838 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVL 



They, presumably being as surprised to see us as we them, did not 

 move off more than 200 yards, and while we stood looking at each other 

 1 noticed two wild dogs approaching the herd. 



They made straight for the calf which left the herd and galloped full 

 tilt for the river, and as he approached it we noticed 9 or 10 more dogs, 

 coming up parallel with the river and trying to cut him off. 



The calf reached the bank first only a few yards from where we were 

 standing, hit his fore feet on a rock as he leapt into the air and turned 

 a complete somersault, but landed safely in the middle of the river and 

 was soon making off on the other side. 



None of the dogs attempted to follow him, but this may have been due 

 to the double shock they received from watching the acrobatic perfor- 

 mance of their quarry and seeing two human beings at such close 

 quarters. 



Instead they wandered back towards the herd of sambhur with which 

 they mingled in a most friendly manner. 



Occasionally one, or perhaps two dogs, would approach a hind but she 

 merely put her head down as a cow does to domestic dogs, and then they 

 would cease to worry her. Eventually the sambhur drew oft' in one 

 direction and the dogs in another. 



I have told this incident to many old residents, who imagined they 

 knew all about the habits of the wild dog, but they have always been at 

 a loss to understand why they did not attack at least one of the hinds 

 more determinedly. 



Some people have suggested that they were not hungry but they ran 

 the calf as far as the river strongly enough. 



Personally I am beginning to think that wild dogs seldom attack any- 

 thing so large as a full-grown sambhur, for on the several occasions on 

 which I have come across the remains of this animal killed by wild dog 

 it has always been not larger than a half-grown calf. 



•^ F. WARE. 



Civil Vetekinary Department, 

 Madras, 'I^th July l^l'd. 



No IV —DISTRIBUTION OF THE DIFFERENT RACES AND 

 SPECIES OF TAKIN (BUBORCAS). 



Having been a member of the Bedford expedition which discovered and 

 shot the first Shensi takin {Budorcas bedfordi) in 1910 ; and having met 

 with a herd of takin (presumably B. taxicolor) on the mountains directly 

 east of the ' Nmai-hka in 1914, I was very much interested in Mr. Mill's 

 letter in the last number of the journal. 



Without accepting Mr. Mill's proof as final, he certainly makes out a 

 strong case for the existence of takin between the Chindwin and Assam ; 

 and assuming for the moment its existence, we have two points to 



consider. 



{i) Is it B. taxicolor, B. bedfordi or B. tibetanm ? 

 (m) Whence did it arrive in the Saramatti region ? 

 Now let us consider the localities where takin are known to be found. 

 They are, from west to east : — 



(i) The Bhutan Himalaya. 

 (m) Zayul and the Mishmi Hills, 

 (m) The Salween-Irrawaddy divide. 

 {iv) The mountains of N, W. Ssu-chuan, W. China. 

 {v) The Tsin-ling range in Shensi, W. China. 

 The first three localities are occupied, so far as is known, by B. taxicolor, 

 the fourth by B. tibetanus, the fifth by B. bedfordi. 



