THE INDIAN BISON. 29? 



in length, 24 inches ; left horn, 22 inches. It is not easy to measure 

 the height accurately. The distance between a stake driven in at 

 the shoulder, and another at the heel of the forefoot is the proper 

 measurement to take. To the top of the dorsal ridge is of course some 

 inches higher. I have not measured a cow, hut they are, I should 

 iudee, a good 4 inches less. Measurements given in most of the 

 sporting books run to G feet and over. I do not believe any such are 

 to be found in the Central Provinces, though I quite believe that in 

 Southern India they may attain that size. In fact I saw once on the 

 Annamaliay Hills an enormous bull that looked well over 6 feet. He 

 was lying with a herd out on the green slopes of the hill at an 

 elevation of between 6 and 7,000 feet 200 yards clear of the forest, 

 and was the biggest bull I ever saw, with a vezy wide head, but I 

 failed to get near him. The heads I have seen from Southern 

 India are much finer than the Central Provinces heads. The horns 

 n the latter, as a rule, do not spring up so high from the head as the 

 former ones. The curve of the horn seems to me to be lower, as 

 will be seen from the following measurements of the vertical line 

 drawn from a line between the tops of the horns and the top of 

 the skuli of 5 bulls, the other measurements of the heads are also 

 given in inches : — 



Nos. 1 and 3 were solitary bulls. No. 2 was with a single cow. 

 No. 4 was shot out of a large herd. No. 5 was in company of a bull 

 and a cow with a malformed head ; see head No. 7. Though I have 

 shot better bulls, the above are all good heads for Central Provinces 

 bison. The longest horns shot by me were 29 5 inches, the widest 

 span of this head is 33 inches, and 18 inches round the base. The 

 thickest horn I have measured, was 19 inches round the base. It 

 should be remembered that the measurement round the base of the 

 horn is more when the animal is just dead, than after the head has 

 been thoroughly cleaned and got quite diy; there is a good 

 deal of fleshy matter between the horn and the bony core, 

 when this is removed, and the horn gets dry, the base of the 



