502 



BOVINE. 



or Gauri-gai, generally through India; popularly Jangli Tchiilgd, i.e. 

 Jungle buffalo. — Bod, at Seonee. — Ban parrd, at Mundlah. — Gaoiya, 

 Mahr. — Kar-kona, Can. — Vana-go, quasi Ban-gan, Beng. — Perd-mdoo, 

 of Gonds in the South. — Katu-yeni, Tarn. — Bison of sportsmen in 

 Madras.* 



The Gaur. 



Descr. — Horns pale greenish with black tips, curving outwards, upwards, 

 and slightly backwards, and finally inwards. General colour dai'k chestnut- 

 brown or coffee-brown ; legs from the knee downwards white. 



Length 9^ to 10 feet ; height at shoulder 6 feet; tail 34 inches. 



This magnificent animal was described by Dr. Traill, in the Ed. Philos. 

 Journal, by General Hardwicke in the Zoological Journal, and by Geoftroy 

 St. Hilaire, in the Mem. Museum d'Hist. Nat,, all, it appears, from the 

 same animal, one killed in Central India; but Hodgson was the first who 

 fully defined its peculiarities ; and the following detailed account is chiefly 

 taken from the published observations of Hodgson and Elliot. 



The skull is massive, the frontals large, deeply concave, surmounted by 

 a large semi-cylindric crest rising above the base of the horns. There are 

 1 3 pairs of ribs. The head is square, proportionally shorter than in the Ox, 

 the bony frontal ridge is 5 inches above .the frontal plane. The muzzle is 

 large and full, and the eyes small, with a full pupil of a pale blue colour. 

 The whole of the head in front of the eyes is covered with a coat of close 

 short hair of a light grayish-brown colour, which below the eyes is darker, 

 approaching almost to black. The muzzle is grayish, and the hair is 

 thick and short. The ears are broad and fan-shaped. The neck is sunk 

 between the head and the back, is short, thick, and heavy. Behind the 

 neck, and immediately above the shoulder, rises a fleshy gibbosity or hump, 

 of the same height as the dorsal ridge. This ridge rises gradually as it 

 goes backwards, and terminates suddenly about the middle of the back. 

 The chest is broad, the shoulder deep and muscular, the fore-legs short, 

 with the joints very short and strong, and the arm exceedingly large and 

 muscular. The hair on the neck and breast, and beneath, is longer than on 

 the body, and the skin of the throat is somewhat loose, giving the appear- 

 ance of a slight dewlap. The fore-legs have a rufous tint behind and late- 



* Colonel W.Campbell states that Madras sportsmen call this animal a wild bull, 

 and not a bison, for which he rebukes them. Now, I have always heard it called 

 the bison, bat in reality the name wild bull would be much more correctly applied 

 to it. 



