THE INDIAN BUFFALO 795 



shooting (or indeed advancing at all) on foot is out of the question, and the only 

 method of procedure is by beating with a line of elephants. 



In their wild state these buffaloes are always found in herds, which may com- 

 prise fifty or more individuals. Mr. Blanford states that "they feed chiefly on 

 grass, in the evening, at night, and in the morning; and lie down, generally in high 

 grass, not unfrequently in a marsh, during the day; they are by no means shy, nor 

 do they appear to shun the neighborhood of man, and they commit great havoc 

 among growing crops. Sometimes a herd or a solitary bull will take possession of a 

 field and keep off the men who own it. In fact, buffaloes are by far the boldest and 

 most savage of the Indian Bovidce, and a bull not unfrequently attacks without 

 provocation, though (probably on the principle that a council of war never fights) 

 a herd, although all will gallop to within a short distance of an intruder and make 

 most formidable demonstations, never, I believe, attacks any one who does not run 

 away from them. A wounded animal of either sex often charges, and has occasion- 

 ally been known to knock an elephant down. Buffaloes retain their courage in 

 captivity, and a herd will attack a tiger or other dangerous animal without hesita- 

 tion, and although gentle with those they know and greatly attached to them, they 

 are inclined to be hostile to strange men and strange animals. Whether wild or 

 tame they delight in water, and often during the heat of the day lie down in shallow 

 places with only parts of their heads above the surface. ' ' The same author re- 

 marks that few animals have changed less in captivity than tame buffaloes, which 

 never interbreed with the humped Indian cattle. The calves are born in summer, 

 and there are not unfrequently two at a birth. In walking the Indian buffalo 

 always carries its head low down. 



Remains of the Indian buffalo occur fossil in the gravels of the 

 _ ff Narbarda valley, and likewise in parts of the Punjab. The broad- 



horned buffalo (B. platyceros) of the Siwalik hills of Northern India, 

 was, however, a perfectly distinct extinct species, characterized by the broad trian- 

 gular horns being placed closer together on the forehead, and directed rather forward 

 than backward, so that the forehead is nearly flat; they are also placed more below 

 the plane of the occiput. Other extinct Siwalik buffaloes (B. occipitalis and B. acuti- 

 fornis} were of smaller size, and their skulls like those of the tamarao and anoa; 

 the horns rising upward in the plane of the face, with but slight divergence or 

 curvature, and their cross section either triangular or pear shaped. 



The tarmarao of the Philippines (B. mindorcnsis} is a sturdily-built 

 dwarf buffalo, connecting the preceding with the following species. It 

 stand about three and one-half feet in height, and has coarse thick blackish-brown 

 hair. The horns, although massive, are comparatively short and rise upward in the 

 plane of the face with a lyre-shaped curvature; they are distinctly triangular, with 

 the largest face in front, and are somewhat roughened. In its massive horns, thick 

 legs, and uniform coloration, this species comes nearer to the Indian buffalo than to 

 the anoa. 



The anoa of Celebes (B. depressicornis) is the smallest and most 



slenderly built of the oxen, and, although allied to the buffaloes, comes 



nearest in structure to the antelopes. In size it is inferior to a Highland cow, its 



