BOVID^. 



BOVID^E. 



Mr. Colebrooke's paper ('Asiatic Researches,' vol. viii.), to which we 

 refer the reader for further interesting particulars. 



The Gayal (Bibos frontalu). 



Mr. Bird proved that the Gayal will breed with the common Indian 

 bull. He brought a domesticated female Gayifl from Chittagong to 

 Dacca, directed a common bull (of the breed Deswiili, a Zebu of the 

 common kind found in the middle districts of Bengal), which the 

 female received upon being blinded with a cloth thrown over her eyea. 

 The offspring was a cow resembling mostly the Gayitl mother ; and 

 from that cow, impregnated by a bull of the same common breed, 

 another cow was produced, which also had grown up, and was in calf 

 by a common bull when Mr. Bird wrote his account (' Asiatic 

 Researches,' vol. viii.) . 



General Hardwicke gives a figure of the head of the true wild Gayal, 

 or as the natives term it, the Asseel Gaydl (a female), from the south- 

 east frontier of Bengal The space between the points of the horns 

 was 14 inch- ^. 



Head of true or Aiwel Gayril, female (Biliot frontalu]. South-oast frontier 

 of llrngal (from Ilanlwicke). 



The Gyall (Bat frontalw, Lambert) ia evidently not a distinct 

 ipeciea. 



Mr. Lambert observes that the hair of the hide is soft ; there is no 

 crest ; the lower lip is white at the apex, and bristled with hairs. 

 The band of the forehead, including the bases of the horns, is lead- 

 colour ; the horns themselves are pale. Length from the tip of the 

 nose to the end of the tail 9 feet 2 inches ; from the tip of the hoof 

 of the fore foot to the top of the rising of the back 4 feet 1 J inches ; 

 from the tip of the hoof of the hind leg to the highest part of the 

 rump 44 feet. 



Mr. Hnrria, in his letter to Mr. Lambert, after identifying his 

 animal with Mr. Lambert's drawing, writes thus : " The animal 

 . . . which I have kept and reared these last seven years, and 

 know by the name of the Gyall, is a native of the hills to the north- 

 east and cast of the Company's province of Chittagong, in Bengal, 

 inhabiting that range of hills which separates it from the country of 

 Aracan. The male Gyall is like our bull in shape and appearance, 

 but I conceive not quite so tall ; is of a blackish-brown colour ; the 

 horns short, but thick and strong towards the base, round which and 

 across the frons the hair is bushy and of a dirty-white colour; the 

 chest and forehead are. broad and thick. He is naturally very bold, 

 and will defend himself against any of the beasts of prey. The female 

 differs little in appearance; her horns are not quite so large, and her 



SAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. L 



make is somewhat more slender ; she is very quiet, is used for all the 

 purposes of the dairy, as also (I have been informed by the natives) 

 for tilling the ground, and is more tractable than the buffalo. The 

 milk which these cows give has a peculiar richness in it, arising, I 

 should conceive, from their mode of feeding, which is always 011 the 

 young shoots and branches of trees in preference to grass. I con- 

 stantly made it a practice to allow them to range abroad amongst the 

 hills and jungles at Chittagong during the day to browse, a keeper 

 attending to prevent their straying so far as to endanger losing them. 

 They do not thrive in any part of Bengal so well as in the afore- 

 mentioned province and in the adjoining one, Tipperah, where I 

 believe the animal is also to be found. I have heard of one instance 

 of a female Gyall breeding with a common bull." 



Head of Gyall (DosfrontaHs). ' Linn. Trans." 



The Jungly-Gau, Bcouf des Jongles of M. Duvaucel, Bos SyHietanvs 

 of F. Cuvier, is not a distinct species. Dr. Gray says that Duvaucel's 

 drawing was taken from a hybrid specimen bred between a domestic 

 Gyall and a Zebu. It was never alive in Paris, nor seen alive by 

 M. Duvaucel. 



Jungly-Gau (Bos Sylhetanus], male. 



B. Gaurut, the Gour or Gaur. Hind hoof only half the size of the 

 front hoof. Colour brown ; legs white. This is the Bu (Jour, Traill ; 

 Bo Gauru, Col. Smith ; Bos aculeatut, Cuvier. 



Dr. Traill remarks that the only animal which appears to have 

 affinity with the Gour is the Boi Garceia of Colebrooke, but the very 

 different form of its head, the presence of a distinct dewlap, and the 

 general habit of the Gaijal or Gaydl, distingish it from the Gour. 

 Captain Rogers assured Dr. Traill that neither the descriptions in 

 Mr. Colebrooke's communication nor the figure of the Gaydl that 

 accompanies them had any greater resemblance to the Gour than 

 that general one which subsists between all the animals of this genus. 



The size of the animal u considerable. Dr. Traill gives the dimen- 

 sions of one not fully grown, which measured from tip of nose to end 

 of tail 11 feet 11J inches ; from the hoof to the withers 5 feet 

 1 1 J inches ; and from the withers to the sternum 3 feet 6 inches. 

 " The limbs have more of the form of the deer than any other of the 

 bovine genus." 



The Uour, according to Captain Rogers, occurs in several mountain- 

 ous parts of Central India, but ia chiefly found in Myu Pat or Mine 

 Paut, a high insulated mountain with a tabular summit, in the 

 province of Sergojah, in South Bahar. " This table-land is about 

 36 miles in length by 24 or 25 miles in medial breadth, and rises 

 above the neighbouring plains probably 2000 feet. The sides of the 

 mountain slope with considerable steepness, and are furrowed by 

 streams that water narrow valleys, the verdant banks of which are 

 the favourite haunts of Gours. On being disturbed they retreat into 

 the thick jungles of saul-trees which cover the sides of the whole 



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