Tame buffaloes are kept throughout India generally, even on the 
mountains ; they are also largely found in the countries further east 
as far as China, and the islands of the Malay Archipelago, while on 
the west they are kept in Asia Minor, Egypt, South-Eastern Europe, 
and even as far west as Italy. 

DESCRIPTION. A long-headed, short-legged ox with large hoofs 
and straight back. Tail about reaching hocks, coat coarse and very 
thin, allowing the skin to be seen. Horns peculiar, transversely 
ridged and triangular in section, running backwards and inwards, 
and with a varied curvature, some strongly curved, almost into a circle, 
others nearly straight except where they turn up at the ends. Unlike 



ORDER UNGULATA 241 

what obtains in our other oxen, cows generally have longer horns than 
bulls, though the latter's horns are more massive. The record horn- 
length is no less than 78^ in., which, as Blanford says, would give an 
outside sweep of 14 ft. if a pair of this size were measured round from 
tip to tip ; this is often done with buffalo horns, though there is no 
reason why they should be measured differently from those of other 
animals, unless in order to show sensational figures. The beast itself 
is said to exceed 6 ft. at the shoulder at times, which would make it 
larger than the Gaur when of the same height, as the Buffalo is longer in 
the body and lower on the leg. Colour dark slate with the hair black 
as a rule ; but some have whitish legs, and some a dun coat ; the dun 
wild buffaloes of Assam have also noticeably shorter muzzles. 

Tame buffaloes are often white- stockinged like Gaur and Banteng ; 
an interesting case of one species assuming the character of another 
without crossing, for the Buffalo never crosses with other oxen. Some 
tame buffaloes are dun, and some white with flesh-coloured skins, but 
apparently they are never pied, although the editor once saw a pair 
at the London Zoological Gardens with the tail-tuft white and white 
hair on the poll. 

Sterndale says : " The buffalo never ascends mountains like the 
bison, but keeps to low and swampy ground and open grass plains, 
living in large herds, which occasionally split up into smaller ones 
during the breeding season in autumn. The female produces one, or 
sometimes two, in the summer, after a period of gestation of ten 
months. ... I have known cases of the domestic animal absconding 
from the herd and running wild. Such a one was shot by a friend of 
mine in a jungle many miles from the haunts of men, but yet quite out 
of the range of the wild animal. Probably it had been driven from a 
herd. Domestic buffalo bulls are much used in the Central Provinces 
for carrying purposes. I had them yearly whilst in camp, and noticed 
that one old bull lorded it over the others, who stood in great awe of 
him ; at last one day there was a great uproar ; three younger animals 
combined, and gave him such a thrashing that he never held up his 
head again. In a feral state he would doubtless have left the herd 
and become a solitary wanderer. . . . The buffalo is, I should say, 
a courageous animal, at least, it shows itself so in the domesticated 
state. A number of them together will not hesitate to charge a tiger, 
for which purpose they are often used to drive a wounded tiger out of 
cover. A herdsman was once seized by a man-eater one afternoon a 
few hundred yards from my tent. His cows fled, but his buffaloes, 
hearing his cries, rushed up and saved him. 

"The attachment evinced by these uncouth creatures to their 
owner was once strongly brought to my notice in the Mutiny. In 

R 



242 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

beating up the broken forces of a rebel Thakoor, whom We had 
defeated the previous day, I, with a few troopers, ran some of them to 
bay in a rocky ravine. Amongst them was a Brahmin who had a 
buffalo cow. This creature followed her master, who was with us as 
a prisoner, for the whole day, keeping at a distance from the troops, 
but within call of her owner's voice. When we made a short halt 
in the afternoon, the man offered to give us some milk ; she came to 
his call at once, and we had a grateful draught, the more so as we had 
had nothing to eat since the previous night. That buffalo saved her 
master's life, for when in the evening the prisoners were brought up for 
court-martial and sentenced to be hanged, extenuating circumstances 
were urged for our friend with the buffalo, and he was allowed to go, 
as I could testify he had not been found with arms in his hands ; and 
I had the greatest pleasure in telling him to be off, and have nothing 
more to do with rebel Thakoors." 

The Buffalo is certainly the most courageous of our oxen, and a wild 
animal has been known to charge an elephant and knock it over ; 
unfortunately its courage is often unpleasantly displayed, for it will 
often invade cultivation and keep oft the owner, and solitary bulls 
often charge unprovoked, though herds seldom do so. Tame buffaloes 
are also dangerous to strangers, though controlled even by small native 
children whom they know. They often have wild blood, as wild bulls 
frequently mate with tame cows. This makes for physical improve- 
ment, as the wild animal is larger and less scraggy than the tame one. 
The chief food of buffaloes is grass, and they are so fond of water that 
they may be called semi-aquatic, often passing the heat of the day in 
lying down in any that is available. As draught animals they are very 
powerful, but also very slow ; they presumably will not bear tail- 
twisting, as one does not see this brutality applied to them. The cows 
are valuable milch animals. 

The Deer (Cervidce) when horned, as they almost always are when 
males, have horns of a completely different character from those of 
other ungulates. There is really no horn in them, for they are a 
temporary bony growth, periodically shed and renewed. After 
shedding, two raw patches are seen, marking the tops of their per- 
manent bony supports, the pedicels ; these scab over, and then 
swellings appear, which, still covered by a soft downy skin, the velvet, 
go on enlarging till at length they assume the complete form. A 
knotty ring, the burr, then forms at the junction with the pedicel ; 
the velvet dries, splits, and is rubbed off by the animal, leaving the 
bony antlers, as they are properly called, bare and hard. When 
growing they are full of blood, warm, and tender, and no doubt at 



ORDER UNGULATA 



243 



this time the animal is forced to acquire the skill in managing its head 
that enables it to pass through timber without entangling its branched 
weapons. While without these, and during the earlier stages of their 
growth, the beast is mild and harmless, but becomes savage as its 
armament matures, and if tame, is dangerous to man. 

The development in size depends to some extent on the quality of 
the feed the stag has had previously ; but in any case there is much 
individual variation, and young stags only bear a single spike at first, 




Stag with Growing Antlers. 

other branches coming by degrees after shedding this, Senile stags 
" go back," the antlers becoming poorer after each shedding In 
cold and temperate climates the antlers are shed at regular times each 
year, but in India the time is more irregular in some cases, no doubt 
depending on the time of the individual stag's birth ; and it is said 
that in some cases the antlers may be retained for two or three years, 
The first prong above the pedicel is called the brow-antler. 

Where the antlers are absent or small, the males have well-developed 
upper canine tusks ; the females also usually have small upper 



244 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



canines, which are absent in the last family. All our deer have short 
tails and slim legs and fairly long necks, while the back hoofs are 
sufficiently large to be noticeable if not serviceable ; and most have 
eye-pits. They are generally social, and in many cases destructive 
to crops ; their flesh is, however, always esteemed, and they are 
valuable game animals. The Indian Empire is richer in species of 
deer than any other area of the same size, and the various kinds are 
easily distinguished. 

The Musk-deer has a genus to itself, and is our only hornless 
species, in fact ; there is only one other hornless deer, the Chinese 
Water-deer (Hydrelaphus mermzs). 




Musk-deer. 

MUSK-DEER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Moschus moschiferus. Native : 
Kastura, Mushk, Hindi ; Rdos, Rous, Kashmiri ; La^ Ldwa, 
Tibetan ; Ribjo, Ladakhi ; Bena^ in Kunawar ; Masak ndba, Pahari. 

HABITAT. A mountain animal, found in Central Asia, Siberia, 
Tibet, and along the Himalayas above 8,000 ft., ranging up to 12,000 ft. 
in summer. 

DESCRIPTION. Jh&.smaUest of our deer, being less than 2 ft. at 
the croup, which is considerably higher than the shoulder ; legs long, 



ORDER UNGULATA 245 

especially the hinder, with a bend at the pastern which brings the 
back hoofs, which are larger than in other ungulates, low enough 
to touch the ground. Coat long and thick, presenting a uniform 
surface, and soft and springy to the touch, though the hairs are 
exceptionally coarse and brittle. Tail 2 in. or less, naked, except at 
the tip in the buck, which also t halTdownward-projectmg canines in 
the upp'er jaw, sometimes 3 in. long, and a pouch or "pod" on the 
abdomen containing the musk in the form oT a crumbly paste. 

Colour extremely variable, generally speaking a grizzly brown 
with brindled markings, but sometimes nearly white or black, orange- 
tinted below and more or less above, or pale-spotted. Young distinctly 
spotted, as in most deer. 

The Musk-deer is a very peculiar animal in every way ; it is in 
its habits very like a hare, unsocial, and lying in a lair or " form " 
when not feeding. It lives in cover on steep places, and progresses 
by bounds, showing great sure-footedness, to which the peculiar 
formation of its feet, almost like four-pronged pincers, no doubt 
contributes. It feeds on herbage, flowers, and lichens, and is good 
eating, the flesh not having any musky taste even in the case of the 
buck. 

It pairs at the beginning of the year, and the young are born in 
June, after a gestation of 160 days ; twins are sometimes produced, 
but a single fawn is more usual. As the young breed before they are 
twelve months old, it is a prolific animal, and to this, and probably 
to the fact that the male has been most sought after by hunters, may 
be attributed its survival after many centuries of persecution, the 
scent-pouch or musk-pod having been for ages an important article 
of trade. When captured it screams harshly like a hare, but seems 
to have no other call. There is hardly any musk in the pouch except 
at the breeding season, but then it contains about i oz. The animal 
does well in captivity, and has bred ; it would be worth while to 
attempt its domestication, for it would probably be found possible 
to express the .musk without injuring the animal, and thus obtain it 
less wastefully than at present. T^he smell of the drug when fresh is 
very strong and not at all pleasant 7~ltsf value in perfumery is like 
tKaToF a mordant in dyeing, to fix and~give permanency to more 
pleasant and delicate odours. It^is-also used in medicine. 

The Musk differs from our other deer not only in having no horns, 
but in having no face-glands, while it possesses a gall-bladder, which 
is wanting in all other deer, though present in the hollow-horned 
ruminants. 

The Muntjacs (Cervulus) are small, short-legged, high-rumped 



246 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

deer with long conspicuous horn-pedicels, half as long as the head, 
and with small two-pronged antlers and large projecting upper 
canine teeth in the males. There are two converging bony ridges on 
the face, running up into the pedicels in the buck, and marked. at their 
upper ends by two tufts of hair in the doe. Owing to this the animals 
are sometimes called rib-faced deer ; they are unsocial, and frequent 
cover. 




Muntjac. 

INDIAN MUNTJAC 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervulus muntjac. Native : Kdkar, 
Jangli-bakri, Hindi ; Maya, Bengali ; Ratwa^ Nepalese ; Karsiar, 
Bhotia ; Sikku, Lepcha ; Gutra (male), Gutri (female), Bherki^ 
Gondi ; Bekra, Bekar, Mahratti; Kdnkari, Chdli, Canarese ; 
Kuka-gori, Telegu ; Gyi> Burmese ; Kidang^ Malay ; Weli y Hula- 



ORDER UNGULATA 247 

Cingalese ; Kalai> Katu-ardu, Tamil ; Hugeri, Assamese. 
The name Muntjac, commonly found in natural history books, is 
Sundanese ; and the names of Barking Deer, Rib-faced Deer, and 
Jungle Sheep are also current in India, though perhaps Kakar is 
oftenest used. In Ceylon the name Red Deer is used rather absurdly, 
as this is the name of the large stag of Europe. 

HABITAT. Hill-forests of India, Ceylon, and Burma, extending 
east to Malaysia, Hainan, and Borneo. It seldom goes higher than 
6,000 ft. in the Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. About i yd. long and 2 ft. at the shoulder in the 
buck, does being smaller. Tail about as long as head ; hairy pedicels 
of horns of male 3 or 4 in., bearing antlers of about the same length, 
with a brow-tine inclining sharply upwards ; the main beam is seldom 
over 5 in., though n in. is on record, but perhaps the pedicel was, 
wrongly, included in this measurement. A specimen with extra 
little singlc-tined antlers growing from the sides of the pedicels is on 
record. 

Coat close and very sleek, bright bay, with black streaks along 
the face-ridges inside, extending up the pedicels in the buck ; throat, 
groin, and under-side of tail white. Dark brown or even greyish- 
black varieties are found in the hills, and the editor has seen in the 
London Zoological Gardens a snow-white, pink-eyed albino. Fawns 
are pale-spotted. 

Sterndale says : " The rib-face is a retiring little animal, and is 
generally found alone, or at times in pairs. Captain Baldwin mentions 
four having been seen together at one time, and General McMaster 
mentions three ; but these are rare cases. 

" It is very subtle in its movements, carrying its head low, and 
creeping, as Hodgson remarks, like a weasel under tangled thickets 
and fallen timber. In captivity I have found it to be a coarse feeder, 
and [it] would eat meat of all kinds greedily. . . . ItsjoalHs .a hoarse, 
sharp bark, whence it takes its name of barking deer. What Jerdon 
says about the length of its tongue is true ; it can certainly lick a good 
portion of its face with it." 

Although the canine teeth are short compared with those of the 
musk, the Muntjac uses them freely when at bay, and may hurt dogs 
badly. They have some power of motion in the socket. The bark is 
freely uttered both as a sexual call and as an alarm-note. The flesh is 
exceptionally good, and the coat scents the hand with a peculiar 
gamy smell when stroked, A buck kept tame in England has been 
known to search for hens' eggs and eat them, and the animal may 
be somewhat omnivorous, though no doubt leaves, herbage, and other 
vegetable products are its usual food. It pairs in Northern India 



248 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

in the beginning of the year, and the young, single or twins, are born 
about midsummer, the gestation being for six months. Some young, 
however, may be found at all seasons, the rutting-time being evidently 
irregular. 

Muntjac are well known in captivity, and have bred in the London 
Zoological Gardens. They produce, either with the mouth or with 
the feet, a peculiar rattling sound when running. 

FEA'S MUNTJAC 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervulus fe<z. 

HABITAT. Muleyit Mountain and Tenasserim-Siam frontier. 

DESCRIPTION. Apparently rather smaller than the Common 
Muntjac, with a shorter tail and with a tuft of hair between the pedicels. 
Top of head yellow, rest of coat mostly dark brown speckled above 
with yellow ; under-parts light brown ; tail white with a black band 
along the top ; a white band up each thigh and white rings above 
the hoofs. 

This is now classed as a dark variety of the common Muntjac. 

Typical deer (Cervus) have no face-ridges, but the horn-pedicels 
short, never more than i or 2 in. high, and are generally large animals. 
Their antlers are also well developed, with at least three points in the 
adult. We have no less than six species of this fine group, generally 
social animals. Although graceful in their movements, deer are 
not so remarkable for speed as many antelopes, and Blanford thought 
most could be ridden down with fair ease. 

SAMBAR OR RUSA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus unicolor^ Rusa aristotelis. 
Native : Sdmbar, Sdmar, Hindi ; Jarao (male), Jarai (female), 
Nepalese ; Maha in the Terai ; Merit, Mahratti ; Ma-ao, Mauk, 
Gondi ; Kadave, Kadaba, Canarese ; Kennadi^ Telegu ; Gous, 
Gaoj (male), Bholongi (female), Eastern Bengali ; Tshat, Burmese ; 
Gona Rusa, Cingalese ; Sdram, Ho Kol ; Kadumai, Tamil ; Khdt- 
khowa-pohu, Assamese ; Sacha, Daphla ; Takhau, Hseukhau^ Kheu^ 
Karen ; Rusa, Rusa-etam, Malay. Called " Elk " in Ceylon. 

HABITAT.- -South-East Asia and the islands of the Malay Archi- 
pelago, but chiefly confined to hill-forest, ranging as high as 10,000 ft. 
in the Himalayas, and in Southern India and Ceylon to the hill-tops. 
It is not found where there is no forest, as in parts of the Punjab and 
north-west. 

DESCRIPTION. A very variable species, in India a large animal, 



ORDER UNGULATA 249 

stags ranging up to 4^ ft. at the shoulder, and more massively built 
than our other deer. Tail about three-fourths as long as head, and 
conspicuously bushy. Coat coarse, and on the stag's neck long. 
Ears about half as long as head. 

Antlers large and particularly massive and rugged, normally with 
three points ; a large brow-tine curving forwards and upwards, and 
two tines, varying in relative length, at the end of the " beam " or 
main shaft. A yard is a very good length for a horn, but 4 ft. is 
recorded ; a girth at mid-beam of 8| in. is the record for thickness, 
but the length in this case was only 41 in., the longer horns, as in the 




Sambar. 

Argali, being the less massive. The best horns are found in Central 
India and Bengal. Burmese horns have the inner upper tine shorter 
than the outer, while in Malay heads the reverse is the case ; this 
Malay form and the Burmese also have longer brow-tines. The 
Malay form is sometimes ranked as a distinct species under the name 
of Rusa. 

Ceylon Sambar are smaller than Indian, and some of the races 
from small eastern islands are very small, even down to 2 ft. at the 
shoulder. 

The horns are not very apt to produce extra points, but Sterndale 
had a fine pair over 40 in. long and 7!- at mid-beam, with an extra 



250 



MAMMALIA OF -INDIA 



tine 9 in. long near the top of the right one ; and in the Indian 
Museum in the editor's time was a fine pair with nine points, so 
well- shaped that the asymmetry was not noticeable. He has also 
recorded a pair with flattened ends somewhat as in the Fallow Deer. 

Colour dark brown, reddish in hinds and fawns, darker or even 
blackish or slate-colour in some old stags. The editor has seen one 

pale-spotted fawn, though 
fawns in this species are 
usually unspotted, and 
one very red one, about 
the hue of the Muntjac. 

" No sportsman," says 
Sterndale, " could wish 
for a nobler quarry than 
a fine male sambar. As 
I write, visions of the 
past rise before me, of 
dewy mornings ere the 
sun was up ; the fresh 
breeze at day-break, and 
the waking cry of the 
koel and peacock, or the 
call of the painted part- 
ridge ; then, as we move 
cautiously through the 
jungle that skirts the foot 
of the rocky range of hills, 
how the heart bounds 
when, stepping behind a 
sheltering bush, we watch 
the noble stag coming 
leisurely up the slope ! 
How grand he looks ! 
with his proud carriage 
and shaggy, massive neck, sauntering slowly up the rise, stopping 
now and then to cull a berry, or to scratch his sides with his wide 
sweeping antlers, looming large and almost black through the morning 
mists, which have deepened his dark brown hide, reminding one of 
Landseer's picture of ' The Challenge.' 

" Stalking sambar is by far the most enjoyable and sportsmanlike 
way of killing them, but more are shot in battues, or over water when 
they come down to drink. According to native shikaris the sambar 
drinks only every third day, whereas the nylgao drinks daily ; and 




Head of Sambar. 



ORDER UNGULATA 251 

this tallies with my own experience ; in places where sambar were 
scarce I have found a better chance of getting one over water when 
the footprints were about a couple of days old. An exciting way of 
hunting this animal is practised by the Bunjaras, or gipsies of Central 
India. They fairly run it to bay with dogs, and then spear it. I 
have given in Seonee a description of the modus operandL 

" When wounded or brought to bay the sambar is no ignoble 
foe ; even a female has an awkward way of rearing up and striking 
out with her fore -feet. A large hind in my collection at Seeonee once 
seriously hurt the keeper in this manner." 

Blanford thinks that the Sambar drinks daily, and says it certainly 
travels long distances to its drinking-places at times. Probably 
both he and Sterndale are right ; the quality of the fodder must vary, 
and the power of individuals or of local families of resisting thirst 
probably does so also, whether through constitution or involuntary 
training. Sambar browse much as well as grazing ; they feed mostly 
at night, and seek shade during the day. They affect wild country, 
though visiting cultivation when it occurs amongst this ; and they are 
only moderately sociable, even herds numbering a dozen or less, and 
hinds as well as stags being often solitary. The latter fight much. 
The male's call is a rather metallic bellow, the female's a low grunting 
low. Pairing takes place in spring in the Himalayas, but in late 
autumn in the Peninsula ; the gestation period is eight months, and 
the young are usually born singly. The horns are usually, but not 
always, shed in spring ; and it is of this species that it has been 
asserted, by Forsyth, that the antlers are not always shed annually, 
he having known stags which retained them for years. 

Sambar are hard to kill, and their meat is coarse, but of good 
flavour. They have been introduced into New Zealand, and the 
Rusa race into Mauritius, the Bonin Islands, and probably into some 
of the eastern ones of the Malay Archipelago, some of which seem 
rather far out of the range of most ruminants. 

Needless to say, they do well in captivity, and they will breed in 
that condition, both in India and Europe, but in Britain must not be 
allowed to range in woodland, as they are so inveterately attached 
to cover that they will remain in it all day in winter and contract 
fatal chills. 

A pigmy stag described to the editor by the late W. Rutledge, 
an excellent observer of long experience in the animal trade, may have 
been an extremely dwarf form of eastern island sambar ; it was no 
bigger than a Chevrotain, but had three-pointed antlers. 



252 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Spotted Deer. 

SPOTTED DEER 



OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus axis. Axis maculatus. 
Native : Chital, Chitra, Chitra-jank (male), Hindi ; Chatidah^ 
Bhagalpur ; Boro Khotiya, Rungpore Bengali ; Buriya, Gorakhpur ; 
Sdraga, Sdrung, Jati, Mikka, Canarese ; Dupi, Telegu ; Lupi, Kars, 
Gondi ; Tic Muha, Cingalese ; Pali-man^ Tamil, Malabarese. 

HABITAT. India, except Sind and the Punjab plains, not going 
up the Himalayas above the foot-hills, but found up to 4,000 ft. in 
places in Southern India. Also found in Ceylon, and introduced in 
New Zealand. 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the home Fallow Deer in form and colour 
of coat. Size moderate, a yard or a little more at the shoulder in 



ORDER UNGULATA 253 

bucks, considerably less in does. Tail longer than in our other deer, 
tapering, as long as head. Coat smooth throughout, light chestnut, 
spotted with whitejn botrT^sexes_an5 at all ages and seasons. A 
blaclcishTariety^ccasionally occurs, which showsTonly faint traces of 
the spots. The ordinary specimens have a black line all along the 
spinal column from the nape to the tip of the tail, which last is white 
underneath, as are the throat and belly. 

Horns of the Sambar type, with only a brow-tine and two branches 
at the tip of the beam, which is, however, smooth, thin, and far longer 
proportionately than in the Sambar, horns of 30 in. being common, 
while a pair of 38 and 38! in., with a 4-in. girth at the centre of the 
beam, is on record. The outer top tine is always much longer than the 
inner. Where the brow-tine and beam meet small extra points often 
occur, and in the Bombay Natural History Society's Journal (vol. 
xxix, 1924), an account and figure were given of a specimen which 
had a large branch projecting from the back of the beam and divid- 
ing into points in both horns. A shed pair were found, and then 
their owner was shot bearing a new pair of like character. This was 
a great pity, as it would have been of great scientific interest to note if 
his stock perpetuated his peculiarity. 

Spotted Deer are smaller in South India, Ceylon, and Lower Bengal 
than elsewhere, and have smaller horns. 

Concerning their habits, Sterndale says : " This deer is generally 
found in forests bordering streams. I have never found it at any 
great distance from waer ; it is gregarious, and is found in herds of 
thirty and forty in raVcm^C6le localities. Generally, ^spotted deer and 
jmccly scenery are found together, at all events in Central India. 
The very name chital recalls to me the loveliest bits of the rivers of 
the Central Provinces, the Nerbudda, the Pench, the Bangunga, and 
the bright little Hirrie. Where the bamboo bends over the water, 
and the kouha and saj make sunless glades, there will be found the 
bonny dappled hides of India's fairest deer. There is no more 
beautiful sight in creation than a chital $fa% in a sun-flecked dell." 

