TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



a dark copper colour, which in mature old bulls deepens 

 to black. 



The legs, from the knee downwards, are of a dirty white 

 colour, and also the forehead, which is covered with short, 

 curly hair, while inside the thigh and forearm, the hair is 

 bright chestnut. The head is square with a peculiar 

 formation of the frontal bone which projects above, 

 muzzle large and full, the eyes are blue and ears broad 

 and fan-shaped. Neck short, heavy, and immensely 

 powerful, ending in a chest broad, deep, and muscular. 



Above the back and immediately above the shoulders 

 rises a ridge, which ends abruptly halfway down the back 

 with a drop of nearly five inches in large bulls. The legs 

 are short and thick, and the hoofs small for so large an 

 animal and like those of a deer in shape. The tail is about 

 thirty inches long with a tuft of hair at its extremity. 



The horns of the old bulls are massive, rugged, and 

 indented at the base, and often worn out at the points. 

 The cows are lighter in make and colour than the bulls, 

 and their horns are more slender and upright with a more 

 inward curvature, while the frontal ridge is scarcely per- 

 ceptible. Finally, there is a peculiar smell about the whole 

 animal like that of fresh herbs or thyme. Cow bisons 

 calve in September, April, and May. Unlike the bulls, they 

 are of a reddish-brown colour. 



Bison seldom form herds of more than twenty or thirty 

 individuals. They feed on various grasses, bamboos, 

 leaves, etc. They are extremely shy, and, as I have said, 

 difficult to approach, their sense of smell being extra- 

 ordinarily acute. 



The solitary bison is invariably an old bull, turned out 

 of the herd by his more youthful rivals, and in conse- 

 quence is savage and morose, but always a fine specimen 

 of his race, and usually carries the best head. 



But to return to my narrative. I was shooting at 

 Ghoramba (Satpudas) once, when early in the day, we came 

 upon the tracks of two bull bison close to a pool of water, 

 where they had evidently been drinking during the night. 

 After two hours' tracking we came up with them, feeding 

 in some dense bamboo jungle. 



Stalking to within twenty yards of them, I was about to 

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