MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 981 



No. VII.— THE SEROW. 



I see in our journal. Vol. XIX, No. 2, on page 519, among the Miscellaneous 

 Notes, one (No. IV) by H. Shaw Dunn on Serow. 



He says he does not think that the rufous variety exists in Upper Burma. 

 Allow me to assure him that he is absolutely wrong, in fact I believe the 

 rufous variety is the only variety which exists in the Upper Chindwin. 



I shot a Serow within 4 miles of Teslin in the Gangaw Sub-division — 

 an old male — rufous-red all over except for a black mane and tail and a 

 black line running along the length of his back. Also two some 60 miles further 

 north, one on the Nwaydoung — rufous-red — being a female the line along the 

 back not black but only a darker colour than the rest of the body, and one 10 

 miles from here, a small male of the same colour as the fii-st above described. 



I saw a Serow killed by wild dogs in the Lomegtoung, also one killed in the 

 same way some 140 miles north in the Mytha river and not more than 20 

 miles from Kalewa. Both were rufous-red, and you could no more have 

 called them black than you could white. 



I had one of those I shot set up (head and neck) and I fancy Mr. Dunn 

 would alter his opinion were he, at any time, to pay a visit to Spencer House, 

 Stansted, Essex, where the head is now and where it would be shown him 

 with pleasure. 



I am well aware that the black variety exists in most parts of Upper 



Burma, and I believe it is the only variety in the Ruby Mines ; but that the 



rufous variety also exists, there is no doubt. I saw a specimen of the black 



in Mogok, set up head and neck, and could not at first believe it was shot in 



Burma, so much did it differ from those I had seen and shot. 



C. B. MOGGRIDGE, 



Ruby Mines District. 

 Mandalay, November 2nd, 1909. 



No. VIII.— HABITS OF THE TAKIN. 



In connection with the recent arrival of the young Bhutan Takin in the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens, the following notes on its Chinese cousin, taken 

 from a letter written to me from Chentu, Sze-chuen, on 9th October 1908, by 

 the late Mr. J. W. Brooke, will be of interest, as very little has been previous- 

 ly recorded regarding the wild life of these curious ruminants. After refer- 

 ring to the great difficulty of approaching the animal, the writer states that in 

 Sze-chuen the Takin inhabits dense bamboo and rhododendron jungle on 

 extremely precipitous hillsides, where it is nearly ahvays pouring with rain. 

 The elevation of these jungles is from 8,000 feet to 10,000 feet above sea level, 

 and here the males are to be found from October to May, except when driven 

 down by stress of weather. The females, on the other hand, descend to the 

 valleys during March, April and May to feed and rear their young. These are 

 suckled only for a fortnight after birth and very speedily become as active as 

 their parents, as is evident from their tracks, which may be seen in the most 