The herds may be larger than mentioned above, even including 
hundreds of animals, according to Blanford. 

hital are gregarious at all seasons, and pairing and the production 
of young may occur at any time, as does the shedding of the horns. 
The gestation is variously given as six or eight months. Spotted Deer 
have no objection to plains or to the neighbourhood of man, provided 
broken ground or forest is available for a refuge, and when deer 
damage is complained of in India and Ceylon, this beautiful species is, 
it is to be feared, generally the culprit. However, its venison is good 
if kept till tender, and the skin is eminently suitable for rugs, so that 



254 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



there is no excuse for letting it become a pest. The note is a hflarse 
bark. 

Spotted Deer live and breed particularly well in captivity, both in 
India and in Europe, and are well known in menageries by the name 
of Axis. 




Hog-Deer. 

HOG-DEER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus porcinus. Axis porcinus. 
Native : Pdrd, Hindi ; Khar Laguna^ Nepalese ; Nutrini haran, 
Bengali ; Wil-mulia, Cingalese ; Dodar in Rohilkund ; Darai, 
Dayai) Burmese. 

HABITAT. Plain country, watered by the Indus and Ganges 
system, and eastwards through Burma to Tenasserim ; also Ceylon, 
but only between the Kaltura River and Madura, where it is supposed 
to have been introduced. 

DESCRIPTION. A small, rather short-legged deer, about 2 ft. at 
the shoulder, with horn-pedicels noticeably elevated above the skull, 
and tail nearly as long as head. Coat short and smooth throughout, 



ORDER UNGULATA 255 

brown in winter, in summer paler and yellower and generally more 
or less marked with white or pale spots above. According to Jerdon 
the old buck assumes a slaty hue at this time, but as Blanford does not 
mention this, it probably is not general. Under-side of tail white ; 
fawns white-spotted for their first half-year. 

Antlers small, generally about i ft. long, with a brow-tine slanting 
sharply upwards, and two top tines of which the inner is much the 
smaller ; altogether much like those of a young Chital. The record 
length is not much over 20 in. 

Sterndale says : " This animal is seldom found in forest land : it 
seems to prefer open grass jungle, lying sheltered during the day in 
thick patches, and lies close till almost run upon by beaters or elephants. 
Its gait is awkward, with some resemblance to that of a hog, carrying 
its head low ; it is not speedy, and can easily be run down by dogs 
in the open. McMaster writes : * Great numbers of these deer are 
each season killed by Burmans, being mobbed with dogs.' The meat 
is fair. Hog-deer are not gregarious like chital ; they are usually 
solitary, though found occasionally in pairs." 

The horns are shed about April, and the rutting season is September 
and October. This species and the Spotted Deer have interbred, and 
the hybrid progeny survived. 

A propos of a supposed wild hybrid reported in the Field a year or 
two ago, it was noted that Hog-deer and Spotted Deer interbred so 
persistently in the Duke of Bedford's park at Woburn Abbey, that they 
had to be separated to keep the species pure. The hybrid character 
of the above specimen was doubted, and certainly the skin photo- 
graphed was well spotted, and the horns on the skull also figured might 
have been poor or young chital horns ; but as the horn-pedicels were 
distinctly intermediate in height, the animal probably really was a 
hybrid. The case is of interest, not only because wild hybrid mammals 
are so rare, but because in several points, as will have been seen, the 
Hog-deer differs from all our other typical deer and approaches the 
muntjacs, though it has no upper canine teeth at all. Chital, however, 
seldom have these teeth, and this readiness on the part of the two to 
interbreed may perhaps be taken as a further proof of the close alliance 
of the two species. Blanford states that when ridden for spearing 
they generally give a good run. At bay, in spite of its small size, the 
Para shows much courage and will charge in a determined manner. 

This deer goes with young eight months. It does well in captivity, 
but owing to its comparatively unattractive appearance is not very 
popular either in India or Europe. 



256 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

BAEASINGHA OR SWAMP-DEER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus duvauceli, Rucervus duvau- 
celi. Native : Bdrasingha, Mdhd, Hindi ; Baraya> Gour, Ghos, 
Nepalese ; Jhinkar, Kyarda Dun ; Poliya haran^ Monghyr ; Goin, 
Sindhi ; Goinjak (male), Gaoni (female) in Central India ; Bdra- 
nerwari) Sdl-sdmar, Mandla ; Bhelingi pohu, Assamese. 

HABiTAT.^sJndia only, and there local, the range being given by 
Blanford as '^falong the base of the Himalayas from Upper Assam 
to the Kyarda r)un, west of the Jumna, throughout Assam, in a few 
places in the Indo-Gangetic plain from the Eastern Sundarbans to 
Bahawalpur and to Rohri in Upper Sind, and locally throughout the 
area between the Ganges and Godavari as far east as Mandla.^ 
Sterndale says : "I have found it in abundance in the Raigarh Bichia 
tracts of Mandla. ... In the open valleys, studded with sal forest, 
of the Thanwur, Halorie, and Bunjar tributaries of the Nerbudda, 
may be found bits remkjffwg one of English parks, with noble fo^s 
Q this handsome deenf^flt seems to love water and open country 7p 

^DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the Sambar and more slightly built, 
with a long head and long narrow muzzle ; tail about half the length 
of head. Coat rather fine and woolly, forming a mane on the neck ; 
brown in winter, often pale ; chestnut in summer, with, as a rule, 
white spots along the spine at least. The hinds are lighter in colour 
than the stags, a^ the fawns white -spotted. Height of a stag 1 1 hands 
or a little over.^JHorns with a brow-antler coming straight out and 
then curving upwards slightly, a long, straight, smooth beam, and 
two diverging branches at the top, which are subdivided, the inner 
into two, and the outer into three points, so that the total number o 
points in the pair is twelve, whence the name " twelve -tined deer," 
sometimes used ; this is not, however, very appropriate, as many 
other points are often thrown off from tbsse top branches, a pair of 
horns with over twenty being recorded. ((.An ordinary length is 30 in., 
and the record 38 in. with a girth of 5 \ in. at mid-beam. There are 
ofte# small points on the brow-tine^) 

^The Barasingha is chiefly a grass-deer, and avoids thick forest ; 
it ifeeds mostly on grass, and by day, though resting at noon. Its 
main food is grassmmd it would be interesting to know why it has such 
a liking for sal timber, Forsyth having noticed that its range in the 
Central Provinces corresponded with that of this tree, as did that of 
red jungle-fowl. At one time a much isolated patch of sal near 
Panchmarhi was noted for holding these two very different kinds of 
game, but according to Mr. J. W. Best, writing in the Field for 1927 
(p. 505), this is unfortunately no longer the case, both having been 



ORDER UNGULATA 257 

extinct for many years. The name of Swamp-deer, often given to 
this species, is not justified by the animal's usual habits, though 
Anderson observed that a captive stag liked to lie in water in the hot 
wither. 

{ / In the cold weather large herds associate, numbering even hundreds 
wfeere the species is common ; pairing takes place after October, and 
in Assam at any rate stags with growing horns are found singly at the 
end of March, so that shedding, as Blanford remarks, must take 
place about February. The Barasingha does well in captivity, but 
is not very common in that state. The^calJ ofjthe stag is unpleasant, 
being described as something between the .brayipg "of ah ass and the 
squeaking, grinding sound of a native oil-press. \J 

' THAMENG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus eldi. Native : Thameng, 
Burmese ; Sangnai, Sangrai, Manipuri. 

HABITAT. Flat alluvial country in Manipur and south through 
Burma to the Malay Peninsula, Cambodia, and Hainan. 

DESCRIPTION. A long-muzzled species much resembling the last 
in general appearance, but smaller, the stag being about 45 in. at the 
shoulder, and the hind 3 in. less. The tail also is short and the coat 
coarse and in the cold season shaggy, and forming a neck-mane in the 
stag. Colour, in winter, very dark brown in the stag ; in summer, 
pale chestnut above, white below, hinds being paler than stags. Tail 
with a black mark along the top. Fawns are spotted. Horns very 
peculiar, the lower portion forming a hook, owing to the brow-tine, 
which is very large, being perfectly continuous with the beam and 
curving gradually up. The beams of the two antlers diverge strongly, 
and at the top, which bends forwards, bear small branches varying 
from two to ten on each ; the two horns seldom match, and there are 
commonly some small points on the brow-tine. In young stags the 
horn, as yet unbranched at the top, looks like a letter C, fixed by its 
back on the head. The length is usually rather under i yd., reckoning 
in the usual way from burr to tip ; but 38^ in. is said to have occurred. 
There seems no reason to take in the brow-antler in the measurement, 
as is sometimes done ; and the name " brow-antlered deer " sometimes 
used is hardly distinctive, since all our deer but the hornless musk have 
the brow- antler. 

The Thameng is really more or less of a swampdeer, inhabiting 
swamps as well as grassy plains, and, like the Barasingha, is decidedly 
gregarious, fifty or more being sometimes found in a herd. Generally 
it keeps in the open, and though more often seen on wet ground than 
our other deer, is found locally in places where no fresh water is to be 



258 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

had in the hot weather, so that it is unlike other deer, and like some 
antelopes, in being able to do without this. In swamps it often feeds 
on wild rice and other marsh-plants, elsewhere presumably on grass. 
Shedding takes place about midsummer in Manipur, and at the 
beginning of autumn in Lower Burma. Pairing in Burma is in 




Wapiti. 

spring, the fawns being born in late autumn. Stags are in their prime 
at seven years, but breeding may begin at eighteen months. The hind 
has a short barking grunt, the stag a lower and longer call. The 
Thameng is not very common in captivity. 

In the Manipur Valley, which is swampy throughout, there is a 



ORDER UNGULATA 259 

peculiar local race in which the hind pasterns are covered with a horny 
instead of hairy skin, and touch the ground in walking. 

Blanford thought that Schomburgk's Deer (Cervus schomburgkt), 
a Siamese species, might possibly prove to inhabit the South Shan 
States. It is a good-sized brown species, rather shaggy-coated in 
winter, with very peculiar antlers ; the beam is very short, only about 
the length of the brow-tine, and divides into two branches, which 
subdivide into so many and often so long points that the general 
effect is that of a twiggy bush and quite unlike anything to be seen 
in other deer. The horn-length is usually above 2 ft., and the record 
33 in. 

HANGAL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus cashmirianus. Native : 
Hangal, Honglu (male), Minyamar (female), Kashmiri ; Barasingha, 
Hindi, 

HABITAT. Kashmir. 

DESCRIPTION. A large deer, 12 or 13 hands at the shoulder in the 
stag, but not so robust as the Sambar ; tail short, not a third the length 
of head. Coat close, except on the fore-neck of the breeding stag, 
where it is long and shaggy. Colour brown, drab, or liver in winter, 
light chestnut in summer, with the under-parts dark brown in the stag 
and whitish in the hind. Mouth white and ears and a stern-patch 
whitish. Fawns spotted till three or four years old. Horns with a 
large upward-curved brow-tine, a bez (bay) or second brow-tine close 
to this, and a tres (tray) tine about the middle of the beam, which last 
divides into at least two tines at the top. There are thus normally 
ten points, and there may be more, up to even as many as eighteen, 
on the pair of horns. The length is usually well over i yd., and 
there is a record of 55 in. with a mid-beam-girth of 7 in. The bez, or 
second brow-tine, is usually considerably longer than the first. 

The Hangal is closely related to the American Wapiti (which also 
inhabits North-East and Central Asia), and, like that animal, has a 
general resemblance to the red deer at home. Its challenge call, like 
that of the Wapiti, is a loud metallic squeal, not a roar like the red 
deer's. It frequents pine forests, especially where there are grassy 
glades near a water supply, and wanders a good deal. In winter it is 
found in herds, but only a few are seen together in summer, when the 
stags are usually solitary. The horns are shed in spring and new- 
grown in October, when pairing takes place, the fawns appearing 
next April, which gives a half-year's gestation-period, The Hangal 
is rarely seen in captivity. 



260 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

SHOT! 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cervus wallichii^ qffinis. Native: 
Shou, Tibetan. 

HABITAT. Tibet, Sikkim in the Chumbi Valley, and Bhutan. 

DESCRIPTION. Similar to the Hangal, but running considerably 
larger, with the antlers bent sharply forward at mid-beam just above 
the tres tine ; they are generally five-pointed, and the bez-tine is often 
not larger than the brow. The record length is 57! in. 

It seems doubtful if this stag is really fully distinct from the Hangal, 
and, indeed, whether both are not simply some of the Asiatic races 
of the Wapiti, considering the great variability of the antlers in stags 
of the red-deer type. 



ORDER EDENTATA 

The order Edentata, or toothless mammals, is represented in 
India by only one family, the Pangolins (Manidce), and all our three 
species belong to the only genus, Mam's. They are really toothless 
(which is not the case with all so-called Edentates), and differ from all 
our other mammals in looking like large lizards ; they are almost 
earless, have long tails, very thick at the base, and are covered with 
scales except on the under-parts and the inside of the limbs, the tail 
being scaly even on the under-side. The scales are, however, much 
larger than is usual in reptiles, and are sometimes interspersed with a 
few hairs, while there is a scanty growth of hair on the scaleless parts. 
The head is small, with a narrow muzzle and small mouth ; the tongue 
long, extensible, and worm-like, and the stomach muscular like a 
bird's gizzard. All the feet bear five toes with strong claws, those 
on the fore-feet being larger than those behind, and the middle 
claw in all the feet is the largest of all. The fore-claws are especially 
adapted for digging, and their points are preserved by the peculiar 
pose of the fore-foot in walking ; the claws are turned inwards, and the 
animal treads on the backs and outsides of the outer toes. The hind- 
feet are generally plantigrade, treading on the soles. In walking the 
back is arched. 

When attacked, Pangolins roll themselves into a ball, the sharp 
projecting edges of the overlapping scales then serving for offence as 
well as defence. They are very strong, though slow, and are powerful 
burrowers, digging up the nests of ants and termites, the so-called 
" white ants," on which they feed, by means of the long tongue, which 



ORDER EDENTATA 



261 



is well lubricated by large salivary glands. Stones are often found 
in the stomach, either swallowed to aid digestion, as by birds, or 
accidentally with the insect food. Pangolins are nocturnal as a rule, 
hiding by day either in rock-crevices or in burrows made by themselves. 
They are apparently monogamous, and have only one or two young 
at a time. 




Indian Pangolin, 

INDIAN PANGOLIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Manis pentadactyla. Native : Bdjra- 
Sanscrit ; Bdjrakapta^ Silu, Sakunphor, Sal sdlu, Surajmukhi> 
Hindi ; Shalma, Bauri ; Armu, Kol ; Kauli-mah, Kaulimanjra> 
Kassoli-manjur^ Mahratti ; Alawa, Telegu ; Alangu, Malabarese ; 
Banroku, Deccan ; Keyot-much^ Rangpore ; Katpohu, Bengali ; 
Kabalaya, Cingalese ; Kishaur, Rishtu ; Challa, Mirun^ Sindhi, 

HABITAT. India (except the Himalayas) and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. About 2 ft. in length of head and body ; tail 18 in. 
Ceylon specimens have the tail rather longer in proportion, and females 
are smaller than males. Fore-claws very long, the middle one twice 
the length of the corresponding hind-claw. About a dozen rows of 
scales round the body. Colour light fawn or olive, under-parts fleshy. 



262 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

Sterndale says : " This species burrows in the ground to a depth 
of 12 ft., more or less, where it makes a large chamber, sometimes 
6 ft. in circumference. It lives in pairs, and has from one to two 
young ones at a time in the spring months. Sir W. Elliot, who gives 
an interesting detailed account of it, says that it closes up the entrance 
to its burrow with earth when in it, so that it would be difficult to find 
it but for the peculiar track it leaves. ... I have had specimens 
brought me by the Gonds, but found them very somnolent during the 
day. . . . The first one I got had been kept for some time without 
water, and drank most eagerly when it arrived, in the manner described 
by Sir Walter Elliot, * by rapidly darting out its long extensile tongue, 
which it repeated so rapidly as to fill the water with froth.' The 
only noise it makes is a faint hiss. It sleeps rolled up, with the head 
between the fore-legs, and the tail folded firmly over all. The natives 
believe in the aphrodisiac virtues of the flesh." 

Blanford says that a female kept by Mr. W. Daly in the Shevroy 
Hills produced a young one weighing i Ib. on July 1 1 ; this weight 
indicates a very small size for the newly-born specimen, as a female 
weighs about 20 Ib. 

Pangolins are rare in captivity, and said to be hard to feed ; Blyth 
found that one died soon after a meal of chopped raw meat and cooked 
egg and rice, which it ate at night. Repletion was no doubt the cause 
of death, as suggested, for such food would be suitable. It would 
have been better to give raw egg beaten up in milk at first, or water 
thickened with satoo, the latter being the method of Indian bird- 
fanciers with insectivorous birds, more satoo being added till the bird 
is eating paste. The Pangolin soon gets tame, and has a peculiar 
habit of standing up on the hind-legs in a stooping position. 

Blanford doubts whether it drinks frequently or at all when wild, 
as it is often found where no water can be had ; but the fact that it 
knows how to drink, and does so readily in captivity, surely indicates 
that it takes water when available, though, like so many mammals, 
able to dispense with it. 

EARED OR HILL PANGOLIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mam's aurita. Native : Bdjarkit, 
Hindi ; Sdlak, Khasi ; Kwengnya, Newari. 

HABITAT. Moderate heights in the Himalayas from Nepal east, 
and through Assam, and the north Bhamo Hills to Karennee, South 
China, Hainan, and Formosa. 

DESCRIPTION. Fore-claws much longer than hind as in the last, 
but slenderer and considerably smaller body ; ears large enough to 



ORDER EDENTATA 263 

be noticeable ; hairs between the scales more numerous. Head 
and body under 2 ft., tail little more than i ft. Scales much smaller 
than in the Indian Pangolin, forming about seventeen rows. Colour, 
dark brown, the bare under-parts fleshy. Young specimens sometimes 
show pale bands on the scales. 

MALAY PANGOLIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mam's javanica. Native : Theng- 
khwe-khyat) Burmese ; Pangoling, Tanjileng, Malay. 

HABITAT. Burma, east to the Malay countries to Celebes, south 
to Cochin China and Cambodia, west to Sylhet and Tipperah. 

DESCRIPTION. About the same size as the Eared Pangolin, but 
more slenderly built still and with the tail longer. Ears rudimentary 
and hairs between the scales scanty as in the Indian species. Fore- 
claws much shorter than in the other two, not nearly twice the length 
of hind ones. Scales usually in seventeen rows, dark brown or some- 
times variegated, longer than in the others, and often keeled. Bare 
skin whitish. Head and body about 20 in. long, tail nearly as much. 

This Pangolin differs somewhat in habits from the last two, for 
though it burrows, it rarely frequents rocks, and in Java and Borneo, 
at any rate, climbs trees and hides in their crevices. It also sometimes 
turns the hind -claws inwards as well as the front ones, probably an 
adaptation to the climbing habit. 



REPTILIA OF INDIA 

THE [Reptiles are cold-blooded, air-breathing vertebrates without 
hair, and possessing either scales or claws, or both. They reproduce 
generally by laying eggs, which are hard- or soft-shelled, but always 
white and elliptical or round, and sometimes by bringing forth live 
young ; these bear a close general resemblance to their parents, but 
commonly differ in some details, such as proportions and colour ; 
the head is generally larger, the tail longer, and the hues more varied 
and brilliant. In any case the newly-born young have teeth when 
these are present and shift for themselves from the first. 

Reptiles never have long limbs, and are generally more sluggish 
than mammals, but are capable of spurts of great activity. In cold 
weather or prolonged drought they become torpid. They are generally 
animal feeders, and the teeth, when present, as they usually are, are 
more uniform in structure than in most mammals, and are not confined 
to two sets, but are continually being lost and reproduced Their 
skins are generally shed in masses, not as scurf. They are probably 
more abundant than mammals in most parts of India, being essentially 
animals of warm climates, and particularly abundant forms of life in 
such. In the larger species growth continues long, and its limits are 
unknown. 

In dealing with them I shall follow the same plan as with the 
mammals, mentioning only the important forms, such as are likely 
to attract attention, or deserve notice on account of their peculiarities 
or harmful nature ; most reptiles, however, are either indifferent, or 
useful insect destroyers. 

The reptiles of our Indian Empire belong to three orders, dis- 
tinguished as follows : 

The Tortoises (Chelonid) by having the body enclosed in a shell or 
case, and horny cutting edges to the jaws instead of teeth. 

The Crocodiles (Emydosaurid) resemble giant lizards, but can be 
distinguished from any true lizards even when young and small, by 
the exposure of the teeth even when the mouth is closed, and by the 
peculiar crest of horny plates on the tail, which is single at the end 
and splits into two diverging portions on the upper-part. 

264 



ORDER EMYDOSAURIA 265 

The Lizards and Snakes (Squamatd) are the ordinary reptiles with 
none of the above peculiarities. 



ORDER EMYDOSAURIA 

In addition to the special peculiarities mentioned above, crocodiles 
have five more or less webbed toes on the fore and four on the hind 
feet, only the three inner of which bear claws. The tongue is broad, 
and so attached to the floor of the mouth that it cannot be protruded. 
The tail is compressed, and is the propeller in swimming, the creatures 
being mainly aquatic. It is also used as a fighting weapon as well 
as the jaws. The scales of the back, which are very thick and pro- 
minent, are underlaid by a bony armour, so that a rifle-bullet is apt 
to glance off, and the fatal spots are the eye and just behind the arm. 
The hide of the under-parts, in Indian species at any rate, has no 
underlying armour, and is the part valued by leather-dressers. 

Although the brain is very small, crocodiles are wary and cunning, 
and in some cases dangerous, while they are generally destroyers of 
useful animals. They swallow stones and other hard substances, 
no doubt to aid digestion. 

Their eggs are numerous and very small for the size of the parent, 
being about the size of a goose's. They are hard-shelled and elliptical 
in form, and are buried by the parent in the sand at the water-side. 

Young crocodiles are more brightly coloured than adults, which 
are very dull, and grow to a larger size than any other reptiles ; they 
are also internally the most highly developed, and approach birds and 
mammals. 

The mouth, generally deep in reptiles, is especially so in crocodiles, 
the knuckles on which the lower jaw articulates being the hindermost 
parts of the skull, while the ends of the jawbone are prolonged further 
back still. In consequence of this structure the crocodile appears 
to move the upper jaw when it opens its mouth, instead of the lower 
as is really the case. 

Crocodiles have a peculiar habit of lying on shore with the mouth 
open. Owing to a valve in the throat also they are able to keep it 
partly open under water without this entering the lungs, and use this 
faculty in drowning air-breathing prey. Their eyes are small, and 
light-coloured with a vertical pupil in our species ; it is said that 
thrusting one's finger into the eye is the way to make a crocodile 
release one if seized. The eyes and nostrils both project above the 



266 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

general level of the head, and thus the reptile can keep watch and 
breathe while otherwise submerged, to sink at will and come up near 
a victim on the bank. Where large crocodiles exist it is unwise to 
stand within a yard of the water, as there is a risk of being swept in 
by the reptile's tail brought suddenly round. 

The presence of crocodiles is often perceptible by the musky odour 
they emit from two glands under the chin. 

Crocodiles in India are often called alligators, but the true alligators, 
though members of the same family, are American and Chinese ; 
the characters in which they differ from crocodiles are unimportant 
compared with those which separate both alligators and crocodiles 
from garials, of which we have one species, forming a genus of its own. 

GABIAL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gavialis gangeticus. Native : Ga- 
rial) Hindi ; Gavial2xi& Gavialis originated in an error, r having been 
mistaken for v. 

HABITAT. A few Indian and Burmese rivers, the Indus, Ganges, 
Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, and Koladyne, and the larger tributaries 
of the first three. 

DESCRIPTION. A very large crocodile, growing to 20 ft., and it 
is said even to nearly 30 ft. Muzzle very long, narrow and parallel- 
sided, enlarging at the tip, which bears a hump in old males ; more 
than two dozen teeth on each side of each jaw. Colour olive, dark 
in the adults, light in the young, which are also spotted or barred with 
dark brown. The muzzle in the young is also longer proportionately 
than in the adult, its length being about five times its breadth at the 
base, whereas in the adult it is less than four times. 

