74 THE TAKIN 



elm, grass and a strong-smelling herb with a yellow 

 flower of which they are very fond, called, 1 believe, 

 senecio. When they descend, as they sometimes 

 do if alarmed, into the bamboos they are very 

 difficult to approach. Their pursuit under such 

 conditions becomes very arduous in hot weather. 



In the Avinter they separate into small bands, but 

 in summer collect and have been seen in herds of 

 over a hundred. Indeed, I^ou-loo said that on one 

 occasion he was in hiding, when a herd passed him 

 numbering at least a thousand, but one must al- 

 ways make a big allowance for native exaggeration. 

 When suspicious they give each other warning by 

 a kind of hoarse cough, and during the rut utter 

 a low bellow. The natives, as I have already 

 mentioned, credit them with great ferocity. In 

 the winter they are to be found among the dwarf 

 bamboos which cover the hills at an altitude of 

 seven or eight thousand feet. In summer they 

 retreat farther into the recesses of the mountains 

 and spend their time on the rock-scattered slopes 

 and battlemented crags which tower above the 

 rhododendron groves and thickets of the Tsinling 

 range. On being alarmed, unless badly frightened, 

 they do not go very far, but stop at a little distance 

 and start feeding again. The old bulls are very 

 cunning and always the hardest to approach when 

 alone. They will lie with outstretched necks in 

 the densest thickets and refuse to move until the 

 hunter is almost on them. 



They are local in their habits, and will not 

 wander far unless much disturbed. We saw two 

 bulls on the same hill-side, almost on the same spot, 

 day after day. 



