243 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE INDIAN BISON (GAV^IUS GAURUS). 



DISTRIBUTION IN INDIA — APPEARANCE — HEIGHT — SIZE OF HORNS — GREGARIOUS NATURE 

 — FOOD — CHARACTER — HABITAT — SUBJECT TO MURRAIN — INDIAN CATTLE DISEASES— 

 BISON-CALVES — SOUNDS MADE BY BISON — FLESH — THE BISON AND MITHUN OR GAYAL 

 OF BENGAL COMPARED — NEVER BROUGHT ALIVE TO ENGLAND — MY OPPORTUNITIES OF 

 OBSERVING BISON — PROBABLE AGE ATTAINED BY BISON — SOLITARY BULLS — THEIR 

 DISPOSITION — THEY CARRY THE BEST HEADS. 



THE Indian bison (Gavarns gaurus), or the Gaur, is undoubtedly the finest 

 species of the genus Bos in the world. It differs in appearance from 

 the American bison, commonly called Buffalo (Bison americanus), in being 

 larger, in having no shaggy hair on the neck and shoulders, and in other 

 essential particulars of form ; whilst it lives entirely in dense forests, espe- 

 cially those of hill-tracts, instead of on open prairies like the American bison. 



The bison is distributed throughout India and the countries immediately 

 to the east of the Bay of Bengal wherever the conditions necessary to its 

 existence — viz., heavy forests of large extent, and hilly country — are 

 found. It prefers high elevations, from 2000 to 5000 feet, but is found 

 also in the low country. I have shot bison within three miles of the coast 

 in Chittagong, at an elevation of under 100 feet. The bison is not found 

 in Ceylon, but is stated by Jerdon'"" to have existed there sixty years ago, 

 and to have become extinct. It would be interesting to know to what 

 cause this is to be attributed, if true, — as the wild elephant, the bison's 

 almost invariable contemporary, still flourishes in the island. 



The prevailing colour of the bison is a dark coffee-brown amongst the 

 cows, which deepens to black in mature and old bulls. The legs from the 

 knees downwards, as also the forehead, are of a dirty white colour, whilst 

 inside the thighs and fore-arms the hair is of a bright chestnut. The head is 



* The accuracy of this statement seems doubtful. 



