THE INDIAN BISON 



flat forests at low elevations. Speaking generally, 

 and with the reservation that Burmah has yielded 

 some very fine heads, the further south one goes 

 the finer bison heads become, though I have seen 

 some very poor specimens which had been shot in 

 the forests of South Canara, which also yields fine 

 trophies. 



Bison are impatient of disturbance by man, and 

 many places in the hills, in which they used to be 

 numerous, are now deserted by them owing to the 

 opening up of tea, cinchona, and coffee estates. 

 Bison are great travellers, and they wander over 

 immense areas. When the grass in one part 

 becomes too coarse to please them, they move to 

 another locality in which it is later in springing. 

 No hills appear too steep for them ; on the contrary, 

 they can gallop down so abrupt a declivity that 

 anyone unacquainted with the powers of this most 

 active animal would consider it negotiable by a 

 beast of such a size only with due caution and at 

 a slow pace. Comparatively recently, when in 

 the Travancore hills, I came suddenly upon two 

 bison while I was in the act of stalking an ibex, 

 and upon getting our wind, the animals, without 

 hesitation, crossed the steep ibex -hill, and gained 

 the forest (from whence they had doubtless strayed 

 in their search for tender grass) as if the formidable 

 obstacle were not worthy of consideration. They 

 could have reached the forest without much climb- 

 ing by making a short detour, but they preferred 

 the short cut precipitous though it was. 



Bison browse a good deal, and so vary their 



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