The Garial is a fish-eater, and is supposed to be harmless, but in 
the stomach of a large specimen, the skeleton of which was exhibited 
in the Calcutta Museum in my time, there had been found a native 
woman's ornaments. These may have been picked up and swallowed 
by the reptile as stones are, or it may have fed on a corpse, but their 
occurrence is worth remembering, as it may indicate that the Garial 
is not always harmless. Compared with other crocodiles the Garial 
is rare in captivity. 

Our two typical crocodiles (genus Crocodilus) have wedge-shaped 
snouts with the outline of the upper jaw uneven, and less than twenty 
teeth on each side of each jaw, more uneven in size than those of the 
Garial. Young specimens have well-defined foreheads and shorter 
muzzles than adults. 



ORDER CHELONIA 267 

COAST CROCODILE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Crocodilus porosus^ pondicerianus. 
Native : Magar^ Hindustani. 

HABITAT. Coasts of Eastern India, and of Ceylon and Burma, 
east to North Australia and even Fiji and the Solomons. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of crocodiles, and, indeed, of living 
reptiles, growing to 1 1 yds. Muzzle rather long, about twice as long 
as its breadth at the base just in front of the eyes, and marked by two 
prominent converging ridges ; a square formed by four large scales 
on the nape, flanked by one or two small ones, and either none or only 
a few small irregular ones between this and the head. Four to eight 
rows of scales down the back. Colour olive, dark in the adult, pale 
in the young, which have large black spots. 

The coast crocodile is often found far out at sea, and, though it 
ascends rivers, is not known definitely to penetrate them far above the 
tideway. It is a very fierce reptile and a dangerous man-eater, 

COMMON INDIAN CROCODILE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Crocodilus palustris. Native : 
Magar. 

HABITAT. India, Ceylon, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula and 
islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Much smaller than the coast crocodile, but said 
to exceed 12 ft. in length at times. Muzzle shorter and broader 
than in that species, its length much less than twice its breadth at the 
base, not more than one and a half times ; no ridges, though the 
surface is rough. 

There is the same square of four shields on the nape, with one 
smaller one on each side ; but between these and the head there is 
a line of four distinct scales. Lines of scales down the back fewer 
than in the last species, usually four, or at least not more than six. 
Colour olive, dark in the adult, pale with black spots in the young. 

This is the commonest crocodile in India ; it is sometimes called 
Marsh Crocodile, but frequents rivers and ponds as well as marshes. 
It is not so dangerous as the coast species, but should not be trusted. 

ORDER CHELONIA 

In addition to their shell and horny-edged instead of toothed jaws, 
tortoises are noticeable by reason of the peculiar structure of their 
fore-legs, in which the humerus or upper arm-bone turns forwards 
instead of backwards as in other quadrupeds, and forms a sort of knee 



268 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

with the bones of the forearm ; hence the awkward gait of* land- 
tortoises, which are much in the minority, though among our species 
may be found all gradations between active carnivorous swimmers 
and slow terrestrial passively-resisting vegetarians. The bony 
foundations of tjie shell may be overlaid by horny plates or leathery 
skin, and the head and limbs may be withdrawn under it more or less 
completely in some cases. The tail in our species is nearly always 
short and little noticeable. 

Tortoises can give a very severe bite, and the larger freshwater 
kinds are at times dangerous. 

The eggs vary according to the group, being either hard- or soft- 
shelled, round or elliptical. They are buried by the female in the 
ground. 

The order with us contains five families, distinguished as follows : 

The ordinary Tortoises and Terrapins (Testudinidce) by having 
a horn-coated shell, short toes and tail, and at least four claws on each 
foot, generally five. 

The Snapper (the only species of the PlatysternidcE) by having a 
quite long tail, about as long as the small shell. 

The Soft-shells (Trionychida) by having no plates, but a soft skin 
everywhere, and three claws on each foot. 

The Sea-Turtles (Chelonidce) by having the fore-limbs in the 
form of wing-like flippers, horny shell-shields, but only one or two 
claws. 

The Leathery Turtle (the only species of the Sphargidcz) by having 
wing-like flippers, but neither claws nor, except on the head, any horny 
shields, while at the same time the shell has several conspicuous 
ridges. 

The Soft-shells, besides being covered with soft skin throughout, 
have lips deceptively covering a very vicious beak, and the nostrils 
at the end of a soft fleshy snout or short proboscis. The shell is very 
flat, the neck long, and the feet large and very fully webbed ; the three 
claws are on the inner toes, and well developed. These creatures 
are very active swimmers, generally carnivorous, and spend nearly 
all their time in the water. Dr. Boulenger thinks the larger species 
may grow to 5 ft. in length of shell, and it is obvious that the bite of 
an individual of this size is serious ; in fact, no one should enter water 
where large Soft-shell tortoises are found, as they often attack ; and 
even small ones should be handled with care, as the American species 
at any rate can snap backwards as far as the middle of their backs. 
The head can be drawn right into the shell, and darted out with great 
rapidity. The Indian species appear not to be esteemed as food, 



ORDER CHELONIA 269 

which is strange, as the Americans prize theirs highly. The eggs of 
the Soft-shells have hard but brittle shells, and the young are often 
handsomely variegated. The typical Soft-shells belong to the genus 
Trionyx, which includes most of the largest and most formidable 
species. 

LARGE-HEADED SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx subplanus, giintheri. 

HABITAT. Mergui to Java. 

DESCRIPTION. Head very large and shell very flat, with broken 
ridges in young. Colour brown, with the under-parts, sides of neck 
and dots on it and the head yellowish. 

GANGES SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx gangeticus. 

HABITAT. Ganges and its tributaries. 

DESCRIPTION. Head medium-sized ; colour olive above, yellowish 
below ; a black streak from crown to nape giving off back-slanting 
side-streaks ; back of young finely pencilled with black. 

SOUTHERN SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx leithii. 
HABITAT. Rivers Kistna and Nelambar. 

DESCRIPTION. Similar to the last, but snout longer, and young 
with two or more pairs of eye-spots on the back. 

BROWN SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx hurum> gangeticus. 

HABITAT. Ganges and its tributaries. 

DESCRIPTION. Head medium-sized ; colour, olive-brown below 
as well as above, with light dots on the extremities and the edge of the 
shell, and black spots or pencillings on the head. Young with large 
yellow spots on the head and two or three pairs of large eye-spots on 
the back, which also bears rows of little warts. 

BURMESE SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx formosus. 

HABITAT. Rivers Irrawaddy, Sittoung, and Salween. 

DESCRIPTION. Head medium-sized, thickly spotted with black 
above, white below like rest of under-parts ; upper parts olive-brown. 
Young with black-edged yellow markings on head, and two pairs of 
large eye-spots on back, which bears rows of little warts. 



270 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

PHAYRE'S SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx phayrii. 
HABITAT. Pegu to Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION. Head medium- sized, with muzzle a little longer 
than the last. 

MALAY SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trionyx cartilagineus^ ornatus. 

HABITAT. Pegu east to Java and south to Siam and Camboja. 

DESCRIPTION. Head medium-sized, muzzle rather long ; upper 
parts and chin olive-brown, head and chin thickly spotted with yellow, 
rest of under-parts white. Young with light spots, and generally a 
few large dark ones, on the back. 

The next species has a genus of its own (Pelochelys). 

COAST SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Pelochelys cantoris. 

HABITAT. Burma, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines, 
and in India the Ganges. 

DESCRIPTION. Head medium-sized, with very short, broad 
muzzle, and eyes far forward ; weaker jaws than in Trionyx. Colour 
olive above, sometimes with dark spots ; under-shell whitish. Young 
with warty back and throat white -speckled on an olive ground. 

This species differs from the others in entering salt water as well 
as living in rivers. 

The next species also has a genus to itself (Chitrd). It is a large, 
formidable reptile. 

CHITRA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chitra indica. 

HABITAT. Ganges and Irrawaddy. 

DESCRIPTION. Muzzle very short, with eyes very near its end ; 
head altogether small, jaws weaker than in Trionyx / colour green 
or olive, whitish below, and with dark stripes on the head. Young 
with dark pencilling on back. 

The Box Soft-shells (genus Emydd) are distinguished by a flap 
of skin at the back of the under-shell, which can be shut over the hind 
legs when drawn in ; the jaws are strong and head medium-sized 
with short snout They do not grow very large, and are less completely 



ORDER CHELONIA 271 

aquatic than other soft-shells, being sometimes found at a distance 
from water. Ordinary Trionyx are easily hurt by crawling over a 
hard surface, which grazes the soft skin on the under-shell, and if kept 
in captivity should always have a soft mat fastened over their landing- 
place. The Box Soft-shells are vegetable feeders and said not to be 
savage. 

COMMON BOX SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Emyda granosa. 

HABITAT. Fresh water in country watered by Indus and Ganges. 

DESCRIPTION. Brown with an olive tinge and yellow spots ; 
border of upper-shell, and whole of under-shell, cream-coloured. 
Young with spots more distinct and back skin ridged. A yellow 
variety was recorded in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History 
Society for 1928. 

SOUTHERN BOX SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Emyda vittata, ceylonensis. 
HABITAT. Southern India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Like the last, but without spots, and sometimes 
with dark bands. Its distinctness is doubtful. 

BURMESE BOX SOFT-SHELL 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Emyda scutata. 
HABITAT. Irrawaddy River. 

DESCRIPTION. Spotted or pencilled with a darker colour on a 
brown ground. 

The ordinary Tortoises and. Terrapins (Testudinidce) comprise 
the majority of the order and include the few land forms besides many 
aquatic or amphibious species ; the latter are the Terrapins, but it is 
often hard to draw the line between Tortoises and these, though as a 
whole they have longer toes and claws, more or less webbed, and 
flatter shells. All can draw the neck and limbs in under the shell, 
which is always covered with horny plates or shields. 

Our Indian species are mostly vegetable feeders, and do not grow 
so large or show such ferocity as some soft-shells. Their eggs are 
hard-shelled. 

Our typical Tortoises often distinguished as Land-tortoises 
are heavily built, with high strong shells, and have short club feet 
with coarse scales and strong blunt nails. There are only two joints 
in the toes instead of the usual three. They walk on the toes of the 



272 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

fore-feet and on the soles of the hind -feet, and are thus higher in front 
than behind ; their pace is proverbially slow, and the movement of 
the fore-feet very awkward, the curious arrangement of the upper 
arm being adapted to swimming rather than walking, though these 
tortoises have as a rule a very poor idea of the former exercise. 

They are the most harmless of the group, and rely on the protection 
given by their extremely strong shells. Their food is herbage and 
fruit, possibly at times varied with such few forms of small animal 
life as cannot get out of their way, for Anderson saw one in captivity 
eat some dead prawns and fish procured to feed soft-shells, and I 
have seen one eat raw meat. All our species are under 2 ft. long. 

CLAW-TAILED TORTOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Testudo elongata. 

HABITAT. From Chaibassa in Bengal east through Burma to 
Camboja and Cochin China. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell flattish for a land-tortoise, its depth being 
less than half its length, which may exceed 10 in. ; spinal region 
particularly flat. No thigh-spurs, but a claw-like tip to the tail. 
Colour greenish yellow, more or less heavily and distinctly blotched 
with black, each shield above and below having its own blotch or 
patches. 

LEITH'S TORTOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Testudo leithii. 

HABITAT. Lower Egypt, Western Syria ; said also to inhabit 
Sindh. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell strongly humped, its depth being more than 
half its length, which is 5 in. ; scales of fore-legs very large. Colour 
yellow, each upper shield with a dark-brown border except behind, 
and each lower one with a dark-brown triangle. 

Although the original specimen, described in 1869, was said to have 
come from Sind, the species has not been found there since. 

INDIAN STARRED TORTOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Testudo elegans. 

HABITAT, India and Ceylon, except Lower Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell strongly humped, its depth being about half 
its length of 10 in. ; upper back-shields prominent ; scales of limbs 
prominent, forming short spurs on the thighs and heels. Colour 
black, with a yellow star of about a dozen rays on each central shield ; 
marginal shields and under-shell shields also star-marked with yellow. 



ORDER CHELONIA 273 

This is the common land-tortoise of India, frequenting dry grassy 
hills ; its habits were studied by Hutton, who found that in the cold 
weather it pushed itself into cover, but did not actually become torpid, 
though remaining quiescent. Specimens he kept were fond of 
wallowing in water in hot weather ; the males fought by pushing 
against each other with heads drawn in, each trying to overturn his 
rival, who had great difficulty in getting right side up again if thrown 
on his back. A female in two hours dug a hole 6 in. deep and 4 in. 
wide in which she laid and buried four eggs. 



BURMESE STARRED TORTOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Testudo platynota. 

HABITAT. Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. Differs from the last in being flat along the top 
of the back, in having a yellow under-shell with black blotches but no 
star-marks, and in the rays of the stars on the upper shields being 
broader and only about six in number. The scales on the limbs are 
also less prominent, and there are no heel-spurs. 

BROWN TORTOISE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Testudo or Manouria emys. 

HABITAT. Assam, east to Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest Indian land-tortoise, reaching 18 in. 
in length of shell, which is more than twice as long as deep and rather 
flat. Scales of limbs large and pointed, forming spurs on thighs and 
heels. Colour dark brown in adults, yellowish-brown with dark brown 
marks in young. 

This tortoise is said to be partly aquatic in its habits, thus forming 
the first link with the Terrapins. 

These differ in having distinct toes, more or less webbed, with the 
usual three joints, and ordinary claws. They comprise the majority 
of the family and the largest species in it, and are more or less aquatic. 
Those which are most so are often very flat and have broad paddle- 
like .paws, thus approaching the Soft-shells, from which, however, 
they are easily distinguished by the horny-shielded shell, to say nothing 
of having more than three claws and no proboscis snout. 

The Land-Terrapins (Geoemyda) are more or less terrestrial, and 
most resemble land-tortoises, being distinguished by the different 
feet and by having the head covered with uniform skin, not with 
shields. The toes are only slightly webbed. 

T 



274 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

SPINOUS LAND-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Geoemyda spinosa. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. Decidedly flat, especially along the spine, where, 
however, there is a low blunt keel ; upper-shell notched both before 
and behind. Colour brown, with radiating streaks on each shield 
of the under-shell, and a yellow spot on each side of the neck. Young 
redder, with a more strongly arched and keeled upper-shell, strongly 
notched all round, the bordering shields forming spines, and short 
spines also on the side-shields. Shell about 8 in. in adult. 

LARGE LAND-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Geoemyda grandis. 

HABITAT. Burma to Siam. 

DESCRIPTION. About twice as large as the last species. Shell 
vaulted or roof-shaped, with a blunt but well-marked keel ; only 
hinder edge notched. Colour much as in the last, but darker, the inter- 
spaces between the yellow rays below being black, and the upper-shell 
dark brown. 

FLAT LAND-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Geoemyda depressa. 

HABITAT. Akyab Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell decidedly flat, especially behind, where it is 
broadened ; only hinder edge notched. Colour light brown above, 
yellow below, the shields here star-marked with few and broad black 
bands. Head grey, neck and legs light brown. 

The Three-keeled Terrapins (Nicorid) are also more or less 
terrestrial, but look more distinct from land -tortoises, owing to the 
three-keeled shell. The head is uniformly covered with skin. 

COMMON THREE-KEELED LAND-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nicoria trijuga, thermalis, edeniana. 

HABITAT. Punjab southwards, Ceylon, and Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. Not very flat ; toes with a short but distinct web. 
Colour variable locally ; shell brown to black, with the edge of the 
breast-plate more or less yellow, and sometimes the keels of the back ; 
head more or less marked with yellow. Size from 9 in. in the Indian 
to 1 6 in. in the Burmese race. 



ORDER CHELONIA 275 




Common Three-keeled Land-Terrapin. 



BENGAL THREE-KEELED LAND-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Nicoria tricarinata. 

HABITAT. Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell distinctly arched ; toes hardly at all webbed. 
Colour brown to black above with the keels and under-shell yellow, 
and the head distinctly streaked with yellow. This appears to be 
more terrestrial than the last. 

The Box-Terrapins (Cyclemys) are a third semi-terrestrial group, 
apparently always small, the shell not reaching nearly i ft. in length. 
The beak is hooked, and the head uniformly covered with skin ; the 
toes more or less webbed. But the most important peculiarity is the 
soft hinge in the middle of the under-shell, which allows of its being 
shut up behind when the hind-legs are drawn in. None of the species 
are found west of the Bay of Bengal. The hinge of the shell is not 
distinctly developed in the young, though they would seem to need 
it most, as it ensures better protection for the soft parts. 

BROAD BOX-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cyclemys platynota. 

HABITAT. Mergui to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. Hinder edge of shell notched, spine with blunt 
broken keel ; beak also notched ; toes well webbed. Colour reddish 
or yellowish brown, star-marked with darker on the back ; shields 
of under-shell spotted with brown on a yellow ground, or brown 



376 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

with yellow along their junctions. Neck brown streaked *with 
yellowish. Young marked with black spots on the back, the spots 
paired along the spine. 

DHOR BOX-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cyclemys dhor, oldhamii* 
HABITAT. Pegu, south and east to Malay Islands, Siam and 
Camboja. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell with a continuous blunt keel ; hinder end 
and beak notched ; feet well webbed. Colour brown, darker below 
and with darker spots above ; neck streaked. Young with the 
under-shell light brown or even yellowish, streaked or spotted with 
dark brown. 

FREE-TOED BOX-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cyclemys or Pyxidea mouhoti. 

HABITAT. Cachar, Siam, and Cochin China. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell flat, three-keeled, and notched at hinder 
end ; beak with a strong hook, not notched ; toes hardly webbed 
at all. Colour brown above, yellowish below, sometimes with dark 
brown patches. Young with yellow spots on neck. 

BLUNT-BEAKED BOX-TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cyclemys or Cuora amboinensis. 

HABITAT. Burma and Siam, east to Moluccas. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell well arched, not notched behind, one keel 
sometimes present ; beak barely hooked, toes fairly well webbed. 
Colour some shade of brown above ; under-side, including that of 
head and neck, yellow, breast-plate with black blotches or brown 
with the seams between shields yellow. Two yellow stripes along 
side of head. Young with all the centre of the under-shell black, 
and three keels on the upper-shell. 

The next is our only species of its genus (Bellid)^ and is also 
small. 

THICK-NECKED TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bellia crassicollis. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim to Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell rather flat, especially along the spine in the 
male, indistinctly keeled, notched behind ; toes very well webbed ; 
head large, with small shields at the 'back, muzzle short, beak not 



ORDER CHELONIA 277 

hooked. Colour, dark brown or black, with eight large yellow spots 
on the head, and the under-shell with its sides or the seams between 
its shields yellowish, or all variegated with yellowish. Young with 
three distinct keels, and head-spots more distinct than in adult. 

This species is semi- aquatic, as is the next, which also is the only 
species in its genus, in our area at least, and is also small. 

HAMILTON'S TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Damonia hamillonii. 

HABITAT. Bengal and Northern India. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell well humped, with three rows of knobs ; 
hind end slightly notched. Head very short-muzzled, with a notch 
in the beak, and large shields in front and small behind, rather large 
for the body ; toes very well webbed. Colour dark brown or blackish 
spotted with yellow throughout, the shell streaked as well as spotted. 

The remaining genera are all aquatic and vegetable feeders. 
Their feet are very fully webbed, and the edges of the jaws toothed. 

The Eyed Terrapins (Morenia) have one shield covering the muzzle 
and crown, followed by a wrinkled skin. The shell is rather flat, 
plain-edged behind, and the size small. 

BURMESE EYED TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Morenia ocellata^ Emys ocellata. 

HABITAT. Burma. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell with an interrupted keel, head medium- 
sized, short-muzzled, with beak notched in front as well as along the 
sides ; lower jaw more markedly saw-edged. 

Colour, brown, each shield eyed in black and yellow ; under-shell 
yellow ; head with two yellow streaks along each side on an olive 
ground. Young with keel more strongly developed. Male's shell 
6 in. and female's 8 in. long. 

BENGAL EYED TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Morenia ocellata. 

HABITAT. Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the last the shell an inch shorter 
in both sexes, which differ in size similarly muzzle longer and sharper. 
Colour black, with yellowish streaks on the spinal shields and yellow- 
edged eyes surmounted by yellowish loops on the side ones ; head 
with three yellow streaks instead of two. 

The next two species are large and each is the only one in its 
genus, and highly aquatic. 



278 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

THURGI 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hardella thurgi. 

HABITAT. Ganges and Indus and their tributaries. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell rather flat, broken-keeled, plain-edged ; 
snout short, lower jaw more strongly serrated than upper. Colour 
dark brown, or black, under-shell often yellowish with black blotches. 
Females grow to 18 in. in length of shell, but the males are con- 
siderably inferior in size. 



BATAGUR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Batagur baska. 

HABITAT. Bengal, east to Malay Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell rather flat, feet broad and rather paddle- 
shaped with only four claws, nose tip-tilted and pointed. Colour 
olive-brown above, yellowish below. 

The Batagur and several others of these very aquatic terrapins 
are used as food by some castes of Indians, and the name Batagur 
is used by some writers to include all the saw-jawed species, including 
those of the next genus (Kachugd)^ which have also been called 
Pangshures. 

The species in this genus are more numerous than in any other 
genus of our tortoises, and vary much in form and size ; they are 
saw-jawed and have broadly- webbed feet, and their outstanding 
characteristic is the unusual length of the fourth shield of those along 
the spine,* which is at least as long as any of the others. 



RED-STREAKED KACHUGA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kachuga lineata^ Batagur lineata. 

HABITAT. Burma and the north of the Indian Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. A large species, growing to 15 in. in length of 
shell, which is markedly convex. Edges of upper jaw broad, with 
a ridge nearer the outer than the inner side ; lower jaw in front as 
wide as the eye-socket. Colour brown, with red streaks along the 
neck ; underparts yellowish. Young considerably different in form, 
the shell being well keeled with a notched hinder margin, this and 
the central keel disappearing with age, the keel at first breaking up 
into lumps. 

* The first shield, over the neck, is not reckoned ; it is called the nuchal, 
those following being the vertebrals. 



ORDER CHELONIA 279 

IRRAWADDY KACHUGA 

OTHER NAMES, Scientific : Kachuga trivittata. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim and Irrawaddy from Bhamo downwards. 

DESCRIPTION. Apparently grows larger than the last, the shell 
measuring up to 22 in. ; upper jaw much narrower along the edges, 
with a ridge nearer the inner margin, lower jaw in front not so wide 
as eye-socket. There are sometimes three black bands down the 
shell, apparently in adult males only. 

DHONGOKA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kachuga or Batagur dhongoka. 

HABITAT. Ganges and Indus ; perhaps also Poona. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell fairly large attaining 14 in. and very flat, 
with a knob on each of the first few spinal shields ; hinder edge 
undulated. Colour brown with three dark streaks down the back : 
under-parts yellowish. Young with distinct keels. 

SMITH'S KACHUGA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kachuga or Pangshura smithii. 

HABITAT. Upper reaches of Ganges and Indus river-systems. 

DESCRIPTION. Apparently small, the shell, which is very flat 
and slightly keeled, only slightly exceeding 8 in. Colour light brown, 
usually blackish along the spine ; shields of lower surface dark brown 
with yellow edges. 

SYLHET KACHUGA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kachuga sylhetensis. 

HABITAT. Sylhet and Assam. 

DESCRIPTION. A small species, 7 in. in length of shell, which is 
high and roof-shaped, with a keel ending in a blunt spike on the 
third spinal shield and reappearing on the last two as a ridge, and 
strongly notched hinder border. Colour brown, the keel usually 
pale ; shields of breastplate brown edged with yellow. 

BLANFORD'S KACHUGA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kachuga intermedia. 

HABITAT. Hasdo and Godavari rivers. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell high and roof-shaped, with a keel ending 
in a lump on the third spinal shield ; colour brown, head olive with 
five rusty spots across the back of it, most distinct above the eyes ; 



280 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

shields of tinder-shell black, yellow-bordered except at their hinder 
ends. 

