DANGER IN STALKING THEM. 237 



be forgotten. The rush of a wounded bison through the 

 jungle as he crushes down the saplings and the bamboos is 

 quite appalling, and the crafty manner in which he will wait 

 for you, when following his bleeding tracks, hidden in 

 some high grass, is enough to make the most daring proceed 

 with the greatest caution, for a toss from an enraged 

 wounded bull is pretty certain to bring you to the utmost 

 grief. The solitary bulls are the easiest to approach, but 

 they are also the most dangerous. It is strange how easily 

 they can hide themselves in the jungle ; I have been within 

 twenty paces of a big bison, hearing him snuffle, seeing 

 the grass move, and yet he remained quite invisible. If 

 a herd, particularly when feeding happen to get your wind, 

 they make themselves scarce in no time, and will disappear 

 as if by magic. 



The GAUR, Gavceus gaums, Jerdon. Bos gaums of 

 other authors ; is known to all sportsmen of Southern India as 

 the Bison ; why Col. W. Campbell should state that Madras 

 sportsmen call this animal a wild bull, except that the male is 

 a bull and is wild, is incomprehensible. It is certainly the 

 largest of all existing bovine animals. The males average 

 from five feet eight to five feet ten in height, and the cows 

 from five feet to five feet three, but at times monsters of both 

 sexes are met with. I have killed bulls measuring six feet at 

 the shoulder, and I once killed a cow bison measuring five 

 feet eight inches. An old bull bison is a magnificent animal, 

 the normal colour is a brownish black, sometimes in very old 

 specimens almost quite black, and then the white stockings 

 from the hoof to above the knee are very conspicuous. The 

 horns of the bulls are grand trophies, the average may be 

 from twenty to twenty four inches round the outside curve but 



