CHAPTER VII 



BOS SONDAICUS : THE BANTING OR BURMESE TSINE ; THE 

 TRUE WILD CATTLE 



BLANDFORD describes this animal as follows : "This animal 

 appears to be slighter than the gaur, with the legs longer in 

 proportion and the dorsal ridge less developed. The tail 

 descends below the hocks. The dew-lap is of moderate size. 

 The head is much more elongate, the forehead not concave^ 

 the horns smaller, cylindrical in the young, flattened towards 

 the base in adults, and curving outwards and upwards at first, 

 and towards the tips somewhat backwards and inwards." 



Colour. Cows and young bulls have the head, body, and 

 upper portions of the limbs, bright reddish-brown, approaching 

 chestnut ; old bulls are black ; in both sexes the legs from 

 above the knees and hocks ; a large oval area on the buttocks, 

 extending to the base of the tail but not including it, a stripe 

 on the inside of each limb ; the tips and the inside of the ears 

 are white ; calves have the outside of the limbs chestnut 

 throughout and a dark line down the back. 



Dimensions. According to S. Muller, a full-grown Javan 

 bull measured 5 feet 9^ inches at the shoulder ; the length 

 of the head and body was 8 feet 6 inches, and that of the 

 tail 3 feet. The largest Burmese specimen recorded was 16 

 hands high (5 feet 4 inches). A skull from Java, in the Indian 

 Museum, Calcutta, has horns measuring 30 inches in length 

 by 17 inches in circumference at the base. This is unusually 

 large. A male skull from Borneo, in the British Museum, 

 measures 1775 inches in basal length by 875 in zygomatic 

 breadth. The following are the measurements of three 

 magnificent heads which belong respectively to Mr. H. W. 



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