Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/110

88 Large animals are few by reason of their falling a prey to the hunter, and the large population. However the musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus?), wild sheep (Ovis pseudo-Nahoor), deer (Cervus sp.), and pygargs (Cervus pygargus), are plentiful. The last-mentioned, although found in the Munni-ula, does not inhabit the Ala-shan mountains.

Among the rodents the most remarkable are the marmot (Arctomys robustus), abounding in these mountains at an elevation of more than 12,000 feet, a small kind of lagomys (Lagomys Thibetanus), very plentiful in exposed places, and another species only found among the rocks and detritus in the upper alpine zone. Blind rats (Siphneus sp.) are also plentiful on the lower ground. Here, too, may be seen the little field-mouse (Arvicola sp.), hares (Lepus sp.), and an occasional flying-squirrel (Pteromys sp.) in the forests, distinct from the Siberian species.

We have enumerated all the ruminants and rodents; It only remains to describe the carnivora. The only representative of the feline order is the wild cat (Felis sp.); there are neither tigers nor panthers. A small species of bear, a polecat (Mustela sp.), a badger (Meles sp.), a fox (Canis vulpes), and two kinds of wolves, the common one (Canis lupus), and another of a reddish colour, are found in these forests.

Birds are far more numerous than mammals — we counted 106 settled or nesting kinds and eighteen migratory. The former number is certainly large if we consider that it includes only five orders,