This is a rare terrapin, not having been seen by Dr. Boulenger 
at the time of the publication of the Reptile volume of the Fauna of 
British India in 1890 ; the length of shell 4^ in. there given 
probably does not indicate that it never grows larger. 

COMMON ROOFED TERRAPIN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Kachuga tectum, Pangshura tecta. 

HABITAT. Ganges and Indus and their tributaries. 

DESCRIPTION. Shell up to about 9 in. long, high and roof-shaped, 
with hinder edge plain or nearly so and a half-keel ending in a lump 
on the third spinal shield. Colour olive, usually red or yellow of 
some shade on the under-shell, which may, however, be brown with 
the shields bordered with yellow except at their hinder ends ; head 
striped with orange, neck with yellow, limbs spotted with yellow. 
Young with an orange spinal stripe, yellow border, and black spots 
on the upper-shell. This is the brightest of Indian Terrapins and 
is the quickest mover on land of any tortoise I have seen. 

The Snapper, which looks like a cross between a tortoise and a 
lizard, is the sole member of the family Platysternida, which connects 
the typical tortoises with the great American Snappers (Chelydridce) 
and most resembles the latter, though a small reptile. 

ASIATIC SNAPPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Platysternum megacephalum. Also 
called Casqued Terrapin and Long-tailed Terrapin. 

HABITAT. Burma, most common in the south, Siam, and South 
China. 

DESCRIPTION. Distinguished from all our tortoises by the length 
of the tail, which is as long as the shell or even slightly longer. Shell 
oval, small, and very flat. Toes only slightly webbed, with strong 
sharp claws on all except the outer one. Head very large, especially 
swollen behind the eyes, covered above with one large shield (whence 
the name Casqued Terrapin), and with a strongly-hooked beak. 
The head and neck together are half as long as the shell, which 
measures 6 in., the total length being about 15 in. Colour brown, 
paler below. Young spotted with black above, with the head striped 
and the upper-shell edged with yellow ; under-parts yellow with 
black central stripe. Little is known about this curious little reptile, 
except that it inhabits streams ; it should, in spite of its small size, 
be handled with care, as the big American Snappers are dangerous 



ORDER CHELONIA 281 

animals, and will bite and hold on like bull-dogs. Like them, our 
species is no doubt carnivorous. 

The typical Turtles (Chelonida) are large sea-tortoises with a flat 
heart-shaped shell covered with horny shields, and flipper-like limbs 
with no outward indication of toes, while only the first one or two 
claws are present. The hind flippers are short, broad, and rounded, 
the fore ones very long and wing-like ; they are used in swimming 
very like the wings of a bird, and in captivity at any rate turtles are 
extraordinarily active and restless, more so than most warm-blooded 
animals, in fact. In the wild state they only leave the sea to deposit 
their eggs, which are round, soft-shelled, and very numerous. The 
female buries them in the sand in a hole dug out with her hind-flippers. 
The eggs are always good food, but the same cannot always be said 
of the flesh. With the exception of the Green Turtle, they are car- 
nivorous. All the known species, which are found in all warm seas, 
occur with us. 

The Green and Hawk's-bill Turtles (Chelone) are distinguished by 
having heads of moderate size, and not more than four shields in 
each costal row the costals being the rows on each side of the central 
or vertebral series. 

GREEN TURTLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chelone mydas, Chelonia virgata. 
Also called Edible Turtle. 

HABITAT. -Warm seas, sometimes straying into colder waters. 
Not common in the Bay of Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. Muzzle very short and blunt, descending per- 
pendicularly from the nostrils, with no sign of hook ; one claw on each 
flipper. Shields of back not overlapping. Colour of upper-shell 
marbled olive, lower surface paler and plain. The length of shell 
reaches 4 ft. Young with a slight keel along the spine, and some- 
times with a second claw on each flipper. Colour black above, white 
below, the contrast being retained more or less till the shell is a foot 
long. 

This is the turtle so celebrated for its excellence as food ; it has, 
however, been known to be poisonous on occasion. 

The fat is green, whence the name of the species ; the meat of the 
upper- shell is known as calipash, that of the lower as calipee. 

When turned on its back the creature is helpless and unable to 
right itself, and in transport has to be kept in this position, otherwise, 
as we have seen in the case of cetacean mammals, it will be suffocated 
by its own weight when out of water for any length of time. 



282 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

It is generally stated to be herbivorous and is known to live largely 
on marine plants, but it feeds so readily on fish and raw meat in 
captivity that it is evidently omnivorous, and perhaps even carnivorous 
by preference. Possibly the occasionally deleterious nature of its 
flesh may be due to a diet of carrion or of some poisonous marine 
organism. 

HAWK'S-BILL TURTLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chelone imbricata. 

HABITAT. Same as the last ; especially common off the Ceylonese 
coasts and those of the Maldives with us. 

DESCRIPTION. Muzzle projecting well in front of the nostrils, 
the beak well marked off from the head, altogether more like a bird's 
than that of any other tortoise. It is, however, more like a finch's 
or a fowl's than a hawk's, the hook not being much developed, in 
spite of the name. Two claws on each flipper. Back-shields over- 
lapping except in aged specimens ; hinder end notched, whereas 
in the Green Turtle it is plain or nearly so. Colour tortoise-shell 
marbled brown and yellow above, yellow below ; shields of extremities 
brown bordered with yellow. Young with three keels on the upper 
shell, which is light brown, the lower being darker. Size smaller 
than in other turtles, the shell not exceeding a yard in length. 

The Hawk's-bill's flesh is unfit for food, though its eggs are good 
eating ; but it is of great value as the producer of tortoise-shell, this 
being the trade name for the horny shields of the shell. It is an 
animal feeder. 

The only member of the other genus (Thalassochelys) may have 
its characters given under the species heading. 

LOGGEEHEAD TURTLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Thalassochelys caretta, Caouana 
olivacea. 

HABITAT. Mediterranean as well as warmer seas, not infre- 
quently straying north. The common turtle of the Bay of Bengal. 

DESCRIPTION. Head large, with strong jaws projecting slightly 
but decidedly in front of the nostrils, and hooked ; back-shields 
not overlapping. One or two claws on each flipper. Costal or 
side-shields at least five, often more, up to eight. Colour brown, 
under-surface yellowish. Young with three keels and a notched 
hind-margin to the shell ; colour dark all over. The adult reaches 
4 ft. in shell-length. 

The Loggerhead is an animal feeder, living mostly on shell-fish. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 283 

Its flesh is very like beef, and has been known to be mistaken for it 
when cooked even by a butcher, according to Mr. Hornaday. 

The Leathery Turtle, the only member of the family Sphargidce y 
is very distinct from the other turtles, and differs from them and from 
-all other tortoises in having the backbone and ribs free from the 
bony shell, which is composed of numerous small plates and covered 
with skin. It has no horny shields except on the head, and no claws ; 
but its general form is like that of the typical turtles, except that it 
is not so flat and that the shell bears many keels at all ages, while the 
hind-flippers are square-cut, not rounded. It is the largest of all 
turtles, reaching 5 ft. in length of shell. 

LEATHERY TURTLE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Dermochelys, Dermatochelys, or 
Sphargis coriacea. Also known as Luth. 

HABITAT. Tropical seas, sometimes straying into cooler waters, 
even as far north as Scotland. 

DESCRIPTION. Head blunt, beak with double hook ; shell with 
seven knotty keels above, five below. Colour, dark brown, sometimes 
with yellow markings or light under-surface. Young with longer 
fore-flippers than adult, equalling length of shell ; they and the keels 
have light borders at this stage. 

The Leathery Turtle has the usual habits of turtles and is an 
animal feeder : it is able to utter a loud noise. It has only once 
tried to breed in our limits, at the mouth of the Ye in Tenasserim, 
and is everywhere rare. It is unfit for food, and should never be 
killed, even for a specimen, as even a blind man could identify it 
by the peculiar shell. It is a curious fact that medium-sized specimens 
have never been seen only adults and a few infantile ones. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 

The Lizards and Snakes comprise the vast majority of reptiles 
in our region as elsewhere, and only the most important from their 
peculiarities, abundance, or noxious character can be dealt with here. 
The order is divided into three suborders, readily enough distinguished. 

The Chamaeleon (Rhiptoglossd) by the peculiar grasping feet, 
with the toes bound up by skin into two opposing sets. 

The Snakes (Ophidia), which have no feet at all, by the lower jaw 
having no bony union at the chin. 



284 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

The Lizards (Lacertilia) comprise all the ordinary four-Tooted 
reptiles, besides some legless snake-like species, distinguished from 
snakes by the peculiarity above-mentioned. The distinction between 
lizards and crocodiles has been given above, and though it may not 
always be convenient to examine a snake's chin, its tongue, which is 
long-forked and sheathed at the base, is a more ready distinction ; foi 
though the Monitors among the Lizards have a quite similar tongue, 
they have very well-developed limbs. Another snaky point in these 
is the length of their necks, which are longer than in other lizards - 
longer than the head, in fact and the way in which they hold them 
up. Thus their family ( Varanidce) is easily recognised. 

Of the seven other families of lizards found here, our repre- 
sentatives may be distinguished as follows : 

The Geckos (Geckonida), such as our familiar house-lizards, by 
having large eyes with no eyelids a snake-point again by the 
broad, hardly-notched tongue, broad flat head, and moderately long 
tail. Altogether they look much like miniature alligators. (See 
specimen figured along with Long-snouted Whip-Snake.) 

The Eyelid- Geckos (Eubhpharidce) are generally similar, but have 
eyelids. 

The Agamids (A garni dot) , such as the common garden-lizard, 
have eyelids, a short high head, and generally a very long thin tail. 

The Slow-worms (Anguidce) are snake-like in form, but with 
eyelids and a short-forked tongue. 

The Beaked Slow-worm (Dibamidce) is known by being also 
snake-like, but with no visible eyes and a beak-like snout. 

There remain the typical Lizards (Lacertida) and the Skinks 
(Sczncidce) which have no specially striking points as a rule. The 
Skinks are, however, particularly smooth and cylindrical in form, 
the head, neck, body, and tail passing insensibly into each other, 
while the scaling is much alike all over. Some Skinks have very tiny 
or imperfect limbs, and some none at all ; these last can be 
distinguished from snakes by having eyelids, and from the Slow-worm 
by lacking the groove along the side of the latter. 

The typical Lacertine Lizards are not numerous or familiar in 
India ; they are very like the ordinary Skinks but with the head more 
distinct and the body less round, while the upper parts generally 
have smaller scales than the lower, and the temples have a patch of 
minute scales ; the body is not so round in a word, they look more 
lively and less " slinky. " 

The tails of most Geckos, Skinks, and Lacertine lizards are fragile, 
and come off at once if the animal wriggles on being seized thereby ; 
a new tail grows, but has a gristly rod inside instead of vertebrae, 



ORDER SQUAMATA 285 

and much smaller scales beginning abruptly from the point of fracture ; 
thus, if a Lizard's tail comes off at once, or if it is obviously a second 
edition, the owner must belong to one of the above-mentioned families. 

Nearly all our lizards are mainly insectivorous and lay eggs, 
which are round and hard-shelled, but their habits vary much other- 
wise. They are nearly always solitary, however, and, except the 
Geckos, lovers of sunshine. 

Geckos usually have expanded toes, and can run on any sort of 
surface, and even upside down. They are the most familiar of all 
Indian vertebrate animals, inasmuch as some are very commonly 
found indoors, and, though supposed to be nocturnal, are often in 
evidence in the daytime, while they have no objection to artificial light. 
Most species, however, are out-door animals, frequenting rocks and 
trees. They generally have soft skins with very small wart-like scales. 

Our one member of the genus Alsophylax may be found either 
indoors or out. 

NARROW-TOED HOUSE-GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Alsophylax tuber culatus. 

HABITAT. Persian Gulf through Baluchistan to Sind. 

DESCRIPTION. A small Lizard, about 4 in. long, of which the 
tail is about half. Much like the common house-lizards in form, 
but with a slimmer tail and ordinary narrow toes. Pupil of eye 
vertical. Colour pale brown with cross-lines of dark spots, and a 
dark streak along each side of the head. 

The genus Calodactylus contains only our single species. 

GOLDEN GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Calodactylus aureus. 

HABITAT. Tirupati Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Size reaching nearly 7 in. ; head large and well 
marked off, tail very thin, and not so long as head and body. Toes 
with square-tipped expansions, one at the end of each, and one a little 
above it, except on the inner toes. Pupil vertical. Colour golden, 
dotted or pencilled with brown. 

Although so local, this Gecko is likely to attract attention by its 
beautiful colour ; it haunts rocks in dark nullahs. 

Our commonest House-Geckos all belong to the genus 
Hemidactylus ; they are small, not reaching more than about 6 in. 
Their toes are fll^ expanded till the last joint, which is narrow ; the 
expanded portions bear suction-plates divided in the middle. The 



286 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

tail is about equal to the head and body, and the pupil vertical. "They 
are very frail little creatures, with a skin so soft that it tears if they be 
not handled with great care ; the tissues are so transparent that the 
two eggs which are all that the female produces at one laying may be 
seen within her body when ripe, and if a profile view of the head be 
obtained against the light, one can see right through it from one ear- 
hole to the other. The male has a row of pores on the inner side of 
each thigh. 

These are very bold and greedy little creatures, devouring not only 
insects, but each other if the size renders this possible ; the young 
specimens are therefore very nervous. I have even seen a gecko on 
the inside of the window of a closed shop, in broad daylight, beating 
another of about half its own size, which it held by the middle, on 
the glass, and evidently intending to devour it. 

They have retreats in crevices or behind pictures or furniture, 
and lay their eggs, which are round and hard- shelled, in suitable 
crannies. In spite of their fragility, I once saw one fall down the well 
of a staircase of four storeys on to a stone floor, land flat on its stomach 
with an audible smack, and scamper off, apparently quite unhurt. 

Although not at all aquatic, if dropped into water they will both 
swim and dive. Once one ran up my leg under the trousers, causing 
me some alarm till I danced it down, as I thought it might be a 
centipede, and was wearing no pants, it being the hot weather. 

COMMON HOUSE-GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hemidactylus gleadovii^ maculatus. 

HABITAT. India, east to South China ; also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. The smallest and roughest of our common species, 
not reaching 5 in., and with about twenty rows of keeled warts running 
down the back. About seven suction-plates under the middle toe 
(each counted as one, in spite of the central divisions) ; large scales 
bordering the upper lip about nine in number. . Male's thigh-pores 
numbering about twenty on the two legs. Colour light-brown 
with irregular dark spots, and a dark eye-streak. 

This is the commonest of our species ; no doubt its small size 
favours it, just as, to a much greater degree, the house-mouse has the 
advantage over the two common house-rats. 

ASIAN HOUSE-GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hemidactylus coct&i. 
HABITAT All across Asia from Arabia to the Malay Peninsula ; 
but not Ceylon. Also found in Abyssinia. 

DESCRIPTION. Length a little over 6 in. ; tail slightly longer than 



ORDER SQUAMATA 287 

head and body. Ear-hole oblique. Skin generally smooth, with 
uniformly minute granules, but sometimes with warts here and there 
on the flanks. About twelve suction-plates under each middle toe, 
and about thirteen large scales along the upper lip. Male's thigh- 
pores about a dozen on the two legs. Colour grey, with the markings, 
if present, feeble. 

This is apparently our next commonest Gecko 

VARIED HOUSE-GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Hemidactylus hschenaultii. 

HABITAT. -India, Malay Peninsula, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our common species, reaching 
about 6J in. ; skin either smooth and minutely granular, or diversified 
with scattered warts ; ear-hole vertical. Only about half a dozen 
suction-plates under each middle toe ; large scales on upper lip 
about nine in number. Male's thigh-pores about twenty-eight on the 
two legs. Colour much more variegated than in the last two, though 
the pattern is not at all uniform. The ground is grey, and the dark 
markings may be either wavy crossbars, longitudinal stripes, or a 
chain of diamond-spots down the spine, a streak runs from eye to 
shoulder. 

This species seems to be the scarcest of the three. All may 
apparently often be present in the same house, meeting in the search 
for prey, but choosing lairs in different parts of the building. 

The typical genus (Gecko) of the family has three large species 
with us, one very familiar in Burma. In these the suction-plates of 
the toes are undivided, and the last joint is very short. 

TUCKTOO 

OTHER NAMES.- Scientific : Gecko verticillatus^ guttatus. 

HABITAT. Eastern Bengal to South China and the Malay 
Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Our largest Gecko except the next species, reach- 
ing a length of a little over a foot. Tail a little shorter than head 
and body. Skin granulated, with about a dozen rows of warts running 
down the back. Colour, grey, spotted or pencilled with red ; tail with 
dark and light rings. Young with cross-rows of pale spots. 

This Gecko is a familar house-lizard in the eastern parts of our 
area, but is also found on trees. Its loud call, imitated by its name, 
is well known. It can bite hard, and will put up a long and plucky 
fight when seized by a snake 



288 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

GIANT GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gecko stentor. 

HABITAT. Chittagong, cast to Borneo ; also the Andamans. 

DESCRIPTION. Reaches a length of over 14 in. ; tail a little shorter 
than head and body, which, like the limbs, are longer than in the* 
Tucktoo. Skin granulated, with about eleven rows of warts. Colour 
drab or brown, with marblings of a darker colour, often with pale 
spots in the adult as well as the young. 

TWIN-SPOTTED GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gecko monarchus. 

HABITAT. Malay Peninsula and Islands ; also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 7 in. ; tail decidedly longer than 
head and body. Skin granulated, with scattered pointed warts. 
Colour, grey or brown with dark spots, which always form two rows 
down the spine. It is a very noisy reptile, constantly repeating a 
cry of l< Tok." 

A curious Parachuting Gecko has a genus to itself. 

FLYINGGECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ptychozoon homalocephalum. 

HABITAT. Southern Burma, east to Borneo ; Nicobars and Loo 
Choo Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Feet webbed, legs fringed with flaps of skin, and 
flanks with much wider flaps, broadest in the middle ; tail nearly as 
long as head and body, with a row of small flaps along each side, and 
a large one at the end. Colour, olive-green above, brown at sides, 
with wavy dark cross-bars ; cheek-flaps pink spotted with blue. 
Length a little over 7 in. 

This very curious Gecko lives in trees, and is supposed to take long 
flying leaps, supported by its skinny parachutes and toe-webs. 

The next genus contains only one species in our area. 

GREEN GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Phehuma andamanense. 

HABITAT . Andamans . 

DESCRIPTION. Five inches long ; tail equal to head and body. 
Toes clawless, the inner ones minute and rudimentary, the others with 
broadly expanded rounded tips. Colour beautiful leaf-green, generally 
marked with orange. The colour of this Gecko is so remarkable 
in this family that it deserves mention in spite of its very local habitat ; 



ORDER SQUAMATA 289 

it frequents trees, and is diurnal ; the pupil of the eye is round, not 
vertical as in the other Geckos previously dealt with. 

The Eyelid-Geckos (Eublepharidcz) only number two species 
with us. They have the general appearance of ordinary Geckos, 
except that the toes are thin, not dilated, and that eyelids are present. 
The tail is bulged and car rot- shaped, the skin granular and thickly 
studded with warts, the pupil vertical. Indians regard these Geckos 
as poisonous, and call them Biscobra, as they do young Monitors. 

SOUTHERN EYELID-GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Eublepharis hardwickii, 
HABITAT, Bengal and Central and South India. 
DESCRIPTION. Grows to 8 in. ; form thick-set, with short legs 
and toes. Warts on body large, bigger than the spaces which separate 
them. Colour cream, with the head, two very broad bands across the 
back, and three broad tail-rings rusty ; the latter colour predominates. 
Upper lips cream, these cream markings meeting on the nape. 

NORTHERN EYELID-GECKO 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Eublepharis macularius. 

HABITAT. Sind and the Punjab ; also found at Nineveh. 

DESCRIPTION. Much larger than the last, reaching nearly a 
foot in length ; body and toes longer, warts less abundant and smaller 
than the spaces between them. Tail about as long as body without 
head. Colour whitish, spotted or pencilled with rusty and more or 
less banded with this colour. Young with five broad rusty bands on 
the back, and the tail also ringed with rusty bands, this colour pre- 
dominating over the pale background. 

The Agamas (Agamidce) are mostly very wiry, athletic-looking 
lizards, generally clad in overlapping scales ; the upper part of the 
head is covered with small scales, not large plates ; the males often 
differ much from the females, an unusual case among reptiles. Many 
are good climbers and live on trees and bushes. 

The Flying Dragons (Draco), are small lizards with very long 
tails, three wattles on the throat, and a parachute-web on each side of 
the body, supported by the long hinder ribs. These are usually 
carried folded and not noticeable, but when the lizard makes a long 
leap are spread out, and look like short rounded wings, though they 
cannot be flapped. These little creatures are, in proportion to their 
size (less than 5 in. in length of head and body), far better parachutists 

U 



290 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

than our gliding mammals, for they can glide for about 10 yds. at a 
flight. Sometimes they expand their wings, which are handsomely 
coloured, when in repose, as many butterflies do. As might be 
expected, they live on trees. They are said to be very delicate in 
confinement, and have hardly ever been brought to Europe alive ; 
but there must be some way of keeping them, and they are so curious 
that they are well worth taking trouble over. 

They are well distinguished by their wing-markings. 

BLACK-SPOTTED DRAGON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Draco maculatus. 

HABITAT. Assam to Singapore ; also Yunnan. 

DESCRIPTION. Male with the central wattle very large, much 
exceeding the head in length ; female also with a large but less 
developed central wattle. Tail one and a half times as long as head 
and body. Colour greyish, variegated with darker ; wings speckled 
with round black spots ; two blue spots flanking the large central 
wattle at the base. Total length nearly 8 in. 

MARBLED-WINGED DRAGON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Draco blanfordii. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of the dragons, growing to nearly 
14 in. Large central wattle of the male longer than the head, large- 
scaled, but thin. Tail nearly twice as long as head and body. Colour 
drab with dark speckling ; wings with dark-brown rnarblings and 
spots and pencillings of a pale tint ; a red patch on the greenish throat. 

PALE-SPOTTED DRAGON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Draco dussumieri. 

HABITAT. Southern India, near the western sea-board. 

DESCRIPTION. Male's central wattle much longer than the head ; 
tail more than one and a half times length of head and body. Colour 
drab with ring-spots down the back ; throat with dark mottling ; 
wings purple-black with round pale spots. Total length nearly 8 in. 

BAND-WINGED DRAGON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Draco tceniopterus. 
HABITAT. Tenasserim to Siam. 

DESCRIPTION. Male's central wattle large-scaled, only a little 
longer than the head ; tail nearly twice the length of head and body. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 291 

Colour shining brownish or greyish, with no definite markings ; 
wings with five broad curved black bands. Total length 8 in. 

The next genus (Sitand) has only one species. 

FAN-THROATED LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sitana ponticeriana, minor. 

HABITAT. India generally, except Sind and Western Bengal ; 
also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Remarkable for having only four toes on hind-foot, 
the outer toe being absent ; legs remarkably variable in length, the 
hinder if pressed forward sometimes extending only to the eye, some- 
times well beyond the end of the muzzle. Tail at least once and a 
half the length of head and body, often twice their length. Back 
with rows of large sharp-edged scales. Male with a large dewlap 
reaching all down the neck and chest, folded back in repose. Colour 
olive-brown, diamond-marked down the back ; male's dewlap in 
the breeding season gaily coloured with red, black, and blue. Total 
length nearly 8 in. 

Although inhabiting woods as well as open country, this is a ground- 
lizard, not a climber. 

The curious Rhinoceros-Lizards (Ceratophora) are all confined to 
Ceylon ; they have peculiar soft horns on the snout. 

NAKED-HORNED RHINOCEROS-LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ceratophora stoddartii. 

HABITAT. Mountains of Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Male with a naked pointed horn on the snout, 
absent or very short in the female ; in the male it may equal the length 
from muzzle-tip to eye, but is variable in size. Tail more than twice 
as long as head and body ; total length nearly 10 in. Colour olive, 
more or less cross-barred with darker ; horn pale-coloured. 

