70 THE WHITE URUS. 



down, upon the ground. When hard pressed, they have 

 been known to run at their keepers in a butting, menacing 

 attitude, in order to force their retreat. The mode of 

 catching the calves is to steal upon them while sleep- 

 ing in their retreat, when they are a day or two old, arid 

 put a cloth over their mouths, to prevent them crying, 

 and then carry them off to a place of safety without the 

 reach of the herd, otherwise the cry of the calf would at- 

 tract the dam, and she, by loud bellowing, would bring the 

 whole flock to the spot, to attack the keeper in the most 

 furious manner. These cattle are seldom seen scattering 

 themselves indiscriminately over the pasture, like other 

 breeds of cattle, but are generally observed to feed in a 

 flock. They are very shy of being approached by stran- 

 gers-, and seem to have the power of smelling them at a 

 great distance. When any one approaches them unex- 

 pectedly, they generally run off a little distance to the lee- 

 ward, and then turn round in a body to smell him. In 

 these gambols they invariably affect circles ; and when 

 they do make an attack which is seldom the case should 

 they miss the object of their aim, they never return upon 

 it, but run straight forward, without ever venturing to look 

 back. The only method of slaughtering these animals is 

 by shooting them. When the keepers approach them for 

 this purpose, they seem perfectly aware of their danger, 

 and always gallop away with great speed in a dense mass, 

 preserving a profound silence, and generally keeping by 

 the sides of the fields and fences. The cows which have 

 young, in the mean time, forsake the flock, and repair to 

 the places where their calves are concealed, where, with 

 flaming eyeballs and palpitating hearts, they seem resolved 

 to maintain their ground at all hazards. The shooters 

 always take care to avoid these retreats. When the ob- 

 ject of pursuit is one of the older bulls of the flock, the 

 shooting of it is a very hazardous employment. Some of 

 these have been known to receive as many as eleven bul- 



