196 IN THE EYE OF DAY 



bison to the passing Chillingham wild cattle of Eu- 

 rope, on to the buffalo of India and of Africa, and 

 the anoa of Celebes— smallest of buffaloes— the ox 

 family ranges wide and populous. And of this 

 very large family, certainly the Far Eastern mem- 

 bers are the most interesting. The gaur, gayal 

 and banting form a group showing common dis- 

 tinctive features of horns more or less flattened, 

 tail reaching only a little below the hock, and a dis- 

 tinct ridge running from shoulders to the middle 

 of the back, where it ends in a sharp drop. In 

 mature males, the color of the short, fine hair is 

 dark brown or blackish, but the young of both 

 sexes, and the female banting of all ages, are red- 

 dish brown. The gaur is distinguished by the high 

 arched frontal bone between the borns, which in 

 the gayal is straight and flat; the banting is the 

 smallest, its horns more rounded and the ridge on 

 its back less developed. Of the three, of all Orien- 

 tal wild cattle in fact, the gaur is the largest and 

 by far the most formidable; is in fact one of the 

 most formidable beasts of the earth which the hun- 

 ter can stalk, and one that will on occasion supply 

 all the excitement the most intrepid sportsman 

 might desire. They stand higher than any other 

 of the oxen family, and are of heavier bone, though 

 the shoulder blade is small for an animal of such 

 size— another disadvantage for the hunter. The 



