58 



Oxen 



is essential to their well-being, and in winter they eat snow. In avoiding 

 their enemies yak. seem to rely chiefly on their sense of smell, which is 

 very acute ; their hearing and sight being apparently less keen. 



Beyond Ladak, where they are more or less secure from persecu- 

 tion, yak are tar less wary. The large herds of cows and young bulls 

 wander over vast tracts of country, and in summer make their appearance 

 on grassy plains which are deserted in winter. The solitary hulls, on the 



Fig. II. — Group of domesticated Yak in the park at Woburn .Abbey. From a photograpli by tlie 

 Dtichcss of Bedford. 



Other hand, are saiil to remain in the same districts throughout the year. In 

 all parts ot their habitat their favourite teeding-grounds are the patches 

 ot grass bordering the streams. When alarmed, tlie older cows and bulls 

 take up their position on the front ami flanks of the hertl, but on the near 

 approach ot intruders the whole herd gallops ofl^". .\lthough naturally 

 timid and wary, an old l)ull when wounded will charge viciously, and there 

 are several accounts ot narrow escapes by sportsmen h^om their onset. 

 Little or nothing has been recorded regarding the breeding liabits of yak in 