BLUNT-HORNED RHINOCEROS-LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ceratophora tennentii. 

HABITAT. Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Horn scaly, flattened at the sides and blunt, well 
developed in both male and female. Tail not quite twice as long as 
head and body ; total length just over 10 in. Colour olive and 
brownish ; young more distinctly variegated, with a crooked bar across 
the face. 



292 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




.9 



OS 

1 






ORDER SQUAMATA 293 

SMALL RHINOCEROS-LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ceratophora aspera, 

HABITAT. Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Horn on nose of male large, scaly, but round and 
tapering to a point ; in female only rudimentary or wanting ; tail 
barely longer than head and body ; total length about 3^ in. Colour 
brown, marked with a lighter and a darker shade ; male with a white 
throat-mark. 

The genus Lyriocephalus contains only one species. 

LYRE-LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lyriocephalus scutatus. 

HABITAT. Kandian district of Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A fairly large lizard, measuring 14 in. though the 
tail only equals the head and body. Head with a knob on the nose, 
and two curved bony ridges running over the eyes converging in front 
to form a lyre-shape, and ending at the back in short spikes. Male 
with a large dewlap. Colour greenish. Young without the nasal 
knob. When excited this lizard gapes, displaying the scarlet lining 
of its mouth. 

The genus Calotes contains our common garden-lizard, and seven- 
teen other species, all more or less climbers. They have a crest of 
spines down the neck and back ; the tail is very long. 

t COMMON GARDEN-LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Calotes versicolor. Sometimes called 
" Bloodsucker." 

HABITAT. Indian Empire generally, Cochin China and Southern 
China. 

DESCRIPTION. Head large and high, snout short and pointed ; 
mane of spines very well marked in adult male ; scales keeled and 
rough ; tail slender, more than twice as long as head and body. 
Colour, brown, with more or less distinct dark or light markings, 
especially in females and young. The colour is changeable, and the 
male's head often blushes red, whence the name Bloodsucker. The 
total length may reach 20 in. 

This lizard is difficult to describe accurately, but it is well known, 
as it is one of the commonest and most familiar of Indian animals ; 
it passes much of its time lying on boughs and twigs, basking or 
waiting for insects, on which it springs ; but it is also often seen on the 
ground. It can swim well if necessary. Butterflies are often found 



294 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Long-tafled Green Calotes. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 295 

bearing the marks of its bite on the wings of both sides, seized as they 
met in repose ; the injury is like a child's bite out of a piece of bread- 
and-butter, not like the notch made by a bird's bill. I found on 
experimenting with specimens that this lizard will eat even those 
butterflies which are most distasteful to birds, the " White >J Delias 
eucharis with the red-and-ycllow under-side to the hind-wings, and the 
black-and-scarlet " Swallow-tail " Papilio aristolochice. 

I once had a hand-reared Pied Kingfisher free in the Indian 
Museum compound, and used to feed it on small fish thrown on the 
grass. A garden-lizard would often take these, and once when the 
bird had seized the fish just before it, it caught its feathered rival by 
the tail in its vexation. Years after I read of an exactly similar 
instance, recorded in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History 
Society, except that the kingfisher in this instance was a wild one of 
the White-breasted species. 

The garden-lizard buries its eggs in holes in the ground. 

LONG-TAILED GREEN CALOTES 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Calotes ophiomachus. 

HABITAT. South India, Ceylon, and Nicobars. 

DESCRIPTION. Larger than the common garden-lizard, the head 
and body measuring more than 5 in., whereas in the other they are 
barely this. Tail very long, nearly four times the length of head and 
body. Mane of spines well developed in male ; scales larger than in 
the common species and smoother on the back. Colour green, often 
broadly cross-banded with darker green. 

MALAYAN GREEN CALOTES 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Calotes cristatellus. 

HABITAT. Tenasserim, south-west to Malay Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Also a green, very long-tailed species, but with the 
tail barely more than three times the length of head and body, which 
are about 5 in. Scales much smaller than in the two last, mane of 
spines on neck short, on back very short indeed. 

MOUSTACHED CALOTES 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Calotes mystaceus. 

HABITAT. Burma, Ceylon, Siam, and the Nicobars. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the common garden-lizard, 
but with shorter tail, about twice the length of the head and body ; 
scales keeled and rough, particularly large above ; mane of spines 
well developed in the male, higher on the neck than the back. Colour 
olive, with the lips yellow, back often boldly cross-barred with red. 



296 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

The typical genus Agama that gives this family its name contains 
lizards with rather flattened bodies, not compressed as in the garden- 
lizard genus, and heads heart-shaped above ; there is no spiny mane 
or hardly any, and the tail is comparatively short for this family, 
seldom twice the length of the head and body. There is a crease across 
the throat. These are barren-ground lizards, generally seen on 
rocks, and only found with us in the North- West. 

They are extraordinarily active, so much so that, according to 
Lydekker, the best way to get specimens is to lash at them with a 
riding- whip. 

BLUE-FLANKED AGAMA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Agama isolepis. 

HABITAT. Persia, east to Baluchistan and the Punjab ; also 
Egypt. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail about one and a half times the length of head 
and body, its scales not arranged in regular rings ; legs moderately 
developed. Colour light drab or brown, sometimes with dark cross- 
bars, and a chain of pale diamond-marks down the back. Male with 
a small dewlap, and the throat and flanks blue at breeding-time. 
Total length nearly i ft. 

This Agama is found both on plains and hills, and on shrubs 
as well as rocks. 

SPOTTED AGAMA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Agama tuber culata. 

HABITAT. Kashmir and Western Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. A little larger than the last, with stronger limbs, 
very coarsely and roughly scaled, and longer tail, very flat at the root. 
Colour brown with dark and sometimes light spots. No dewlap in 
male, whose throat when breeding is light-spotted blue. 

This lizard ranges high for a reptile, up to 12,000 feet. 

The Toad-heads (genus Phrynocephalus) are a sort of exaggeration 
of the Agamas, with decidedly flat bodies, very broad, flat, rounded 
heads much like a toad's, and tails generally shorter in proportion. 
They are all small and found in the North- West, living in sandy places, 
and supposed to produce live young. One only needs mention here. 

THEOBALD'S TOAD-HEAD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Phrynocephalus theobaldi. 

HABITAT. Turkestan to Upper Indus Valley. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail flat at the base, a little longer than head and 



ORDER SQUAMATA 297 

body ; scales of back small and smooth ; colour grey, with plain or 
leopard-like spots ; below white, the male distinguished by black on 
the throat, the belly, and the end of the tail. 

Next come two very remarkable lizards, each typifying a different 
genus, and not at all resembling each other in appearance except for 
their very small body-scales, but agreeing, and differing from all our 
other lizards, in being vegetable-feeders, living on herbage and fruit. 
Both are ground-livers, and make burrows as retreats. The first is 
the only member of its genus anywhere. 

BELL'S BORDERED LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Liohpis belliana. 

HABITAT. Burma, east to the Malay Peninsula and Southern 
China ; also South Canara in India. 

DESCRIPTION. A lizard at first sight of ordinary lizard-shape, with 
long tapering tail nearly twice the length of head and body, and rather 
long legs and toes ; head rather small and Roman-nosed. Sides with 
an expansible flounce of skin supported by elongated ribs somewhat 
as in the Dragons. Ground-colour above variable, some shade of 
grey with yellow black-edged markings ; flanks boldly barred with 
black and orange. Total length 20 in. 

This peculiar lizard is able to take short skimming flights along the 
surface of the ground by expanding its flounces, somewhat as the 
Dragons do from tree to tree. It also expands them under excite- 
ment as the Cobra does its hood. 

The other vegetarian lizard is a member of a well-known genus 
(Uromastioc) which contains several other species found in dry parts 
of Asia and Africa. 

SPINY-TAILED LIZARD, OR MASTIGURE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Uromastix hardwickii. 

HABITAT. Baluchistan and North- West India. 

DESCRIPTION. Head high and very short, much like a land- 
tortoise's ; body broad, limbs short and stout. Tail stout, nearly one 
and a half times the length of head and body, covered above with 
cross-bands of very strong spiny scales, contrasting strikingly with 
the very small body-scales. Colour, sandy, often speckled with darker, 
and with a black inner-thigh patch. Total length i ft. 

The Mastigure inhabits very dry, almost desert country. Other 
species of the genus are used for food by natives of the countries they 



298 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

inhabit, including one found in Mesopotamia. The spiny tail is used 
as a weapon. 

The Indian Slow- worm's characters can be given under its specific 
heading, as it is the only one of its family (AnguidcE) found with us. 

INDIAN SLOW-WORM OR GLASS-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ophisaurus aflus. 

HABITAT. Hill-ranges of Eastern India (Khasi Hills and Hima- 
layas), extending east to Yunnan, and south to Eastern Bengal and 
Rangoon. 

DESCRIPTION. Snake-like in appearance, but with eyelids and 
small ear-holes, and the tongue not nearly so deeply forked as in a 
snake ; a crease along each side of the body, which, with the head, 
is not more than half the length of the tail.* Colour, brown, darker 
along the sides ; often spotted with blue and black. Total length 
nearly 2 ft. 

This is a relative of the European Slow- worm, and is still nearer 
the Glass- Snake, so well known in animal-dealers' shops at home ; the 
latter feeds on small animals of various kinds, including snails, and 
has a brittle tail. It ranges east to Afghanistan. The rest of the 
family (Angutdce), which is quite numerous, are American. 

The Monitors (Varanidce) are often called Iguanas by Europeans 
in India, but except for their large size, do not resemble the typical 
American Iguanas, which are more like some of our Agamids, with 
spiny crests, and are largely vegetable feeders. There is only one 
genus, Varanus, and all the species are large, 2 ft. or more, with long 
tails, not fragile, and unusually long necks for lizards, longer than 
the head, a point which is noticeable even in small young specimens. 
The scales are small, even on the head. Their long-forked, com- 
pletely snake-like tongue is also noticeable, and may account for 
the name gho-samp given to the young. They are formidable reptiles, 
biting hard, lashing with the tail, and scratching very vigorously 
with their powerful claws. I have even known a specimen of an 
African species reach out backwards and scratch me with its hind 
claws as I held it by the neck and the base of the tail a thing I 
fancy no mammal even would have thought of doing. Indians call 
them Gorpad, and native burglars sometimes use large specimens 
as living grapnels, tying a rope round the reptile's loins and sending 
it up a wall in which there is a convenient crevice at the right height. 

* Snake-like reptiles look nearly all head and tail the true tail is the portion 
behind the vent. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 299 

The lizard enters this, and holds on fast enough to support the weight 
of a man scaling the rope an otherwise inaccessible Mohammedan 
fort was once taken by Mahrattas using this device. 

The larger Monitors are undoubtedly destructive animals, feeding 
as they do on fairly large prey such as ground-birds and their eggs ; 
but they are also useful in destroying noxious mammals and reptiles, 
so should not be destroyed unless actually doing damage. We have 
no less than six species, easily enough distinguished, one peculiar 
point being the remarkable difference in the position of the nostril, 
which is not always near the end of the snout as usual. The bite 
of a Monitor seems to be more or less poisonous, as a dog's head has 
been known to swell seriously after being bitten. The great " Dragon 
Lizard " of the little Malayan island of Komodo is a monitor, and 
grows large enough to be really dangerous to man. 

DESERT MONITOR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Varanus griseus. 

HABITAT. North Africa, east to North- West India. 

DESCRIPTION. Nostril much nearer to eye than to end of muzzle, 
which is flat ; tail nearly one and a third times as long as head and 
body. Colour sandy or greenish grey in adult, sometimes more or 
less cross-barred with brown ; young distinctly so barred and also 
spotted with yellow. Length up to a little over 4 ft. 

This monitor lives in deserts, inhabiting burrows, and shunning 
the midday sun in summer. 

BARRED MONITOR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Varanus flavescens. 

HABITAT. Northern India, east to Malay Peninsula. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail one and a fifth times as long as head and 
body. Nostril nearer to end of muzzle, which is short and rounded, 
than to eye. Toes short. Colour greenish or yellowish brown, 
irregularly cross-barred above with darker ; lower parts yellowish, 
rather faintly cross-barred with brown. Young darker, irregularly 
crossed-barred with yellow, underparts more distinctly barred on 
a yellow ground. Total length about a yard. 

This is a land-monitor like the last species. 

LARGE LAND-MONITOR 

OTHER NAMES Scientific : Varanus bengalensis. Native : Talla- 
goya, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. India generally, and Ceylon. 



300 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. Tail about one and a third times as long as head 
and body, compressed and keeled ; nostril about midway between eye 
and end of muzzle, which is high and arched. Colour speckled with 
black on a variable ground, olive, yellowish, or brownish. Young 
with pale ring-spots and often cross-barred with blackish ; in older 
but still immature examples these bars may remain. Total length 
6ft. 

Being the ordinary land-monitor of India, this is the species to 
which the name Gorpad especially applies. 

MARBLED MONITOR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Varanus mbulosus, 
HABITAT. Bengal, east and south to Malay Peninsula. 
DESCRIPTION. Tail nearly twice as long as head and body, 
compressed and keeled ; nostril midway between eye and end of 
muzzle, which is rather high. Eyebrow-scales large. Colour marbled 
and speckled with light and dark on a greenish or brownish ground : 
throat with blackish marbling or bars. Young with yellow ring- 
spots above, blackish marbling below, and two V-shaped blackish 
bars on upper surface of neck. Total length a little over 3 ft, 

BROAD-BARRED MONITOR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Varanus dumerilii. 

HABif AT. Tenasserim to Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. About the same size as the last ; nostril about 
midway between eye and end of muzzle, which is flattened ; tail 
keeled and compressed. Nape- and back-scales large for a monitor, 
especially the former. Colour dark brown, barred with light brown 
on the back and spotted with yellow on the limbs. Head and neck 
light brown with dark brown markings. 

WATER-MONITOR 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Varanus salv at or. Native: Kabara- 
goya> Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Bengal, east to Malaysia and South China ; also 
Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. The largest of our monitors, reaching more than 
7 ft. in length, of which the tail is about half. Nostril much nearer 
to the end of the muzzle, which is long and flattened, than to the eye. 
Tail keeled and decidedly compressed. Eyebrow-scales enlarged. 
Colour very dark brown, marked with ring-spots or plain spots of 
yellow, the pattern being brightest in young specimens. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 



301 



This large monitor frequents swamps and often climbs trees near 
water, to which it readily takes. A large specimen, quite 6 ft. long, 
used to frequent the island in the lake in the Calcutta Zoological 
Gardens in the 'nineties ; it was not feared by the waterfowl Ruddy 




Water-Monitor. 



Sheldrakes and Purple Moorhens kept there, probably getting 
enough to eat in the shape of frogs, fish, and fresh- water crabs, and so 
not molesting them. It may grow to a much greater size, rivalling 



302 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

the Komodo " Dragon," for a writer in one of our best papers -some 
years ago described reptilian monsters more than 12 ft. long, with 
heads as big as Rugby footballs, coming to feed on a boar's carcase 
in the Sunderbunds, which could not have been anything else but 
giant examples of this monitor. In this little-frequented region it 
may be nearly free from mammalian competition, as the Komodo 
monitor certainly is, and so have a chance to grow to a gigantic 
size. 

The typical or Lacertine lizards (Lacertidce) are not very important 
in India, though so familiar in Europe. Their head-scales are large 
plates, and their body-scales usually different in size below and above ; 
the tongue is rather deeply forked, and the tail long, rounded, and 
brittle. There is no keel or crest on the back or head. They are 
very active, and like the sun. Only a few need mention here. 

LONG-TAILED LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tachydromus sexlineatus. 

HABITAT Eastern Himalayas, south-east to Southern China and 
Borneo. 

DESCRIPTION. The longest-tailed lizard we have, the tail 
measuring considerably more than four times the length of the head 
and body, which are only 2 J in. Body- scales keeled. Colour shining 
brown or green, with a black streak or streaks along the sides, light- 
bordered above. This lizard runs on the tops of long grass, supported 
by its tail trailing behind, and diving down when alarmed. 

SAND-LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Acanthodactylus cantoris. 

HABITAT. South-East Persia to North- West India. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail rather more than twice as long as head and 
body, which are nearly 3 in. Back-scales keeled, noticeably enlarged 
on the hind back. Toes fringed with projecting scales. Colour 
sandy or greyish, sometimes dark- speckled ; young with a pink tail 
and pale stripes and pale-spotted dark ones. 

This is a very active sand-lizard ; the fringed toes are an adapta- 
tion for travelling on sand, 

SNAKE-EYED LIZARD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ophiops jerdonii. 

HABITAT. South to Central India, and Madras, 

DESCRIPTION. Eyelids fused and transparent ; tail at least one 



ORDER SQUAMATA 303 

and a half times as long as head and body, which are less than 2 in. ; 
back-scales keeled. Legs shorter in the female than in the male, 
the hinder one pressed forward not reaching the arm-pit, whereas 
in the male it reaches or passes the shoulder. Colour coppery, with 
two gold-and-black streaks along the sides. 

The Skinks (Scincidce), as remarked above, are very sleek-looking 
lizards with plated heads, but the scales pretty uniform all over the 
body as a rule, and head, neck, body and tail passing imperceptibly 
into each other. The tail is fragile. They generally live on the 
ground, and some display various gradations towards the snake-like 
form, the limbs being much reduced or even absent. Unlike our 
other lizards, they generally produce living young. 

COMMON STRIPED SKINK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Mabuia carinata. 

HABITAT. India, Burma, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A thick-set lizard with tail about one and a half 
times as long as head and body, and limbs rather short. Colour 
brown, with a pale stripe along each side of the upper parts from eye 
to tail, and in the breeding male a scarlet one along the flank. Total 
length about 14 in. 

This is one of our commonest lizards in the plains, and in spite 
of its heavy build a fairly good climber, ascending several yards 
above the ground. 

COMMON HILL-SKINK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lygosoma indicum. 

HABITAT. Eastern Himalayas to Burmese hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the last and with a longer tail, which 
is nearly twice as long as the head and body, which measure 3^ in. 
Colour brown, usually light-spotted, and darkest on cheeks and 
flanks, which have a light border above. 

BLUE-TAILED SKINK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lygosoma laterimaculatum. 

HABITAT. Hills of Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. A small lizard, barely 2 in. in length of head 
and body when adult ; tail about one and three-quarters their length, 
blue in young specimens. General colour bronze, with a dark and 
light streak from head to tail on each side, with rows of black spots 
above and below it. 



304 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

THEEE-TOED SKINK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ophiomorus tridactylus. 

HABITAT. Eastern Persia to the Punjab, Sind, and Cutch. 

DESCRIPTION. A long, thin, almost snake-like lizard with short 
limbs bearing only three toes on each. Tail much shorter than 
head and body ; muzzle pointed, projecting above in front of the 
mouth. Colour cream, sometimes with rows of little brown spots 
above. Total length about 6 in. 

This is a sand-lizard and a burrower. 

The characteristics of our one representative of the Dibamidce may 
be given under its heading : 

BEAKED SLOW-WORM 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Dibamus novce-guinecc. 

HABITAT. Nicobars, Malay Peninsula, and New Guinea. 

DESCRIPTION. A small snake-like lizard, growing to a little 
over 6 in. Eyes under the head-shields and hardly noticeable. 
Muzzle bluntly pointed, covered with three large shields, one above 
and one on each side, or even with only a uniform covering, the three 
having fused ; one large lip-shield on each side covering the lower 
jaw. Scales of body similar all over ; no limbs in the female, in the 
male two flaps at sides of vent. Tail very short, about a ninth of 
total length. Colour brown throughout with a purplish tinge. 

Dr. Boulenger considers this curious little burrowing lizard to be 
probably a degenerate skink. It differs from all our other snake- 
like lizards and snakes by the great development in size of the few 
muzzle- and lip-shields, forming a sort of beak. It lays hard-shelled 
eggs, and the only specimen known from the Malay Peninsula was 
found, in an egg got from a dead tree-trunk, as an embryo. 

The Chamaeleons (Chamceleontida>) are such a distinct family 
that they have a sub-order (Ithiptoglossd) to themselves. We have 
only one species, a member of the typical genus. 

INDIAN CHAMELEON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chameleon calcaratus. 

HABITAT. India south of the Ganges, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A very remarkable reptile with longer limbs than 
usual, a large bony head raised behind into a helmet-like crest, and a 
prehensile tail, exceeding head and body in length. Body compressed, 
with a granulated skin, and a crest of spines below reaching up to 



ORDER SQUAMATA 



305 



the chin. Toes divided into two sets, inner and outer, bound together 
with skin, so as to show hardly more than the claws separate ; in the 
fore-limb there are three toes in the inner set and two in the outer ; 
in the hind-limb two in the inner and three in the outer. Eyes large 
and prominent, but covered almost entirely by the lids, so that only 
the pupil can be seen, in the middle. Colour changeable, depending 
on the state of mind fear, anger, etc. of the creature, also on warmth 




Head of Chamseleon with tongue protruded. 

or cold, sleep or waking, or the surroundings. Total length 15 in. 
Male with spurs on the hind feet. 

The Chamasleon is only found in wooded country ; it is a climber, 
and, though it stands up well on its legs like a mammal, very slow in 
its movements. The eyes move independently, and when both are 
focussed on its insect prey, this is captured by the shooting out of the 
very long, club-tipped, sticky tongue. 

The common Chamseleon of the Mediterranean region, well known 
to pet-keepers at home, only drinks drops of water from leaves as a 
rule, and probably the habits of our species are the same. 

The Snakes (sub-order Ophidid) 
are, as above remarked, distinguished 
from the lizards by having the two 
halves of the lower jaw only united 
by ligament. The absence of limbs 
is paralleled by some of the lizards ; 
so also is the absence of eyelids 
and ear-openings, and so is the char- Head of Cobra 
acteristic long-forked tongue with 
a sheath at the base. Their body 




Eye (E), nasal (N), 
rostral (R), and lip (1-7) shields. 



varies a good deal in length and thickness, and their tail, which 
may be distinguished as the portion behind the vent, is of very 

x 



306 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

variable length, but never so long as the body, and sometimes a 
mere stump, shorter than in any lizard. Their head is usually 
covered with large shields, and in most the belly has a single row of 
large, shallow, but broad scales, connected with the ends of the ribs. 
The ribs being movable, these scales can be raised, so as to give a 
grip on the surface over which the snake is moving ; but the main 
impulse is given by a wavy motion of the body from side to side. They 
also swim in this way, and many are more or less aquatic in their 
habits ; many are also climbers, and some both arboreal and aquatic. 

They generally feed on vertebrate animals, and are often strongly 
specialised in diet, preying chiefly or exclusively on some special 
group of animals, often a restricted one. 

Their powers of gorging relatively large prey are generally very 
great, owing to the loose union and power of independent motion 
in the bones of the upper as well as the lower jaw, so that such snakes 
seem to pull themselves over the prey as a stocking is pulled over 
the leg. The victim is sometimes swallowed alive, and sometimes 
first killed by constriction in the coils of the snake, or by its poison. 
In spite of the backward inclination of the teeth, they can disgorge 
prey readily. 

Poison-glands and their accompanying fangs are developed in 
two quite distinct families of snakes ; in the Vipers ( Viperidce) y all 
of which are poisonous, and in some of the ordinary or Colubrine 
snakes (Colubrida)^ most of which are harmless. The poison of the 
two groups differs in its properties, and though a viperine can poison 
a colubrine, or vice versa, the poison is without effect on members 
of the same family as its possessor. 

The poison-gland is situated between the eye and the upper jaw, 
and may extend down the body ; its secretion is like saliva in appear- 
ance and also limited in amount, so that the oftener a snake bites the 
less virulent the bite will be, unless it be given time to secrete more 
poison. The poison-fangs are grooved, or, if the edges of the groove 
meet, perforated ; if they be pulled out, the snake is harmless for a 
time, but not for long, as new fangs will soon grow up in their places. 

