Zoological Society* 4A7 



great size, the Bison is not a difficult animal to hit, it is by no means 

 an easy animal to bring down. One shot, accurately placed behind 

 the shoulder, will bring him down never to rise again ; but you might 

 as well fire into a hay-stack as hit him anywhere else. And even 

 when brought down and brought to the last gasp by a well-directed 

 shot, the tenacity with which he holds on to the small remains of 

 life is wonderful. I have fired at a fallen Bison with the muzzle of 

 the gun within a foot of his head, and yet he kicked, and before 

 dying rolled himself quite over ; I remember once putting my gun 

 so close to the back of the head, just behind the horns, that the hair 

 smoked from the flash of the powder, and still the animal breathed 

 for some time. 



The natives, though they hold the ferocity of the Bison in con- 

 sideralbe respect, yet do not seem to consider him an animal of very 

 acute perception. I remember a '' shikarry " or native huntsman 

 pointing out to me a patch of long thin grass lying close by the side 

 of a small path across a hill top, and aifording nothing that I should 

 have considered very good concealment, and telling me that I might 

 safely on emergency lie down in it and let the Bison pass along the 

 path. I forget whether it was at this very spot, or at one precisely 

 like it, that one of my beaters put this stratagem into practice and 

 allowed the animal to pass close beside him. 



The flesh is I think the finest beef I ever tasted. The natives of 

 " Caste," holding the Bison in reverence as a species of Cow, refuse 

 to eat him, and even in some cases refuse to show him to the hunter, 

 though their reluctance to this last may generally be overcome by 

 money. The out-caste tribes, those whom people in England call 

 " Pariahs," have no such scruples, and the instant that a Bison is 

 killed light a fire by the carcase and sit down and gorge themselves. 

 When I was in India I tried to get one or more Bison Calves for 

 the Zoological Society, and off^ered the natives what to them were 

 large sums of money if they would bring me one. They never suc- 

 ceeded ; partly from the real difficulty of the undertaking, still more 

 I fancy from the unwillingness of the Hindoo to do anything unusual 

 or contrary to " custom ;" they reflected, I do not doubt, that their 

 fathers had never been requested to catch a Bison calf, and could not 

 comprehend why they should. I myself twice surrounded a calf with 

 a circle of beaters, but in both instances it broke the line and escaped. 

 Calves sometimes fall into the hands of the natives by accident, and 

 I have seen a young one so caught, which unfortunately died in the 

 possession of an English officer, who had bought it from its captors. 



All the natives with whom I have spoken on the subject are firmly 

 persuaded that there are two distinct species of Bison. To these two 

 species they give the name of ** Gouwa " in common, but distinguish 

 them as the " Myse Gouwa" and the "Gaee Gouwa." "Myse" 

 signifies the common domestic buffalo ; " Gaee " the domestic cow. 

 I never succeeded in getting any man to give me a clear explanation 

 of what he imagined to be the difference, but I have found the belief 

 so universally spread amongst those natives who have the best oppor- 

 tunities of knowing, that I do not think it altogether to be dis- 

 credited. 



