30 



Oxen 



them as at times snorting and stamping when disturbed before making off, 

 and when in headlong flight crashing through tree and bamboo jungle with 

 apparent ease, owing to their enormous weight and strength. The pairing 

 season is stated to take place during the cold weather, and in Peninsular India 

 the calves are, for the most part, dropped in August or September, although 

 a few make their appearance in April, May, or fune. The alarm cry of the 

 gaur is a kind of whistling snort ; there is also a sort of mooing cry, and 

 likewise a loud bellow, used as a call. According to Mr. Blantord, none of 

 these sounds are at all like those uttered by the Indian humped cattle. 



Some difference oi opinion exists as to whether the gaur has ever 

 been domesticated ; and as I have no personal intormation on this point, 

 I can only quote what has been written bv others. Mr. Blantord writes 

 as follows : — "' In India all attempts at domestication ot this bovine have 

 been failures. The calves appear alwavs to die in captivity, none, it is 

 said, having been known to attain their third year. But there can be 

 little doubt that the gaur has been tamed and kept tame in some of the 

 hill-tracts between Assam and Burma." A paraphrase ot this statement 

 was published by myself in the Royal Natural History. Commenting 

 thereon. Colonel Pollok makes the following statement : — " In a Natural 

 History lately published, it has been asserted that the gaur has been 

 tamed, and that they are kept in captivity by natives on our north-eastern 

 frontier, but this is altogether erroneous." In a footnote it is added 

 that the writer was evidently misled hv Sanderson, whereas in reality, 

 as shown above, I have merely quoted Mr. Blanford, frcMii whom some 

 additional remarks on this subject are referred to under the next species. 



As illustrative of the extreme activity of the gaur, the following 

 extract trom a correspondent of Colonel Pollok living in Travancore is 

 worth quotation : — 



" When the Kaunan Devan Hills in North Travancore were opened 

 out for tea and cinchona some vears ago, the felling of the tea forest 



