228 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



to the contrary I cannot help but think that his own two supposed 

 gayal were also nothing but gaur. In fact, it will be seen from the 

 photographs I give that his diagnosis of his gayals would have done 

 also for gaur. He says : " The semi-cylindric crest and concavity of 

 the skull are wanting in the gayal." I shall shew that they are often 

 present in the gayal, and on the other hand are often wanting in the 

 gaur. Then he goes on to say : " It is smaller ; the facial angle 

 is all but straight." The first difference is of course merely compara- 

 tive or individual, and the straightness of outline I shew from the 

 woodcuts given to be altogether an individual and not a specific 

 characteristic. 



Now, having refused to accept other good and well known sports- 

 men's dictum as finally correct, it is but right that I should shew what 

 right I have to give my own opinion, nor I do not claim that it should 

 be accepted as final by other people though I personally consider I have 

 proved my contentions. 



The opportunities I have had for the study of this subject have, I 

 believe, been quite exceptional. North Cachar, which is on the 

 extreme north-eastern frontier of India, is situated between the Naga 

 Hills, Manipur, Looshai and certain plains districts, and is in the very 

 heart of the domesticated gayal country, Kukies, Nagas and other 

 hill tribes keeping them in great numbers. The gaur, or wild form, 

 is also extremely plentiful in suitable localities throughout this and 

 the adjoining districts, and during the time I was stationed in North 

 Cachar I shot fifty-four bulls, four cows and the one calf mentioned 

 above. 



After leaving North Cachar I was transferred to Dibrugarh, the moat 

 Eastern District of Assam, where I have now been three years and 

 where the observations I have made have confirmed those previously 

 made in North Cachar. 



The greater part of the time I was in North Cachar I lived within 

 a couple of hundred yards of a village which kept a large herd of 

 tame gayal, and I have taken every opportunity of examining other 

 herds. 



I should, I think, mention that once long ago I shot a bull which 

 shewed all the most typical characteristics of the tame animal ; this 

 at the time I fully believed to have been a wild animal pure and 

 simple, but afterwards I received information which led me to think 

 that it was merely a very surly old tame bull which had belonged to 



