400 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



viduals of the latter sometimes join the wild herds and be- 

 come difficult to reclaim. In height I have never seen a wild 

 buffalo exceed sixteen hands ; but though thus less in stature 

 than the bison, the buffalo stands on much shorter legs, and 

 is altogether a heavier-built . animal, so that in bulk and 

 weight he must a good deal exceed the wild bull of the hills. 

 They never interfere with each other, the bison adhering to 

 hilly tracts, while the buffalo is essentially a lover of plains 

 and level plateaux, where the extensive swamps he delights 

 in can be found. The very different structure of their hoofs 

 would suffice of itself to indicate this, those of the buffalo 

 being broad and platter-like, to support him on soft ground, 

 while those of the bison, who has to pick his way among 

 rocks, are wonderfully small for his size, as neat and game- 

 like and little larger than those of the sd-mbar deer. The 

 buffalo is also much less intolerant of man and his works than 

 the bison, invading the rice cultivation, and often defying all 

 attempts to drive him from the neighbourhood of villages. 

 They are altogether very defiant of man, and, unlike the bison, 

 will generally permit a close approach without any conceal- 

 ment where they have not been much molested, trusting 

 apparently to th&r formidable aspect to secure the retreat of 

 the invader, which is usually successful. If the attack be 

 followed up, however, they almost always make off at last, 

 and are then not so easily got at again. The favourite re- 

 sorts of the buffalo are on the skirts of the lower sal forests, 

 where they run out into the open plain, and between them 

 and the rice cultivation of these regions, in the great open 

 swampy plains where long rank grass affords the sort of cover 

 they like. 



Our first introduction to the wild buffalo in this trip was 

 near the high road between RaTpiir and Sambalpiir, when B., 