Poisonous snakes are not usually vicious and aggressive ; in fact, 
some are less ready to bite than are some of the harmless species. 
There is also no hard-and-fast rule for distinguishing any poisonous 
from any harmless snake ; but the poisonous species are much in 
the minority, and nearly all the most dangerous kinds are easily 
recognisable. The colours of snakes are often variable, but indivi- 
duals cannot change their colour as so many lizards do. 

When changing their skins, snakes generally slough off the whole 
epidermis at once, unlike lizards, whose slough comes off in pieces ; 



ORDER SQUAMATA 307 

they become dull-coloured as the old skin loosens, and the fixed trans- 
parent eyelid becoming loose at the same time obscures their sight, so 
that at this time they are nervous and particularly apt to bite. 

Most snakes lay eggs, which are elliptical and soft-shelled ; but 
many, far more than among the lizards, produce living young, in- 
cluding nearly all our vipers. 

We have species of all the nine known families of snakes in India, 
which may be distinguished as follows : 

The Worm-Snakes (Typhlopida*) are small worm-like snakes 
with no teeth in the lower jaw and a stump-tail either conical or 
ending in a spine. 

The Glauconia or Hip- snake (GlaucomidcR), the only species of its 
family found with us, has no teeth in the upper jaw, but is otherwise 
very like the last family. All our other snakes have teeth in both jaws. 

The Boas (Boidce), including the giant Pythons and the ordinary- 
sized Sand-boas, have vestiges of hind-limbs consisting of a spur on 
each side of the vent ; moreover their heads, at least behind the eyes, 
are covered with small scales, not large shields. The tail is of fair 
length. 

The Ilysiids (Ilysiida) have the vent-spurs, but the tail is a 
mere blunt stump. 

The Earth-Snakes (Uropeltidce) are recognised by their peculiar 
tails, very short and ending in a large flat or convex shield or a small 
double-pointed, square, or single-pointed one. If the last, the large 
head-shields back of the eye and larger and more distinct eye will 
distinguish them from the Worm-Snakes. 

The Rainbow- Snake, the sole member of the family Xenopeltidce, 
is remarkable for its beautiful iridescence ; this is also found in some 
of the Earth-Snakes, but in the Rainbow-Snake the tail is not peculiar 
in form, and is more than a stump, measuring a tenth of the snake's 
length. 

The Night-Snakes (Amblycephalidce) are noticeable for their 
large prominent eyes and short broad snouts, the width of the eye 
being about equal to its distance from the end of the muzzle. Their 
necks are narrow, and on the whole they are very like some of the 
Colubrines, but distinguished by having no groove on the chin. 

The Vipers (Viperidce), with the exception of the very rare Decep- 
tive Viper (Azemiops), which can be recognised, as will be seen later, 
by its colour, are very easily distinguished ; they have the head broad 
at the back, and covered above with small scales, except in one genus 
in which large plates are found as in most other snakes, but this 
belongs to the Pit- Vipers, and shows a pit between the eye and the, 
nose, not found in any other shield-crowned snake. 



3 o8 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



All our other snakes belong to the great family Colubridce, which 
is as numerous as all the rest put together. While not presenting the 
special peculiarities of the families above mentioned, the individual 
groups are often more easily recognised ; the Cobras, for instance, 
by their expansible neck or " hood," and the poisonous Sea-Snakes 
by their flat paddle-like tails. 

In most cases only a selection of species can be made here. 

The Worm-Snakes (^TyphlopidcR)^ besides the worm-like shape 
with no distinct neck and absence of teeth in the lower jaw,* have 
the eyes under the head-shields, and so not very distinct ; the shield 
at the tip of the nose (rostral) is very large, and the belly shields are 
like those of the back, not specialised in size and breadth as in most 
snakes. Those little snakes burrow, and live on worms and insects ; 
they lay but few eggs, very large for their size. 

COMMON WORM-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Typhlops braminus. 

HABITAT. Africa below the Equator, east through Arabia and 
South-East Asia to the Malay Islands. Also found in Mexico. 

DESCRIPTION. A very small snake, only growing to 7 in., with 
rounded snout and stumpy spine-tipped tail barely longer than it 
is broad. Colour dark brown or nearly black, with whitish extremities 
as a rule. A flesh-pink variety is found in Southern India. 

The Common Worm-Snake is one of the commonest of Indian 
animals, though seldom seen on account of its burrowing habits ; 
sometimes it causes a surprise by getting into water-pipes, and is 
sometimes found in numbers in rotten wood, where, no doubt, it goes 
after white ants, its usual food. The wood-burrowing habit, favour- 
ing dispersal in drift-timber, may have had something to do with the 
remarkably wide distribution of this little creature, one of our feeblest 
vertebrates. I once gave one to a Whip-Scorpion (Tkelyphonus), 
which had no difficulty in killing it, and soon chewed and sucked it 
into a pellet. 

DIARD'S WORM-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Typhlops diardi. 

HABITAT. Bengal, east to Burma and Cochin China ; also 
Sikkim. 

DESCRIPTION. Scales smaller than in the common species 
(twenty-four or more, instead of twenty, round the body) and tail 
shorter, at least as broad as long. Colour, olive-brown, with light 
cross-streaks on each scale ; size up to 17 in. 

* A lens is necessary to make this out, 



ORDER SQUAMATA 309 

HOOK-NOSED WOBM-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Typhlops acutus. 

HABITAT. Deccan southwards in India. 

DESCRIPTION. The giant of these little snakes, growing to 
2 ft. ; scales smaller than in the last two, about thirty round the 
body ; tail at least as broad as long, spine-tipped. Nose sharp and 
hooked ; rostral scale extending back well beyond the eyes, which 
is not the case with the last two. Colour, light-brown, with pale 
cross-streaks on each scale. 

Our single species of the next family (Glauconiida) may be 
called the 

HIP-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. -Scientific : Glaucoma blanfordi. 

HABITAT. Sindh. 

DESCRIPTION. Like a Worm-Snake in most respects, but with the 
upper jaw toothless and not the lower ; the upper jaw projects con- 
siderably, the lower barely reaching beyond the level of the eye. 
Scales alike above and below, but much larger than in worm-snakes, 
there being only fourteen round the body, while our worm-snakes 
never have less than eighteen. Tail longer than in worm-snakes, 
about one-thirteenth length of body ; colour, light brown. Length 
9J in. 

The peculiarity from which I venture to give this snake the name of 
hip-snake is that it has the pelvis or ring of hip-bones more developed 
than in any other snake ; there is also a rudimentary thigh-bone. In 
worm-snakes there is only one bone on each side to represent the 
hip-girdle. The present species is very rare, only five specimens being 
on record. 

The Boas and Pythons (BoidcE) seem the greatest contrast possible 
to the little burrowers above mentioned, but that is because one 
usually thinks of the sensational giant members of the family, of which 
we have two. Our other two species form a link with their humbler 
kin. As in the last family, there are rudiments of a hip-girdle, and 
the vestige of thigh-bone ends in this case in a spur or claw which can 
be seen on each side of the vent. In boas the scales of the body are 
small, and the head is not covered above with large shields, or only 
partially. 

In the Pythons (genus Python) there are pits on some of the lip- 
shields, and the upper part of the head to about its centre is covered 
with large shields, the rest with small scales, and the scales of the body 



310 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

are very small. The broad shallow ventral shields are present, but 
narrower than in most snakes ; the tail is fairly long, and prehensile. 
The pupil of the eye is vertical, and these snakes are largely nocturnal ; 
they prey mostly, at any rate when adults, on mammals and birds, 
which they seize with the jaws and suffocate by constricting them with 
the coils of the body, which is flung round the victim as quickly as a 
lash of a whip. Though quick in seizing and coiling, they are not 
very swift movers on the ground ; they climb well, and are fond of 
water, often lying in it for long periods. Their strength is enormous, 
their contraction breaking bones even of large animals, and pro- 
bably the largest specimens could overpower any animal ; but, as 
with other large cold-blooded vertebrates, their exact limit of size is 
not known. They lay eggs, and incubate them by coiling round 
them when collected in a pile ; at this time, although supposed to 
be " cold-blooded/ 7 their temperature rises. They have great powers 
of fasting, and can live a year without food. 

INDIAN PYTHON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Python molurus. Native : Adjigar, 
Hindi; Periya pambu, Tamil; Pimbera, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. Indian Peninsula, Rajputana, Bengal, Malay Penin- 
sula, and Java ; also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION.- Shields of lower lip less than twenty on each side ; 
shields below tail less than eighty ; pits on two of the front upper-lip 
shields on each side. Colour buff or drab, with a row of large blotches, 
inclining to an oblong shape, along the back, these being chestnut 
with black edges ; smaller spots along the sides. Head with a spear- 
mark above, an eye-stripe along the side, and a cross-stripe below the 
eye, all brown in colour. Length usually about 4 yds., but some 
specimens reach 20 ft. and, it is said, several feet more. 

The Indian Python is rare in the extreme south-eastern part of its 
range, but otherwise well-known for a large snake, and is not un- 
common in captivity. It is sometimes known as Rock- Snake, but 
prefers forest to bare rock. A snake of this kind has been known to 
kill and swallow a full-grown leopard, another to eat worms and 
berries. 

MALAY OR EETICULATED PYTHON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Python reticulatus. Native : Ular 
sawa> Malay. 

HABITAT. Burma, east through the Malay Islands. 
DESCRIPTION. The largest snake known except the American 



ORDER SQUAMATA 311 

Anaconda, reaching 10 yds. Lower-lip shields over twenty on each 
side, shields under tail over eighty ; four of the front upper-lip shields 
on each side pitted. Colour brown or buff, marked above with large 
diamond-shaped or round black figures edged with yellow ; head 
plain brown except for a black streak along the middle of it above. 

The skin shows a beautiful rainbow sheen when the snake has 
newly sloughed, and the late W. Rutledge told me he once had a 
specimen in which the usual yellow borders of the black pattern were 
replaced by scarlet. I once saw one myself in his possession which had 
the iris of the eye yellow instead of the usual light brown, which gave 
it a very fierce look. This magnificent snake, the most splendid and 
imposing of modern reptiles, is well known in captivity. 

DWARF PYTHON 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Python curtus. 

HABITAT. Malaysia and Sumatra. 

DESCRIPTION. Resembles the Indian Python in having but two 
upper-lip shields pitted, but has a far smaller number of shields below 
the tail not over thirty-two. It is stoutly built, but only reaches 
3 yds. Colour brown or dull red, with pale spots down the back and 
grey ones edged with black along the sides. Head with a black line 
down the middle, and cheeks dark with a pale streak behind the eye. 

This Python feeds largely on rats, and should presumably be 
classed as a useful animal. 

The Boas are mostly American, but we have two Indian species, 
one occupying a genus to itself, and one the only member of its genus 
with us. 

SAND-BOA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Gongylophis conicus 

HABITAT. Northern India. 

DESCRIPTION. A thick-set snake with short tail, one-twelfth of 
the length of the head and body, which measure only 2 ft. Head 
covered above with small scales ; body-scales small and keeled ; tail- 
scales strongly keeled ; eye very small. Colour grey above, tinged 
with yellow or brown ; a row of large dark-brown joined patches on 
the spine, edged with black, and a spear-mark on the back of the 
head ; under- surf ace white. 

The Dwarf Boa feeds on mice, and Dr. Boulenger found that one 
he kept had a fierce temper. In its small-scaled head, stout build, and 
style of marking it rather recalls a viper, and if the ferocity is general, 



312 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

this behaviour may be part of a form of defensive mimicry of a danger- 
ous species. 

INDIAN ERYX 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Eryx johnii. 

HABITAT. Central and Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. A thick-set snake, with the head passing gradually 
into the neck, and the tail, which is only one-twelfth of the length 
of the head and body, which measure i yd., very blunt, so that 
the reptile looks much alike at both ends. Rostral scale large and 
broad, making the muzzle blunt-ended ; body-scales only slightly 
keeled. Colour pale drab or brown, sometimes more or less plainly 
cross-barred, especially behind. Young specimens are often quite 
handsome, light coral-red. 

The Eryx is confined to sandy tracts, and lives on small mammals 
and on worms. It is a night-snake, and is a favourite with snake- 
charmers to its cost, for these worthies cruelly cut the end of its tail 
so as to produce the appearance of a mouth there, and exhibit it as 
a two-headed snake. 

The Ilysiid Snakes (Ifysiidte) should probably be classed in the 
last family, as Dr. Boulenger regards them as degraded boas. We 
have only two species, thickset snakes with the neck as big as the 
head which has large shields as far as the small eyes very short 
blunt tails, and ventral scales not twice as large as the rest. They 
are burro wers, and oviparous. We have only two species. 

RED-TAILED SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cylindrophis rufus. 

HABITAT. Burma, east to the Malay Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to nearly 2 J- ft. ; only five to ten scales 
beneath the tail. Colour brown or shining black, sometimes pale- 
cross-barred, and cross-barred with black and white below ; under- 
side of tail often scarlet. 

This snake has a large appetite, taking eels and snakes as large as 
itself ; when alarmed it, like the next, hides its head and raises and 
curves its hinder parts, so that they appear like a head, 

SPOTTED CYLINDROPHIS 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cylindrophis maculatus. 
HABITAT. Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. About the size of the last ; four to six scales 
under tail. Black-edged chestnut spots above ; white below. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 



313 



The Earth-Snakes (Uropeltidce), in addition to the shielded tails 
above-mentioned, have the eyes generally situated inside but not 
beneath one shield instead of surrounded by several as in most 
snakes. Their bodies show no neck, and are cylindrical and but little 
flexible, their snouts usually pointed, and the teeth, though present in 
both jaws as in most snakes, neither large nor numerous. Their 
ventral scales are comparatively small, but twice as large as the others 
or less. They are always small, and live mostly underground, feeding 
on earth-worms ; but they may also be found under stones or logs, or 
among grass high up on the hills, or even, in wet weather, on roads. 




Truncate Earth-Snake. 

They produce living young. Considering their mostly hidden life, 
their often unusually brilliant colours, red, yellow, purple, and irides- 
cent black, seem surprising ; but these may have a " warning " 
significance, and it would be interesting to know if these harmless, 
helpless creatures are unpalatable. If not, the bright hues are 
evidently due to variation unchecked by natural selection, owing to the 
sheltered lives the snakes lead ; and, after all, all " warning colours " 
must have been in the first place incidental. The earth-snakes are 
confined to the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, and usually to hills, but 
they may be found in forests at the foot of these. The number of 
species is extraordinary no less than forty distributed among seven 



314 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

genera ; and, even allowing for possible over-division by specialists, 
the concentration of so many in a restricted area is remarkable enough. 
It is obviously only possible to notice a few here. 

TRUNCATE EARTH-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Uropeltis grandis. 

HABITAT. Central Provinces of Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail as it were obliquely docked, the cut portion 
rounded and warty. Muzzle sharp, the large rostral shield running 
back above halfway to the level of the eyes. Colour dark brown, 
sometimes yellow-spotted ; lower parts yellow, sometimes brown- 
spotted. Grows to 1 8 in. 

RED-BELLIED EARTH-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhinophis sanguineus. 

HABITAT. Hills of Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail shielded and rough at the end, but convex, 
not truncate ; muzzle sharp, shield of tail not so long as head. Colour 
blue-black, under-parts and lower flanks scarlet with black spots. 
Grows to 1 6 in. 

OCELLATED EARTH-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Sibybura ocellata. 

HABITAT. Nilgiris and Anarnallays, also Tinnevelly Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Shield at end of tail small, ending in two tiny points 
on the same plane ; eye so small that it barely takes up a third of the 
shield containing it. Colour brown or buff, with many black-eyed 
yellow markings disposed as cross-bars ; below, yellow and brown. 
The ocellated cross-bars may be absent. Length up to 20 in. 

The sole member of the family Xenopeltidcz is the 

RAINBOW-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Xenopeltis unicolor. 

HABITAT. Trichinopoly only in India ; Burma, east to the Malay 
Islands ; and Indo-China. 

DESCRIPTION. Neck as thick as head ; tail a tenth of total length, 
which reaches rather over i yd. ; head covered with large shields 
above ; ventral scales large. Eyes small. Colour brown or black, 
the scales light-edged, with an extremely fine iridescent gloss ; under- 
parts white or yellow, lips yellow ; young yellow-headed and yellow- 
naped. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 315 

The Rainbow Snake is a fierce-tempered burrower, feeding on 
small mammals and on other snakes. 

The Night-Snakes (Amblycephalidce), in addition to the peculiari- 
ties noted above, are remarkable for not having the mouth dilatable 
to the extent found in most snakes ; they are insectivorous, so do not 
take large prey which involves jaw-stretching. Their bodies are 
fairly slim and tails fairly long. One of our species may be noted. 

HILL NIGHT-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Amblycephalus monticola. 

HABITAT. Eastern Himalayas to Naga Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to about 2 ft. 6 in. ; head covered with 
very large shields ; scales along back six-sided and of large size. 
Tail about a quarter of total length. Colour brown, the sides cross- 
barred with black ; two black lines running back from the eye ; 
under-parts yellow, and brown-speckled. 

The Vipers (Viperidte) are as a rule as easy to recognise as the 
Boas, and the more or less heart-shaped head being generally so 
characteristic, and, Vipers being the 
only European poisonous snakes, 
they are largely responsible for the 
general idea of what a venomous 
reptile ought to look like. Their 
eyes are set far forward, nearer the 
tip of the nose than the comer of 
the mouth ; whereas in the Boas, 
which resemble them in generally Head of Russell's Viper, 
having the head covered with small 

scales, the eye is set about midway between these two points. 
Vipers' tails are rather short, and taper abruptly from the body. 

All our Vipers are land-snakes, and produce, as a rule, 
living young. "All are poisonous, but in only a few is the poison 
deadly to man, the ill-effects in the case of the bite of most being 
slight. The fangs are large compared with those of most of the 
poisonous snakes, and the canal conducting the poison is closed, so 
as to produce the effect of a perforated tooth. In biting, the Vipers 
strike or stab rather than grip. The characteristic action of the 
poison is the effect it has on the blood, causing oozing from the mucous 
membranes and under the skin. The genera of the Viper family are 
usually very distinct, and easily recognisable by an amateur naturalist. 

The first species we have to deal with, however, presents no very 




316 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

striking characteristics, and, in fact, does not look like a Viper at ail. 
It is the only member of its genus, and may be called the 

DECEPTIVE VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Azemiops fe&. 

HABITAT. Kakhyen Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Head oval, covered with large shields ; eyes 
nearer to end of snout than to corner of mouth ; nostrils about as wide 
apart as their distance from the eyes. Tail rather more than an eighth 
of the total length. Colour dark grey, the scales black-edged, the 
body with more than a dozen white cross-bars. Head yellow, with 
a triangular black patch on the crown, divided by a yellow line which 
runs a little way down the neck, a black stripe running back from the 
eye to the lip, and another running down from the eye vertically to it. 
The general appearance is that of an ordinary harmless snake, but the 
peculiar combination of black and yellow head with dark white- 
barred body ought to distinguish the snake easily if met with. The 
length is 2 ft. 

Nothing is known about the habits of this snake, of which only 
one specimen is on record, and it is only mentioned here to draw 
attention to it. 

The typical genus Viper a, to which our Adder at home belongs, has 
the head covered with small scales, which, like those of the body, are 
keeled. Vipers arc sluggish or obstinate snakes, and hence liable to 
cause accidents, as they are not so much inclined to get out of the way 
as others, and are irritable in temper. We have but two species. 

DABOIA OR RUSSELL'S VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Viper a russellii. Native : Daboia^ 
Hindi ; Tic polonga, Cingalese. 

HABITAT. India east to Burma and Siam ; also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Six or eight rows of scales on the head between 
the supraoculars, or eyebrow-scales, which are narrow ; rostral 
scale measuring about the same in breadth and depth. Tail about 
an eighth of the total length, which may be 4 ft. Colour light 
brown, with a row of black rings down the back, with lighter edges, 
and a row of similar rings along each side ; in young specimens the 
colour inside the rings is darker and redder than the general ground, 
and the spinal row of rings touch each other. Some individuals have 
no pattern at all, but indistinct dark markings. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 317 

The Daboia is one of the best-known Indian poisonous snakes, and 
is particularly deadly owing to its large size and especially long fangs ; 
it is also disinclined to move. The old snake-keeper at the Calcutta 




Russell's Viper. 

Zoo in my time, who was one of the professional charmer class, said 
that a cobra would get tame in time, but that the present species could 
never be trusted. 

It ranges up the Himalayas to 6,000 ft. 

WESTERN DABOIA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Viper a lebetina. 

HABITAT. North Africa east to Kashmir, also Cyprus and Milo. 

DESCRIPTION. Generally similar in detail to Russell's Viper, but 
growing larger, with the scales on the forehead smaller, there being 
at least nine rows between the eyes and often twelve, while the supra- 
ocular shield is often absent ; rostral shield shallower, its depth not 
equalling its length. Colour different from that of most Indian 
Daboias, being drab with faint markings or none when adult ; young 
specimens are plainly cross-barred or spotted with darker. 

The next genus contains only one species with us, 

PHOORSA OR SAW-SCALED VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Echis carinata. Native : Phoorsa^ 
Hindi. 

HABITAT. North Africa east to India ; not Ceylon nor south of 
the Carnatic and the Concan in the Peninsula. 



318 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

DESCRIPTION. A small snake, only reaching 2 ft. ; tail about a 
tenth of total length. Head covered with small scales ; body-scales 
keeled, the keels of the scales on the flanks saw-edged. Colour light- 
brown to cream, or tinged with grey or red, with a cross- or broad- 
arrow-shaped mark on the head and a row of spots down the spine, 
all these marks being pale with dark edgings ; a further row of spots 
along each flank. 

The colouring is the best guide to identifying this snake, the saw- 
like character of the keels of the flank-scales requiring a close examina- 




Phoorsa or Saw-scaled Viper. 

tion, though their presence is indicated to the ear by the rasping sound 
the snake makes with them by rubbing its coils against each other. It 
frequents open sandy dry country, and is fierce and deadly poisonous. 

All our other vipers are Pit- Vipers, i.e. have a pit on the side of the 
muzzle between eye and nostril ; they are not generally dangerous, 
though the deadly American Rattle-snakes belong to this group. 

Those of the genus Ancistrodon have large scales on the crown, as 
in most snakes, but unlike most of this family. We have only two. 

HIMALAYAN PIT-VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ancistrodon himalayanus. 

HABITAT. North- Western Himalayas east to Sikkim ; apparently 
also Khasi Hills. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to nearly i yd. ; large shields on upper 
surface of muzzle as well as on crown ; body-scales well keeled, in 
over twenty rows. No lip-shield touches the facial pit. Colour 
brown, spotted or cross-barred with black ; a pale-bordered black 
band along side of head. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 

This Viper is usually abundant, at temperate elevations, but 
ranges up to 10,000 ft. 

KARAWALA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ancistrodon hypnale. 

HABITAT. Western Ghats and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to a little over \\ ft. ; tail about an eighth 
of the head-and-body length. Scales of snout small, unlike shields 
of crown ; second lip-shield touching face-pit ; body-scales not 
strongly keeled, in less than twenty rows. Colour plain or spotted 
and cross-barred with dark brown, or marked with small jet-black 
twin-spots. Ground very variable, buff, brown, or drab ; cheeks 
commonly dark-brown, light-edged above. 

This snake's bite is rarely fatal. 

The remaining Pit- Vipers (Trimeresurus or Lachesis) have the 
head covered with small scales as in Vipera and Echis, from which 
the facial pit distinguishes them ; they also have the head much 
broader behind than in any other of our Vipers, presenting the " ace 
of spades " type in perfection. Some of them are climbers, and have 
prehensile tails ; it is not necessary to mention all. 




Large-spotted Pit- Viper. 

LARGE-SPOTTED PIT-VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trimeresurus or Lachesis monticola. 
HABITAT, Eastern Asia from Tibet to Sumatra. 



320 



MAMMALIA OP INDIA 



DESCRIPTION. Grows to 2 ft., of which the tail is about a seventh ; 
eyes small, not half the size of eyebrow-shields ; only five to eight rows 
of scales between these. Colour brown or buff, with a row or two of 
big angular dark-brown spots down the spine, and smaller ones down 
the sides. 

