MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. '>V.i 



dence had rid her of her foe, for, after about 15 minutes, she too proceeded to 



walk across my front towards the goat, enabling me to drop her dead within a 



few yards of her late antagonist. The panther turned out to be a female of 



about 5 years, measuring Gi ft. The hyicna was also a female measuring .') ft.. 



11 inches. 



Personally I have never heard of a similar incident before, and it seems to 



me a most extraordinary thing that the hyaena should not only have stood up 



to the panther but should have worsted it to such an extent as to have 



practically robbed it of its dinner. 



R. C. BURKE. Cai'tain. 

 SANcii.i. S.M.C . 27^// Jan. 190i». 



X... TIL— BREEDING SEASON OF THE COMMON INDIAN PORCU- 

 PINE CHYSTRIX LEV CUR A). 



I notice that in Blanford's Fauna of BriUsh India (Mammalia) the breeding 

 season of the Indian porcupine is not specified, so that it may be of interest to 

 note that a young male was brought in to me on the 27th of March by a 

 pahari, who said he had found it in a rocky recess in these hills j ust below 

 Almora. He said that he disturbed and flushed both parents from their fastness, 

 and on investigating, found a solitary young one. This he supposed was about a 

 month old. It measured when squatting about 9^ to 10| ins. The spines were 

 erected under alarm, but they were not yet stifE enough to inflict injury, and 

 I handled the little creature freely. It was naturally timid, sought shelter, and 

 when touched, while erecting its armature gave vent to a series of grunts. 



Blandford says that two to four young are produced at birth, but there 

 appears to have been but a single offspring on this occasion. 



The altitude indicated is somewhere between about 4,000 to 5,000 feet. 



F. WALL, C. M. Z. S., 



Major, I.M.S. 

 Ai.MORA. 2dth March 1909. 



No. IV.— THE SEROW. 

 In the Field of January 9, under Shooting, Mr. G. W. Bird, writing about 

 sport in Burma, describes the Serow as a dark-red-brown animal weighing about 

 200 lbs., and other writers state that the colour of the Burmese Serow is rufous. 

 Mr. Lydekker, for example, in his " Game AnimaU of India" states that the 

 typical Sumatran species is more rufous generally than the Himalayan animal. 

 Perhaps these writers may be describing specimens procured from Tenasserim, 

 which may be of somewhat similar colour to the Sumatran species ; but during 

 a close acquaintance with the Serow in Upper Burma, extending over six years, 

 I never met with this rufous variety, nor do 1 think that it exists there. The 

 general colour of the animals shot by me and others has invariably been black 

 above and brown beneath at all seasons of the year, and I should say that these 

 were of the typical Upper Burman species. The following are the measure- 

 ments and description of a female serow that I shot in the Northern Shan 

 States in 1898. 

 30 



