88 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



THE GAUR (miscalled Bison) 



This animal, one of the noblest game-beasts in the world, 

 has probably a more extended range than any other beast 

 which is an object of chase ; yet until very lately very little 

 was known about it, and the accounts hitherto published of it 

 have referred to the animal found in Mysore, the hilly ranges 

 of Southern and Western India. It is plentiful in Travancore; 

 a few were to be found in the hills not far from Vellore ; in 

 Central India, near Warungul and the Nirmal jungles in the 

 Nizam's country ; very many exist in the hilly regions of the 

 Northern Circars of the Madras Presidency, at the foot of the 

 Bhootan Hills in Assam, in the hills along our North-Eastern 

 Frontier, and downwards through Burma to Malaya. In 

 this extended range there is but one species, but two well- 

 marked varieties. Mr. Blyth, probably one of the best 

 naturalists that ever lived, thought for a long time that the 

 Gayal (Bos sondaicus] took the place of the gaur in Burma, 

 but he quite altered his views. I sent him some heads, and 

 when he visited the Province he procured others, and came to 

 the conclusion that not only did the gaur exist, but that it 

 was a far larger and finer beast than those in India. 



I have shot a great many of them in various parts of 

 Southern India, and in Lower Burma and Assam, but nowhere 

 did I see such splendid specimens as in Burma. I have seen 

 very fine heads brought down from the Mishmee Hills, and 

 their owners must have been noble bulls indeed. I have no 

 doubt that the abundance of food procurable in the vast 

 forests and hilly ranges of Burma has contributed to increase 

 their height and general bulk. Whereas in Southern India 

 the largest bull is recorded as 19 hands and 2 inches, cows 

 have been shot in Burma 19 hands. My colleague has shot 

 them in Upper Burma up to 20 hands, and I shot one near 

 Banlong only \ inch short of 21 hands, or 7 feet. It is diffi- 

 cult, of course, to measure such a beast accurately, but I 

 always took the greatest care to make the measurements as 

 correct as possible. I used to stick a straight bamboo in the 

 ground at the top of the ridge over the shoulder, stretch the 



