78 CATALOGUE. 



reason of the wool insinuating itself between the interstices of the 

 hair, and ascending with it for two- thirds of its length. The hair 

 generally has a four-fold annulation of colour, from the base thus, 

 whitish, black, deep rusty, black ; the first ring being very small, the 

 second and third, large and equal, the fourth, small. The visible effect 

 of this distribution and proportion of the colours, aided by the reddish 

 blue of the wool, is, that the animal appears to be of a full ferruginous 

 red, the two basal rings being invisible, and the terminal one scarcely 

 noticeable from its smallness, not to mention that exists only on the 

 dorsal surface, and not on the sides, nor of course below, where the 

 colour of the animal is yellowish, and no rings are found. The tail 

 towards its base is ringed with pale rusty and blackish ; towards its tip 

 the hairs are almost or wholly blackish. 



" Of all the wild animals that I know of similar size and habits, the 

 Buansu, which is large, gregarious, and noisy in his huntings, is the 

 most difficult to be met with. He tenants solely the deepest and most 

 solitary forests of this woody and little-peopled region. The woods 

 which cover the mountains environing the valley of Nepal Proper, 

 afford shelter to numbers of jackals as of other wild animals, but the 

 Buansu never was known to enter them, or to approach so near to a 

 populous district. This prototype of the most familiar of all quadrupeds 

 with man is, in the perfectly wild state, the most shy of his society. I 

 never beheld the Buansu myself in the state of freedom, and therefore 

 what I am about to say of his manners in that state must rest upon the 

 authority of others highly respectable natives, who spoke to what they 

 personally knew. 



" The wild dog preys by night and by day, but chiefly by day. Six, 

 eight, or ten unite to hunt down their victim, maintaining the chase by 

 their powers of smell rather than by the eye. They usually overcome 

 their quarry by dint of force and perseverance, though they sometimes 

 effect their object by mixing stratagem with direct violence. Their 

 urine is peculiarly acrid ; and they are said to sprinkle it over the low 

 bushes amongst which their destined victim will probably move, and 

 then in secret to watch the result. If the stratagem succeed, they 

 rush out upon the devoted animal, whilst half- blinded by the urine, and 

 destroy it before it has recovered that clearness of vision which could 

 best have enabled it to flee or defend itself. This trick the Buansu 

 usually play off upon the animals whose speed or strength might other- 

 wise fail them, such as the buffalo, wild and tame, and certain large 

 deer and antelopes. Other animals they fairly hunt down, or furiously 

 assail and kill by mere violence. In hunting they bark like hounds, 



