HAS A GAUR A DEW-LAP 1 } 



355 



matters, has also referred to the subject at some length, so I 

 need not go into details. I have shot altogether about twenty- 

 five of these animals, mostly old and solitary bulls, but have 

 never noticed a distinct dew-lap. That there is a heavy skin 

 appendage where the dew-lap ought to be goes without saying, 

 but it can hardly be given the name of dew-lap, which is a 

 loose fold of skin descending from the neck to within a short 

 distance of the ground. With regard to the dew-lap being loose 

 in the calf, I may say that there was absolutely no appearance of 

 one on the two animals captured by me, referred to in a previous 

 page of this chapter. 



One evening, a short time after sunset, I was strolling along 

 a ridge near the top of the Shwe-u-taung hill with my binocu- 

 lars, amusing myself by examining the surrounding country, 

 and watching the movements of a herd of sambur which were 

 browsing on a ridge about 300 yards off, when a large black 

 object, which I at once recognized to be a gaur, emerged from 

 a strip of wood and walked up the side of a ridge, grazing on 

 the tender young shoots of grass as it moved along. As it was 

 then late in the evening, and the animal was distant about 

 two and a half miles, Moung Hpe, who was standing beside 

 me, thought it advisable to leave the animal undisturbed till 

 next day, when we would have more time to come up with 

 him, as he was sure to be found in the neighbourhood. We 

 started next morning early, long before the sun rose, after a 

 cup of tea and some biscuits. Moung Hpe and another gun- 

 bearer accompanied me. After a steady tramp of about three 

 hours through fairly open tree and bamboo jungle, we came 

 upon the bull's fresh tracks. The animal had been wandering 

 about here and there, backwards and forwards, grazing on the 

 young shoots of grass, and had apparently taken up his abode 

 in the neighbourhood, as a number of his old tracks and drop- 

 pings were visible all over the place. The trail now showed 

 us that the gaur was not far off, so we were on the alert. It 

 was not long before the animal was heard labouring along up 

 the hillside straight towards us, evidently on his way back 

 over old ground again, his deep breathing being audible at 

 quite 100 yards off. I had in the meantime taken up my 

 stand behind the trunk of a tree, and loaded up with hardened 



