ovis. 493 



Habits. The wild buffalo keeps chiefly to level ground and is 

 generally found about swamps. It haunts the densest and highest 

 grass-jungle or reeds, but is also found at times in open plains of 

 short grass, or amongst low bushes, but very rarely in tree-forest. 

 Buffaloes associate in herds, often of large size. I have seen 50 

 together, and have heard of much larger assemblages. They feed 

 chiefly on grass, in the evening, at night, and in the morning 

 (probably morning and evening as a rule), 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 neighbourhood 

 of man, and they commit great havoc amongst 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 un- 

 frequently 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 demonstrations, never, I believe, attacks anyone who 

 does not run away from them. A wounded animal of either sex 

 often charges, and has occasionally been known to knock an elephant 

 down. Buffaloes retain their courage in captivity, and, as mentioned 

 already (ante, pp. 63, 67), a herd will attack a tiger or other 

 dangerous animal without hesitation, 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. 



Few, if any, tame animals have changed less in captivity than 

 buffaloes. Unlike the yak and gayal, they never breed with tame 

 cattle (B. indicus), although the cows often pair with wild bulls 

 of their own species. Tame buffaloes are chiefly kept for milk and 

 for draught. They have been introduced throughout many of the 

 warmer parts of the Old World, and even in Italy, whither they were 

 brought in the sixth century (Griffith's Cuvier, iv, p. 381). Both 

 wild and tame rut in autumn ; the females gestate for 10 months 

 (10 months and 10 days according to some), and bear one or two 

 young in summer. 



Genus OVIS, Linn. (1766). 



Syn. Ammotragus, Blyth (1840) ; Pseudois, Hodgson (1846) ; Ca- 



proris, Hodgson (1847). 



Tail short in all wild Asiatic forms. Suborbital gland and 

 lachrymal fossa usually present (wanting in 0. nahura). Inter- 

 digital glands present on all feet. Inguinal glands present. No 

 muffle. IS T o beard on chin, but frequently long hair on neck. 

 Mammse two. Males non- odorous. 



Skull broadest at the orbits, which are prominent, and narrowing 

 suddenly in front of them ; the frontal and occipital planes, the 



