THE SEROWS, GORALS AND TAKINS OF BRITISH INDIA. 81.H 



ialse-hoofs large ; the back is narrow and the abdomen full. The 

 tail is short, broad and bnsny. Although the resemblances in 

 external form between Takins, and Serows is obscured by the great 

 ihickness of the legs, which are exceptionally short and stout below 

 the knee in the Takins, nevertheless there is an unmistakable similarity 

 between the two in attitude and general form. They stand straioht up 

 on the legs with the fetlocks and hoofs almost in line with the cannon 

 bones above them. The head is carried normally with the neck 

 nearly in line with the back, and the line of the back is broken by the 

 slightly elevated withers and by the arch of the spine which rises in 

 the middle of the back to about the height of the withers. From that 

 point however the back slopes right away down to the root of the tail, 

 the croup being very low and the tail set on nearly on a level with the 

 lower edge of the neck when the latter projects forwards. This gives 

 to the hind quarters a characteristic look of weakness which is 

 enhanced by the " cow-hacked " appearance of the hind legs and by 

 the suggestion of dragging about these limbs as the animal walks. 

 Heavily built and entirely lacking the lightness of limb and body to 

 which Serows and Gorals owe their activity, Takius are slow and delibe- 

 rate in their movements and both ascend and descend rocks in a 

 ponderous manner without any of the spring observable in mountain 

 goats and antelopes. Those features, however, which, apart from the 

 horns, detract most from their likeness to Serows and Gorals are the 

 ears, which, instead of being long and as has been expressed donkey- 

 like, are quite short and broad with a nearly semicircularly rounded 

 upper rim and a much straighter lower rim. Finally the muzzle, 

 instead of being bare, slimy and wet above, at least half way back to 

 the corner of the nostril, is covered with short hair above, only the 

 front of it and the area round the nostrils being naked. Almost exactly 

 similar differences exist between the muzzles of yaks and others of the 

 ox-tribe. It seems probable that the hairiness of the muzzle is 

 associated in these two otherwise widely dissimilar ruminants, with life 

 at high altitudes where the snow in winter has to be scraped away to 

 get at the vegetation beneath. 



The above given description of the shape of the Takin has been 

 taken from observation ot a living animal, the first brought alive to 

 Europe, which was presented to the Zoological Society by Mr. Claude 

 White, C.M.Z.S., through whose instrumeutality it was procured in 