This Pit- Viper is found up to 8,000 ft. elevation. It differs from 
our other Vipers in laying eggs. 

PURPLE PIT-VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trimeresurus or Lachesis purpur- 
eomaculatus. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia from the Himalayas to Sumatra, 
also the Andamans and Nicobars. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to a little over a yard ; tail about a sixth of 
total length. Twelve or more rows of scales between eyes. Body- 
scales well keeled, in more than two dozen rows. Colour purple, more 
or less variegated with green, especially on the sides ; sometimes all 
green, except for a row of pale spots along the sides. 

GREEN PIT-VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trimeresurus or Lachesis gramineus. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia 
from the Himalayas to the Malay 
Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 2\ ft. ; 
tail prehensile, between a fifth and a 
sixth of total length. Scales not 
strongly keeled, in less than twenty- 
four rows round the body. Colour 
usually green, but sometimes buff, 

Head of Green Pit- Viper/showing drab > Or Polish, sometimes with 
pit (P) between eye (E) and spots of various colours ; when re- 
sembling the last species in colour, 
the less-keeled and less numerous 




nostril (N). 



scales will distinguish it. 

This is a tree- and bush-snake. 

LARGE-SCALED PIT-VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trimeresurus or Lachesis macro- 
lepis. 

HABITAT. Anamalais and Pulneys. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 321 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to a little over 2 ft., and has remarkably 
large scales, well keeled, and in not more than fifteen rows round the 
body. Colour green or olive, with a pale line along the sides. 

WAGLER'S PIT-VIPER 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Trimeresurus or Lachesis waglerL 

HABITAT. Malay Peninsula and islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Remarkable for its large head, nearly as broad as 
long, and gay colour, green cross-barred with black and yellow, 
or black cross-barred with yellow ; young even brighter, green marked 
with blue or purple as well as yellow or white ; grows to nearly i yd. 

A slow snake found on trees or on the ground ; though not Indian 
or Burmese, so striking a near neighbour deserves mention. 

All our other snakes belong to the great family of Colubridce, which 
includes the majority of snakes, showing great diversity among them- 
selves. While all the previous families are non- venomous, except the 
vipers, which are all so, the Colubrines may be called a semi-venomous 
family, falling as they do into three sections the Aglypha^ which have 
ordinary solid teeth and are harmless ; the Opisthoglypha, or back- 
fanged snakes, in which some of the back teeth are enlarged and 
grooved, to carry a poison which is fatal to small animals ; and the 
Proteroglypha, or front-fanged snakes, which have grooved or canal- 
bearing fangs in the front of the jaw, and are venomous to man, 
though in practice there is little danger from some. 

Each section is divided into terrestrial and aquatic sub-families. 

It will be as well here to take the last section \Proteroglypha) first, 
so as to keep all our poisonous snakes together, it being understood 
that this does not imply any relationship between the vipers and the 
poisonous snakes of the present family. The venom of these is, as has 
been remarked above, of different quality; it acts, so far as is known, 
by paralysing respiration ; and they wound by a true bite with the two 
jaws rather than by a stab like the vipers. All these snakes have large 
head-shields and the neck as thick as the head. 

The land Colubrine poisonous snakes form the subfamily Elapina; 
and the most notorious of these are the Cobras (genus Naid), of which 
we have two species. When lying or crawling undisturbed they do 
not look peculiar, but on any excitement they rear the fore-part of 
the body and expand the upper neck, of which the skin is distensible 
and supported on long ribs, into the so-called hood, and thus are 
extremely conspicuous. Like most colubrine snakes, they lay eggs. 



322 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Cobra Hoods, showing (i) full spectacle-mark, (2) single ocellus, and 
(3) non-ocellate variety. 



COMMON COBRA 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Naia tripudians. Native : Nag, 
Hindi. 

HABITAT. Asia generally from Persia to the Malay Archipelago ; 
also the Andamans and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 2 yds. About two dozen rows 
of scales across the neck, and about twenty across the middle of the 
body. Colour extremely variable, generally some shade of brown, 
but sometimes black, or even bright yellow. Some varieties have the 
u spectacle-mark " a pair of ocelli connected by a U-shaped band, on 
the back of the hood ; but there may be only a single ocellus or only 
the U-shaped mark, especially in south-eastern varieties. The 
London Zoological Gardens recently exhibited a red-eyed white 
specimen, and the Indian Museum has one with two heads, a well- 
known monstrosity in snakes. 

The Cobra is a particularly well-known snake in India, found up to 
temperate elevations in the hills as well as in the plains, and with 
an unfortunate habit of coming about houses. As is well known, it is 
very deadly ; in the Malay States it is said to spit instead of biting, 
and to be a good marksman up to 8 ft. This habit is sufficiently 
unpleasant, as snake-poison in the eye is dangerous ; bathing with 
milk is said to afford relief. Besides rats, mice, frogs, and toads, it 




ORDER SQUAMATA 323 

will eat other snakes, and seeks its prey at night. It can be tamed, 
and is, as is well known, a favourite with snake-charmers. 

KING COBRA OE HAMADRYAD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Naia bungarus* 

HABITAT. India eastwards through South-Eastern Asia and its 
islands to the Philippines ; found in the Andamans, but not Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to thrice the length of the common Cobra, 
but has the hood much narrower in proportion ; scales larger, in not 
more than twenty-one rows across the neck, or fifteen in the middle of 
the body. Colour also variable, 
but not so much so as in the other 
species ; fawn or olive, usually 
cross-barred with darker, but never 
with any form of spectacle-mark 
on the hood. Young most often 
black, barred or finely speckled 
with yellow. 

The King Cobra is in India, 
though not in Malaya, rarer than 
the common species, and keeps to Outline of head of King Cobra, show- 
jungle ; it is fierce, and will some- in g details ? f . sh 1 i ?, lds - T h P a x ir , of 
times attack unprovoked. Although j* ^ggu 
deadly, it has not quite such viru- i n the common Cobra, 
lent poison as the common Cobra. 
It feeds chiefly on other snakes, presumably including the common 
Cobra, since the first one ever shown at the London Zoo had devoured 
all its companions of this kind when received. According to Mr. 
Ditmars of the New York Zoo, it is very intelligent, and discriminates 
between poisonous and harmless snakes of species new to it, what- 
ever their appearance possibly guided by scent. 

The Kraits (genus Bungarus) are snakes with no striking peculi- 
arity of appearance, but generally cross-barred in marking. They are 
ground-snakes, very venomous, but only two are common enough to 
need mention. 

COMMON KRAIT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bungarus cceruleus, candidus* 
HABITAT. India east to Malay Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to ij yds. ; colour blue-black, narrowly 
cross-barred with white, the bars often broken up into little spots. 



3*4 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 



The Krait is very common in India, and much given to entering 
dwellings. More deaths from snake-bite are due to this species than 
to any other, for although it is peaceable and not anxious to bite, |t 




Common Krait. 

may often be trodden on, and its venom is very powerful, four times 
as much so as that of the Cobra. The female incubates her eggs. 

It feeds on mice, frogs, toads, and especially on other snakes. 
East of India it is rare, and in Ceylon is replaced by a very similar 
species, the Ceylon Krait (Bungarus ceylonicus). 




Banded Krait 

BANDED KRAIT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Bungarus fasciatus. Native: R&j- 
sdmp, Hindi. 

HABITAT, India east to Java. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 325 

DESCRIPTION.- Perhaps the most easily recognisable of our 
snakes, owing to its striking coloration, black and yellow in broad 
subequal cross-bars ; back decidedly keeled. It grows to over 
2 yds., but its venom is not nearly so powerful as that of the small 
common Krait, not equalling that of the King Cobra in power, to say 
nothing of the common Cobra's. 

The Banded Krait is chiefly a snake-eater, though it also takes 
other animals, even taking to water for fish. It has been observed to 
incubate its eggs. I observed that snakes put in with it for food, in 
the Calcutta Zoo showed a great desire to escape, the only instance in 
which I have witnessed alarm in live animals offered for a snake's 
consumption. 

The Coral-Snakes (Callophis) are small, bright-coloured snakes 
closely allied to the Kraits, but with shorter tails. Their mouths are 
small and they are not free biters, so that, although their venom is 
strong, and they live on the ground, they are not very dangerous. 
Only one need be particularised. 




Cross-barred Coral -Snake. 

CROSS-BARRED CORAL-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Callophis maclellandii. 

HABITAT. Nepal east to South China. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to rather over 2 ft. ; tail about a tenth of 



326 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

total length. Thirteen rows of scales round body. Colour reddish- 
brown, distantly cross-barred with black ; head with % two black 
cross-bars and a yellow one between them ; under-parts yellow, cross- 
barred or spotted with black, the spots being square. In Sikkim is 
found a variety with no cross-bars or only some spots in their place, 
and a black stripe down the spine. 

The two known Large-Gland-Snakes (Doliophis) are like the Coral- 
Snakes, except for an internal peculiarity the enormous development 
of the poison-glands, which extend down the fore-third of the body, so 
that the heart is shifted back, causing an enlargement at this point. 
What the use of this extraordinary arrangement for venom-storage 
may be is a puzzle ; the snakes are not wasteful of it, for no one, 
apparently, has seen them bite a man, and they feed on other snakes, 
although such victims seem not to require special provision for over- 
powering them. 

COMMON LARGE-GLAND-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Doliophis or Adeniophis intestinalis. 

HABITAT. Burma and the Malay countries. 

DESCRIPTION. Does not grow to half the size of the next ; less 
than thirty-four shields under tail. Colour very variable, but only the 
tail red ; the belly pale yellow, both cross-barred with black ; general 
colour some shade of brown, with a stripe down the back ranging from 
orange to red. This snake is very common in the Malay Peninsula, 
and is abroad both by day and night. 

RED-HEADED LARGE-GLAND-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Doliophis or Adeniophis bivirgatus. 

HABITAT. Burma and the Malay countries. 

DESCRIPTION. The most brilliant of our reptiles, shining steel- 
blue with the head, tail, and belly scarlet, and pale-blue stripes along 
the sides. Grows to about 5 ft. Thirty-four or more scales under the 
tail 

The Sea- Snakes (Hydrophiince) are closely related to the above 
poisonous Colubrines, especially to the Kraits, and hardly deserve the 
subfamily rank which has been given them. They have compressed 
bodies, and broad, blunt, compressed tails serving as a paddle ; 
generally their scales are small below as well as above, but some 
have broad ventral shields. They are viviparous, feed on fish and 
crustaceans, and slough their skins in pieces like lizards. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 327 

Their colour is usually olive or grey, cross-barred with black ; in 
some the fore-part of the body is extraordinarily slender and the head 
very small. When out of water they are usually nearly blind and 
very helpless, and their fangs are short, so that, although their venom 
is very strong, accidents are seldom caused by them. 

There are many species, divided into several genera, but only three 
need noticing here. 

AMPHIBIOUS SEA-SNAKE 

OTHER NAME. Scientific : Platurus colubrinus. 

HABITAT. Bay of Bengal to South Pacific. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 5 ft. ; head and neck not conspicuously 
small and slender ; broad well-developed belly-shields. Colour grey 
or olive, cross-barred with black, most distinctly in the young. 

This snake has been found a day's journey inland in Sumatra, and 
I caught two, a good-sized and a small specimen, coiled together on 
the stonework foundations of a boat-house on Ross Island in the 
Andamans. There are other records of snakes of this genus found 
ashore, and it would be of interest to know if they feed when on land. 



CHITTUL OR BLUNT-NOSED SEA-SNAKE 

OTHER NAME. Scientific : Distira cyanocincta. 

HABITAT. Asian seas from Persian Gulf to Japan. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 2 yds. no special peculiarity of 
form of head and neck, nose bluntly rounded, corner of mouth 
turned up. Colour olive, more or less distinctly cross-barred with 
black. This is one of the commonest sea-snakes. 



HOOK-NOSED SEA-SNAKE 

OTHER NAME. Scientific : Enhydrina valakadien. 

HABITAT. Eastern seas from Persia to Papua. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 4 ft. ; end of snout curved and 
hooked, the rostral shield extending below the lip ; fore-parts not 
tapering, and colour black-barred olive or grey, adults sometimes 
plain slate-colour ; ventral shields very small, almost like the others. 

This Sea-Snake is very common, more so, apparently, than any 
land-snake, judging from the numbers caught in fishing-nets ; its 
venom is far the most powerful among those of our poisonous snakes, 
so that it is unsafe to take risks with it or other sea-snakes. It invades 
fresh water even up to 80 miles from the sea. 



328 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




ORDER SQUAMATA 329 

The Opisthoglypha, or back-fanged snakes, are taken as harmless ; 
it is quite difficult for them to get a fair bite at a human being, owing 
to the position of their poison-teeth in the back of the mouth, but it 
might be as well to avoid putting one's little finger into the mouth of a 
large specimen to give it a chance, as will be seen. Their heads are 
generally covered with large shields, and the neck usually .slender. 
It is not necessary here to go into subfamily details, but only to mention 
the species most likely to attract attention. 

The Whip- Snakes (Dry op his) are very elegant slender reptiles, 
with tails longer than in other snakes ; they live on trees, high grass, 
and bushes, feeding on birds, lizards, etc., and are viviparous and 
inclined to be fierce. 



COMMON WHIP-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Dryophis prasinus. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia from the Himalayas to the Malay 
Islands. 

DESCRIPTION. Snout pointed and rather long, but not soft at the 
end. Colour, green or brown, with a yellow stripe along each side. 
Grows to 5! ft., of which the tail is more than a third. 

LONG-SNOUTED WHIP-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Dryophis mycterizans. 

HABITAT. From the Deccan east to Burma and south to Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Generally like the last, but with a projecting soft 
appendage to the nose, and the tail a little longer in proportion ; also 
found either green or brown, and a pink variety is on record. 
Grows to over 2 yds. 

This snake is said by natives to strike at the eye, and I proved by 
experience that it does so, the snake having left its mark on both 
lids ; no pain resulted, but bites on the hand have been known to 
give trouble for a few days. 

FLOWER-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chrysopelea ornata. 

HABITAT. India east to the Malay Islands ; also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. A snake of ordinary form except for the flat 
square tipped muzzle ; grows to 4^ ft., of which the tail is about a 
quarter. Colour peculiar ; head black, cross-barred with yellow, body 



MAMMALIA OF INDIA 




Long-snouted Whip-Snake with Gecko. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 331 

variable, variegated with black and yellow, green or olive ; often with 
conspicuous red markings down the back. 

The Flower-Snake lives either on the ground or in trees and bushes ; 
it has remarkable power of springing in a down ward- slant ing direction, 
it is oviparous, and feeds chiefly on lizards and frogs. 

BULL-DOG-FACED SEA-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cerberus rhynchops* 

HABITAT. India east to North Australia. 

DESCRIPTION. Closely resembling a poisonous sea-snake in 
cross-barred colour and in general shape, but with a tapering and 
only slightly compressed tail and well-developed belly-shields ; lower 
jaw prominent. It is also a fish-eater and viviparous, and frequents 
estuaries and the coast : other species of its subfamily have similar 
characters. 

The completely harmless snakes, or Aglypha, are often free biters, 
like some of the last group, and cause much needless alarm. The 
first genus we need notice is indeed like a grim practical joke on the 
part of Nature. This is Lycodon, the species of which much resemble 
the deadly Kraits, even to having large fang-like teeth in the front of 
the mouth. 

The best-known is the common 

HAEMLESS KRAIT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Lycodon aulicus. 

HABITAT. India east to Timor ; also Ceylon, 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 2 ft. ; muzzle very flat, with the lips 
swollen ; eye about midway between its tip and corner of mouth. 
Colour dark brown above, netted or cross-barred with yellow ; in 
the latter case it is extremely like the Krait, but may be distinguished 
by the different shape of the snout and less forward position of 
the eye. 

Like the true venomous Krait, it often comes into houses, and it 
also lays eggs. 

The Rat-Snakes (Zamenis) are good-sized snakes which are liable 
to be mistaken for cobras, these being not unlike them except when 
they rear and display their hoods. They are fierce in temper, egg- 
layers, and feed much on rats, so that they are deserving of encourage- 
ment. Their thinner necks and large eyes distinguish them from 
cobras even in repose. 



332 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

COMMON RAT-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Zamenis mucosus. Native : Dha- 
miri) Hindi, 

HABITAT. Central Asia east and south to the Malay Peninsula ; 
also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 7 ft. long, and is said to attain nearly 
12 ft. ; tail a fourth of total length. Seventeen rows of scales across the 
back. Colour brown, often cross-barred with black behind, and 
generally with a light hue in front when young. 

The common Rat- Snake often conies into houses ; it can be tamed, 
and possesses a loud voice for a snake, compared to deep growling, 
which it utters when annoyed, at which time it distends its neck 
vertically. 

EASTERN RAT-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Zamenis korros. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia from the Himalayas to the Malay 
countries and South China. 

DESCRIPTION. Tail longer in proportion than in the last, 2 ft. in a 
5-ft. specimen a large one. Only fifteen rows of scales round the 
body. Colour brown, often changing to yellow behind, where the 
scales are edged with black ; sometimes olive-tinged. Young 
narrowly cross-barred with yellow or with bands of white spots. 

This Rat-Snake is commoner in the Malay States than the preceding 
species. 

BRONZE TREE-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Dendrophis pictus. 

HABITAT. India east to the Malay countries ; also the Andamans. 

DESCRIPTION. A snake of ordinary but rather slim form, narrow- 
necked, large-eyed, and long-tailed, the tail being more than a fourth 
of the total length, which may reach 4 ft. Colour bronze or olive, 
with a black eye-stripe and yellow flank-stripe ; concealed bases of 
upper scales bright blue. 

This is a very active snake, and feeds on lizards and frogs. It is vivi- 
parous. I found it very common in the forest on the Little Andaman ; 
all I got or saw here were black, with green under-parts. They pre- 
sumably lived on the lizards also very common there, a species (Gonyo- 
cephalus subcristatus) very like our common garden-lizard in general 
appearance, but remarkable in that the males had blue and the females 
yellow eyes. 



ORDER SQUAMATA 333 

The Keelbacks (Tropidonotus) are close relatives of the familiar 
Ring- Snake or Grass- Snake at home, and, like it, are egg-layers and 
frog-eaters. Two are also extremely common in India. 

CHEQUERED KEELBACK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific: Tropidonotus piscator. 

HABITAT. India east to the Malay Archipelago, 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 4 ft., of which the tail is a fourth. Colour 
yellow or khaki, with a chessboard pattern of black spots, or with 
four or five black stripes down the back. Two black streaks on cheek. 
Eye small, nostrils opening upwards. 

The Chequered Pond- Snake spends much of its time in the water, 
taking fish and toads as well as frogs. It was always to be found about 
our tank at the Calcutta Museum, and I once saw a young one follow- 
ing and striking one of the half-grown young of a pair of dabchicks 
which bred there. 



STRIPED KEELBACK 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tropidonotus stolatus. 

HABITAT. Same as the last, 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to over 2 ft. ; eye large. Most of upper 
scales keeled, but not the outer row above the ventrals. Colour 
olive, with two yellow stripes all down the back, cutting through a 
ground-pattern of black spots or bars. 

This is a land-snake, feeding chiefly on frogs ; it ranges up to 
nearly 6,000 ft. in the Nilgiris. 

SMALL-SCALED SEA-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Chersydrus granulatus. 

HABITAT. Southern India and Burma east to Papua. 

DESCRIPTION. Like a poisonous Sea-Snake in its general form 
and cross-barred coloration, but, like the Opisthoglyphous Harmless 
Sea-Snakes above mentioned, with a tapering pointed tail. It may be 
distinguished from these and all other sea-snakes by the very small 
scales, which number a hundred round the body, and are granular on 
the head. Other sea-snakes never have more than seventy round 
the body, and usually much fewer. 

This snake is a fish-eater and viviparous, and found miles from 
land. 



334 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

WART-SNAKE 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Acrochordu s javanicus. 

HABITAT. Siam and Malaysia east to Papua. 

DESCRIPTION. A stout snake, reaching 8 ft. in length, with a 
short prehensile tail, and very small wart-like scales, more numerous 
than in any other of our snakes about 130 round the body, and 
largest on the spine. Colour brown or olive, with black markings. 

This is a water-snake, living in ditches and canals, and viviparous. 
Fruit has been found in its stomach, an extraordinary food for a snake, 
but one which has also occurred in the stomach of an Indian python, as 
has been mentioned above. 



AMPHIBIA 

THE Amphibians, or Batrachians, used to be classed with the reptiles,* 
and fossils show a connection between them. They agree with 
reptiles in having legs and paws when they have limbs at all, as is 
usually the case, but in youth agree with fish in being aquatic and 
breathing by gills. They never have any fins, however, but a tail-fringe, 
and this has no supporting rays as in a fish's tail-fin. In this larval stage 
they are known as tadpoles. They are easily distinguished from rep- 
tiles proper by having, in the case of our species, no claws, or, when 
limbless, no apparent scales, these being minute and embedded in the 
skin. The usual species, with legs, have no scales at all, and the skin 
is often slimy, as in frogs. It is in any case moist, and the creatures 
breathe through it to some extent, dying if exposed to drought long. 
They also absorb water through it instead of drinking. They are 
usually unable to bear salt water, which also kills their eggs ; these are 
balls of jelly generally stuck together in masses or strings. In some 
cases the fish-stage is gone through before hatching, but generally 
the creature spends some time as a tadpole. 

There are three orders of Amphibians, all represented with us, and 
readily distinguishable. 

The Frogs and Toads (Ecaudata) have the limbs strong, especially 
the hinder, short broad bodies, and no tail. 

The Newts (Urodeld) have a long body, well-developed tail, and 
weak subequal limbs. 

The Caecilians (Apodd) have no limbs and a very short tail, and 
resemble small soft snakes with transversely wrinkled skins, the scales 
embedded in these not being noticeable. 



ORDER URODELA 

We have only one Newt, so its characters may be given under its 
description. 

* Gadow says in the volume on " Reptiles and Amphibia," in the Cambridge 
Natural History series that, " the great gulf within the vertebrata lies between 
Fishss and Amphibia." Thus the older arrangement is probably right. 

335 



336 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

BURMESE NEWT 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Tylototriton verrucosus. 

HABITAT. Sikkim, Kakhyen Hills, and Yunnan. 

DESCRIPTION. Like a small scaleless, clawless lizard, with large 
flat head, compressed tail half of the total length, four toes on the fore- 
feet and five on the hind-feet, not webbed, and a row of large warts 
along each flank. Colour very dark brown, with the under-side of the 
tail orange-yellow. Teeth present in both jaws ; length 6 in. 

Newts generally live in the water during the breeding season, and 
on land in cool places at other times. They lay their eggs separately, 
the tadpoles have external gills, and their fore limbs appear before the 
hind ones. The food of newts is various small animals ; their skin 
exudes a poisonous secretion. 



ORDER APODA 

Of the Caecilians we need only mention the two best-known species, 
both belonging to one genus. They have teeth in both jaws and very 
small eyes. 

PURPLE CJECILIAN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ichthyophis glutinosus. 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia from the Himalayas to Java ; 
also Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 15 in. ; like a small soft snake with 
circular wrinkles closely set all along the body. Head sub-triangular, 
the muzzle as long as the distance between the eyes. Tail a mere 
pointed stump. Colour purple with a yellow stripe all along each 
side ; a short pointed white tentacle between eye and nostril. 

This creature is found in hilly country in damp places, or even in 
mud. According to Major Flower it does not bite, and is usually 
sluggish, but can crawl quickly if so wishing. In spite of the scientific 
name it is not sticky or slimy, and its throat constantly throbs like a 
frog's, while the tentacles are drawn out and in. 

The breeding was observed in Ceylon, where it was found that the 
eggs were large and joined into a string, which was rolled into a ball. 
This is laid in a burrow near water, where the female coils round it. 
The young do not leave the eggs till they have lost their gills, when they 
take to water. Their head is newt-like, and the eyes and tail larger 
than in the adult, the latter flattened and bordered by a fin. 



ORDER ECAUDATA 337 

SHORT-NOSED CHILIAN 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Ichthyophis monochrous. 

HABITAT. Except that it is not known to be found in Ceylon, this 
Caecilian has the same range as the last. 

DESCRIPTION. Smaller than the last, but proportionately stouter, 
with shorter muzzle, not so long as the distance between the eyes. 
Colour purple-black all over. 



ORDER ECAUDATA 

The Frogs and Toads are a particularly numerous and familiar 
tribe, and, unlike reptiles and other amphibians, particularly noisy as 
well. They usually progress by jumping, and many are good climbers, 
such being distinguished by sucking-discs on the ends of the toes, which 
are four on the front and five on the hind-feet. They have no teeth in 
the lower jaw, and not always any in the upper. 

They are usually nocturnal, and feed on small animals, which they 
will only take if moving ; they usually lick them up with the tongue, 
which is rather long, and attached in front, the point lying back 
towards the throat when not in use. They do not usually bite, but some 
have a poisonous secretion which exudes from the skin. In swimming 
they use the hind-legs only, and together. 

They generally spawn in water, and the tadpoles have short round 
bodies with long compressed tails. The hind-feet appear before the 
front ones, and when the latter are visible the tail is absorbed and the 
little creature comes ashore to feed on live food, having previously 
lived on dead or vegetable matter. Owing to shrinkage, the little 
frog is often smaller than the mature tadpole, sometimes very much so. 

There are several families in the sub-order, but their distinctions are 
too technical for this work as a rule, so I shall confine myself to describ- 
ing a few very conspicuous forms among the very numerous species. 
Their Hindi name is maindak* The length given is from muzzle to 
end of body. 

Toads (Bufonida) have no teeth, and the skin is warty, with a 
strongly poisonous secretion exuded under pressure, but not slimy. 
They generally live on land more than frogs. 



338 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

COMMON INDIAN TOAD 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Bafo melanostictus* 

HABITAT. South-Eastern Asia to Malay Islands, ranging up : to 
10,000 ft. in the Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to more than 6 in. ; form stout and head 
broad and blunt ; fore-toes free, hind ones half-webbed, skin with 
numerous prickly warts, head with ridges on each side and large, long, 
swollen glands at the back. Colour some shade of brown, the promi- 
nent parts black ; breeding male with black warts on inner fingers ; 
eyes brassy yellow. 

This is one of the commonest land-animals in the East ; it is 
protected by its poison from most enemies, but I have myself seen it 
taken by the Chequered Keelback Snake, by one of its own species, 
by a tame Crow-Pheasant allowed to go at large, and by the Roller and 
Pied Hornbill in captivity. Most likely this cannibalism which I 
have witnessed is the chief check on its increase, other enemies being 
insignificant compared with its numerous fellows. In its gait it is a 
crawler rather than a hopper ; it readily comes indoors, and only 
takes to water when breeding. 

The typical Frogs (Ranidce) have teeth in the upper jaw, smooth 
slimy skins, and long hind-legs. 

BULL-PROG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rana tigrina. 

HABITAT. India east to the Malay Islands ; also Ceylon, but not 
ascending the Himalayas. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to the same size as the toad, but is slimmer 
and has a pointed snout ; skin not poisonous. Fingers free, toes 
webbed nearly to tips. Colour, olive green or brown, darker-spotted, 
and often with a yellow spine-stripe. 

This is the largest Indian frog, and very voracious even for its size, 
attacking even birds and snakes. It spends much time in the water 
even when not breeding. 

WATER-SKIPPING FROG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rana cyanophlyctis. 

HABITAT. South Arabia east to India and Ceylon, perhaps also 
to Malaysia. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to about 2 \ in. Toes webbed to the tips, a 
tubercle like a rudimentary sixth toe on the inside of the foot. Fingers 



ore slim and pointed than in the Bull-frog. The male can blow out 
vocal sac on each side of the head. Colour olive or brown, with 
irk markings. 

This frog spends much time in the water, on which it can skip for 
; many as a dozen jumps before sinking, according to Major Flower. 

SALINE FROG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rana limnocharis. 

HABITAT. India east to the Malay Islands and north to Japan ; 
so Ceylon ; ascends the Himalayas to 7,000 ft. 

DESCRIPTION. Very like the Bull-frog, but not larger than the 
,st species, and with the toes only half- webbed ; the hind-legs vary 
markably in length. Male usually with two black patches on throat. 

This is a very common paddy-field frog ; it is remarkable among 
nphibians in readily taking to brackish or even salt water. 

CHUNAM FROG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Rhacophorus maculatus. 

HABITAT. India and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 3 in. ; fingers and toes with sucking 
!scs, the former slightly webbed, the latter for two-thirds of their 
ngth ; skin of back smooth, of belly granular. Colour very variable, 
tering as in the chamseleon ; dark markings present, especially on 
des of head ; thighs spotted behind with yellow. 

This is a tree-frog, and also frequents houses. The Malay race of 
is species {Rhacophorus leucomystax) spawns in water-butts, the 
>awn being a frothy mass ; in natural haunts it is deposited on leaves 
)ove pools, into which it soon slips. 

The Small-mouthed Frogs (Engystomatida) are remarkable for 
ieir small heads and mouths, toothless as in toads ; they feed chiefly 
i white ants, and are very plump. 

MALAY BULL-FROG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Callula pulchra. 

HABITAT. India east to Malaysia, and Ceylon. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 3 in. ; toes only slightly webbed. Back 
nooth, brown, with a broad ragged pink or yellow band on each side ; 
gs grey, with brown and yellow spots ; male black-throated. 

This frog comes into towns, and makes itself a nuisance by its 
ud croaking as it floats on the water with swollen throat, The 
male spawns the eggs in small lumps. 



340 MAMMALIA OF INDIA 

FAT FROG 

OTHER NAMES. Scientific : Cacopus systoma. 

HABITAT. Southern India. 

DESCRIPTION. Grows to 2\ in. ; particularly plump, small- 
headed, and short-legged ; toes barely webbed ; two flattened spurs 
inside each foot, skin sleek, marbled with dark brown on a pinkish or 
greenish ground. A vocal sac in the male. 

This egg-shaped frog is a common visitor in Madras in the rains. 

It may be said, a propos of the shape of frogs and toads generally, 
that this depends to a great extent on circumstances, a specimen 
which has been having a dry time being very thin-looking, though it 
will soon absorb plenty of water and become plump when it has 
access to moisture. These creatures can also puff themselves out 
under emotion, and, as the colour is likewise generally changeable at 
short notice, as with so many lizards, considerable allowances must 
be made in identification of amphibians for temporary alterations 
in figure and complexion. 



INDEX 



A. 

Agama, Blue-flanked, 296 

,,, Spotted, 296 
Amman (Ovis), 201 
Antelope, Four-horned, 231 

Indian, 227 
Argali, 201 

Ass, Asiatic Wild, 181 
Axis, 252 

B. 

Badger, Assam, 66 

,, Brown Ferret-, 67 
Grey Ferret-, 67 
Hog-, 615 
,, Honey-, 66 
Bamboo Rat, Bay, 161 
Hoary, 161 

Large, 162 
Bandicoot, 151 

Smaller, 152 
Banteng, 238 
Barasingha, 256 
Bat, Common European, 40 

Yellow, 38 

Dark-brown Leaf-, 34 
Dobson's Long-tongued Fruit-, 3 1 
Fulvous Fruit-, 30 
Great Eastern Horseshoe-, 33 

Himalayan Leaf-nosed, 35 
Hairy-winged, 39 
Harlequin, 38 
Hodgson's, 39 
Indian Pipistrelle, 40 
Large Leaf-, 33 

Painted, 39 

Long-armed Sheath- tailed, 36 
eared, 37 
tailed, 35 
Mouse-tailed, 35 



Bat, Noctulc, 38 
., Painted, 39 

Pouched Sheath-tailed; 36 
,, Wrinkled-lipped, 37 
Batagur, 278 
Bear, Brown, 55 

Cat-, 63 

Himalayan Black, 57 

Malay, 58 

Pied, 64 

Sloth, 60 

Sun, 58 
Bear- Cat, 108 
Bear-Langur, 14 
Bharal, 207 
Binturong, 108 
Biscobra, 289 
Bison, 235 
Blackbuck, 226 
Boa, Sand-, 31 1 
Boar, Indian Wild, 192 
Buffalo, 240 
Bulau, 2, 250 



C. 

Cachalot, 124 
Caecilian, Purple, 336 

Short-nosed, 337 
Calotes, Long-tailed Green, 295 
Malayan Green, 295 
,, Moustached, 295 
Camel, 197 
Capricorns, 217 
Caracal, 95 
Cattle, 233 
Cat, Bay, 91 

Black-chested, 92 

Chaus, 93 

Common Jungle-, 93 

Desert, 92 



341 



342 INDEX 

Cat, Fishing-, 89 

Large Tiger-, 89 
Leopard-, 89 
Marbled, 88 
Rusty-spotted, 90 
Toddy-, 104 
Waved, 92 
Chamaeleon, 304 
Chaus, 93 
Cheetah, 96 
Chevrotain, Indian, 198 

, ? Larger Malay, 200 
Little Malay, 199 
,, Red or Stanleyan, 200 
Chinkara, 221 
Chiru, 225 
Chital, 252 
Chittul, 327 

Civet, Brown Palm-, 1 06 
Burmese, 101 
Common Palm-, 104 
Himalayan Palm-, 106 
Large Indian, 100 
Malabar, 101 
Small Indian, 101 
Cobego, 41 
Cobra, Common, 322 

King, 323 
Colugo, 41 

Crocodile, Coast, 267 
,, Common, 267 
,, Fish-eating, 266 



D. 

Daboia, 316 

Western, 3 17 
Deer, Barking, 246 

Brow-antler ed, 257 
Mouse-, 197 
Musk-, 244 
Spotted, 252 
Swamp-, 256 
Dhamin, 322 
Dhole, 119 
Dhongoka, 279 
Dolphin, Common, 129 
Elliot's, 129 
Gangetic, 125 
Speckled, 129 
Spot-bellied, 129 
Dragon, Band-winged, 290 
Black-spotted, 290 



Dragon, Marbled-winged, 290 

Pale-spotted, 290 
Dugong, 133 

E. 

Earth-Snake, Ocellated, 314 
Red-bellied, 314 
Truncate, 314 

Elephant, I, 174 

Eryx, 312 

Eyelid-Gecko, Northern, 289 
., Southern, 289 



Ferret-Badger, Brown, 67 

Grey, 67 
Field-Rat, Common, 150 

Short-tailed', 150 
Flying-Gecko, 288 
Flying- Fox, 27, tail-piece 
Island, 30 

Malay, 29 

Nicobar, 30 
Flying-Squirrel, Anderson's, 145 
Grey-headed, 146 
Hairy-footed, 146 
Hodgson's, 145 
Horsfield's, 147 
Large Brown, 142 

Red, 145 
Orange-bellied, 145 
Particoloured, 147 
Pigmy, 147 
Red-and- White, 145 
Small Kashmir, 147 

Travancore, 146 
Woolly, 143 
Fox, Common, 122 
Desert, 122 
Flying-, 27 
Hill, 122 
,, Hoary, 121 
,, Indian, 121 
Small Tibetan Grey, 122 
Frog, Bull-, 338 
Chunam, 339 
Fat, 340 
Malay Bull-, 339 
Saline, 339 
Water-skipping, 338 
Fruit-bats, 27 



INDEX 



343 



Fruit- bat, Dobson's Long-tongued, 31 
Fulvous, 30 
Long-tongued, 31 
Pigmy, 3 1 
Short-nosed, 30 
Small, 31 
Small Long-tongued, 31 



Garial, 266 
Gaur, 235 
Gayal, 235 
Gazelle, Indian, 221 
Persian, 223 
Tibetan, 224 
Gecko, Asian House-, 286 

Common House-, 286 

Flying-, 288 

Giant, 288 

Golden, 285 

Green, 288 

Narrow-toed House-, 285 

Twin-spotted, 288 

Varied House-, 287 
Gerbil, Common Indian, 149 

Desert, 150 
Gibbon, Hoolock, 4 

White-handed, 6 
Goa, 224 
Goats, 208 

Goat, Wild Common, 213 
Goat- Antelopes, 217 
Goral, 218 

Gymnura, Raffles', 50 
Smaller, 51 



H. 

Hamadryad, 323 
Hamster, Grey, 160 
Hangal, 259 
Hare, Afghan, 170 

Black-naped, 169 
Burmese, 169 
Common Indian, 168 
Hispid, 171 
Sind, 169 
Upland, 170 
Woolly, 170 
Hedgehog, Afghan, 49 

Anderson's, 49 
Collared, 48 

Hardwicke's, 48 



Hedgehog, Large-eared, 49 
Painted, 50 

Small-footed or South 
Indian, 49 

Hog, Pigmy, 195 

Hoolock, 4 

Horse, 183 

House-Lizards, 285 

Hyaena, 99 

Hybrids, Argali-Urial, 206 
Cat, 90, 91, 93 
Cattle, 237, 238, 239 
Markhor-Pasang, 213 
Spotted and Hog-deer, 255 
Tahr- Spotted Deer, 216 



I. 

Ibex, Himalayan, 211 

Nilgiri, 216 

Persian, 213 
Ichneumons, 109 

j. 

Jackal, 117 
Jarao, 248 
Jerboa, Afghan, 163 
Jungle- Cat, 93 

K. 

Kachuga, Blanford's, 279 
Irrawaddy, 279 
Red-streaked, 278 
Smith's, 279 

Sylhet, 279 
Kakar, 246 
Kalong, 29 
Kanchil, 199 
Karawala, 319 
Kiang, 182 
King Cobra, 323 
Krait, Banded, 324 
,, Common, 323 
Harmless, 331 

L. 

Langur, Barbe's, 1 1 
,, Bear, 14 
Capped, ii 
Common, 7 
Dusky, 12 



344 



INDEX 



Langur, Entellus, 7 
Hanuman, 7 
,, Himalayan, 8 
Madras, 9, 13 
Malabar, 9, 13 
,, Nilgiri, 10 
Phayre's, n 
,, Purple-faced, 12 
Red-bellied, 1 1 
Rutledge's, 12 
Silvery, n 
Large -Gland-Snake, Common, 326 

Red-headed, 326 

Leaf-Bat, Dark-brown, 34 
Great Himalayan, 35 
Large, 33 
Leaf- Monkeys, 6 
Lemurs, 22 
Leopard, 82 

Clouded, 87 
Hunting-, 96 
Snow-, 86 
Leopard- Cat, 89 
Linsang, Burmese, 103 

Indian, 103 
Lion, 75 
Lizard, Bell's Bordered, 297 

,, Blunt-horned Rhinoceros-, 291 
Common Garden-, 293 
Fan-throated, 291 
Indian Sand-, 302 
Long- tailed, 302 
Lyre-, 293 

Naked-horned Rhinoceros-, 291 
Small Rhinoceros-, 293 
Snake-eyed, 302 
Spiny-tailed, 297 
Loris, Slender, 22 

Slow, 22, opposite Contents 
Luth, 283 
Lynx, 94 
Red, 95 

M. 

Markhor, 209 

Marmot, Long-tailed or Red, 148 

Smaller Himalayan, 148 

Tibet, 148 
Marten, Beech-, 69 

White-cheeked, 69 
Mastigure, 297 
Meminna, 198 
Mole, Short- tailed, 43 



Mole, White-tailed, 44 

Mole-Rats, 150 (^ -* k 

Mongoose, Ceylon Brown, 112 
,, Common Grey, 109 

,, Crab-eating, 114 

,, Gold-speckled, 112 

,, Long-tailed, in 

Nilgiri, 112 
,, Ruddy, ill 

,, Small Burmese, 112 

,, Indian, 112 

,, Stripe-necked, 112 
Monitor, Barred, 299 

Broad-barred, 320 
,, Desert, 299 
,, Large Land-, 290 
,, Marbled, 300 
,, Water-, 300 
Monkey, Bonnet, 19 

,, Burmese Pig-tailed, 1 8 
,, Crab-eating, 21 
,, Himalayan, 17 
,, Lion-tailed, 15 
Pig- tailed, 18 
Phesus, 1 6 
,, Stump-tailed, 19 
,, Toque, 2O 
Mouse, Brown Spiny, 157 

Common House-, 155 
Indian Field-, 157 
Long- tailed Tree-, 159 
Malabar Spiny- 149 
Persian House-, 156 

Long- tailed Field-, 155 
Mouse-deer, 197 
Mouse-hares, 171 
Muntjac, 246 
Musang, Brown, 106 

Common, 104 
Ceylon ese, 1 06 
Golden, 106 
Hill, 106 

Small-toothed, 1 06 
White-eared, 106 
Musk-deer, 244 
Musk-rat, 44 

Shrew, Brown, 46 
,, Common, 44 

N. 

Napu, 200 

Newt, Burmese, 336 

Nilgao, 229 



INDEX 



345 



o 

Onager, 182 
Otter, Clawless, 74 

Common, 73 

Small, 74 

Smooth, 74 
Ounce, 86 
Ovis poli, 202 

P. 

Palm-civet, Brown, 106 
,, ,, Common, 104 
,, ,, Himalayan, 106 
Panda, 63 

,, Giant, 64. 
Pangolin, Eared, 262 
,, Indian, 261 
Malay, 263 
Panther, 82 
Paradoxures, 103 
Pasang, 213 
Phoorsa, 318 

Pig, Banded or Island, 195 
Pigs, 191 

Pika, Himalayan, 171 
,, Hodgson's, 172 
Ladak, 172 
Large-eared, 172 
Red, 172 
Polecat, Mottled, 72 
,, Tibetan, 72 
Porcupine, Bengal, 166 

Brush-tailed, 167 
,, Common Indian, 165 
Crestless Himalayan, 166 
Porpoise, Little, 127 
River, 127 
Python, Dwarf, 311 
,, Indian, 310 
,, Malayan, 310 
,, Reticulated, 310 



R, 

Raccoon, Himalayan, 63 

Rasse, 101 

Rat, Brown, 152 
Coffee-, 158 
,, Common Field-, 150 
,, Common Indian, 154 
Little Burmese, 154 



Rat, Metad, 158 

Musk-, 44 

Pepper-, 149 

Roof-, 154 

Sewer-, 152 

Short-tailed Field-, 150 
Ratel, 66 
Rhinoceros, Burmese, 188 

Great One-horned, 186 
,, Hairy Two-horned, 189 
Rhinoceros-Lizards, 291 
Rorqual, Great, 232 
Rusa, 248 

S. 

Sambar, 248 
Sea- Cow, 133 

Sea-Snake, Amphibious, 327 
,, ,, Common, 327 
False, 327 
,, Hook-nosed, 327 
,, Small-scaled, 333 
Serow, 217 
Sheep, 201 
Shou, 260 

Shrew, Brown Musk-, 46 
Common Musk-, 44 
,, Himalayan Water-, 47 
Indian Pigmy, 46 
Teeth of, 2 
Shrews, Tree-, 51 
Skink, Blue-tailed, 303 
Common Hill, 303 

Striped, 303 
,, Three-toed, 304 

Slow-worm, Beaked, 304 
Indian, 292 
Snake, Bronze Tree-, 332 

,, Chequered Keelback, 333 
Common Rat-, 332 
,, Cross-barred Coral-, 325 
,, Eastern Rat-, 332 
Flower-, 329 
Hill Night-, 315 
Rainbow-, 314 
,, Red-tailed, 312 
Rock-, 310 
,, Striped Keelback, 333 
Wart-, 334 
Common Whip-, 329 
,, Long-snouted Whip-, 329 
Sof t -shell, "Brown, 269 
Burmese, 269 

Box, 271 



346 



INDEX 



Soft-shell, Coast, 270 

Common Box, 271 
Ganges, 269 
Large-headed, 269 
Malay, 270 
Phayre's, 270 
Southern, 271 

Box, 271 
Sperm-Whale, Great, 124 
Pigmy, 125 

Squirrel, Anderson's Flying-, 145 

Stripe-bellied, 138 

Bay, 140 

Berdmore's, 142 
Black-backed, 139 

Black Hill, 136 
Common Striped, 140 
,, Dusky Striped, 142 
Golden-backed, 139 
Grey-backed, 139 
Grey-headed Flying-, 146 
,, Hairy -footed Flying-, 146 
,, Himalayan Striped, 142 
Hoary-bellied Hill, 139 
,, Hodgson's Flying-, 145 
HorsficlcFs Flying-, 147 
Irrawaddy, 139 
Jungle Striped, 141 
Large Brown Flying-, 142 
,, Grizzled Indian, 137 
Indian, 136 
Malay, 136 
Red Flying-, 145 
Orange-bellied Flying-, 145 

Hill, 138 
Particoloured Flying-, 147 
Pigmy Flying-, 147 
Small Kashmir Flying-, 147 

Travancore Flying-, 146 
Woolly Flying-, 143 



Susu 



125 



Swamp -deer, 256 



T. 

Tahr, Himalayan, 215 

Nilgiri, 216 
Takin, 220 
Tapir, 183 
Terrapin, Bengal Eyed, 277 

Three-keeled, 275 

,, Bengal Three-keeled Land-, 
275 



Terrapin, Blunt-beaked Box-, 276 
Broad Box-, 275 
Burmese Eyed, 277 
Casqued, 280 
Common Three-keeled 

Land-, 274 
Roofed, 280 
Dhor Box-, 276 
Flat Land-, 274 
Tree-toed Box-, 276 
Hamilton's, 277 
Large Land-, 274 
Long-tailed, 280 
Spinous Land-, 274 
Thick-necked, 276 
Thameng, 257 
Thurgi, 278 
Tic-polonga, 316 
Tiger, 77, frontispiece 

Clouded, 87 
Toad, Common Indian, 338 
Toad-head, Theobald's, 296 
Toddy Cat, 104 
Tortoise, Brown, 273 

,, Burmese Starred, 273 
,, Claw-tailed, 272 
Indian Starred, 272 
Leith's, 272 
Tucktoo, 287 
Tupaia, Elliot's, 32 
Madras, 32 
Malay, 32 
Nicobar, 33 
Turtle, Green, 281 

Hawk's-bill, 282 
Leathery, 283 
Loggerhead, 282 



Urial, 205 



U. 



V. 



Vampire, Indian, 32 
Malay, 33 

Viper, Deceptive, 316 
Green Pit-, 320 
, , Himalayan Pit- , 3 1 8 
,, Large -spotted Pit- 319 
Large-scaled Pit-, 320 
Purple Pit-, 320 



INDEX 



347 



Viper, Russell's, 316 
,, Saw-scaled, 317 
,, Wagler's Pit-, 321 

Vole, Sikkim, 160 

W. 

Wanderoo, Great, 14 
Nilgiri, 10 
Purple-faced, 12 
Wapiti, 259 

Weasel, Himalayan, 70 
Striped, 71 
,, White-nosed, 71 
Yellow-bellied, 70 
Whale, Blue, 132 

Great Sperm-, 124 



Whale, Indian Pilot, 1 29 
Pigmy Sperm-, 125 
Pike, 132 

Whip-Snake, Common, 329 
Long-snouted, 329 

Wolf, 115 

Worm-Snake, Common, 308 
,, ,, Diard's, 308 

Hook-nosed, 309 



Yak, 239 
Zebu, 233 



Y. 
Z. 



Printed in Great Britain 

by 

William Clowes & Sons, Limited, 
London and Beccles. 



FLYING-FOXES. 



' 




We swarm across the evening sky, 
But not in flocks as wildfowl fly, 
For each grim vampire singly swings 
With smiting sweeps his wide-webbed 

wings 

Behind black muzzle keen with greed 
On Indian peasants' fruit to feed. 
And when again at dawn we come 



To the tall trees we call our home, 
Each to himself a branch would have ; 
And so we snarl and scratch and rave 
Till slumber overcomes our spite 
And limp we hang where last we light. 
Folly in this you mortals see, 
Though you would fight for all the 
tree ! 

F. FINN, The Masque of Birds and other Poems.