PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 75 



The horns of the old bulls do not harden into 

 a solid central mass, but separate, and, though 

 tapering at the tips, become worn and flattened in 

 front. Those of the younger bulls are jammed 

 close up against each other, and are soft at their 

 bases. When the horn growth is complete these 

 harden and become more widely separated. Size 

 of body is a just criterion to excellence of head. 

 In other words, a big bull will almost certainly 

 carry a big head ; though the difference between 

 a big head and a very big head is, in the case 

 of the takin, only a matter of a few inches. 

 The horns of the cows are considerably smaller 

 than those of the bulls. 



Of their senses I cannot speak authoritatively. 

 It is a mistake as well as an exposure of ignorance 

 to lay down the law concerning the care with 

 which any animal may be stalked on an acquaintance 

 extending over a few days. One may or may not 

 be lucky, the animal obliging or the reverse. I am 

 inclined to think that, apart from the weather, the 

 takin is not a very difficult animal to approach. 

 The country which he frequents in the summer, 

 though necessitating a good deal of hard climbing, 

 is otherwise easily stalked; the animal itself cer- 

 tainly not, from our experience, unduly on the 

 alert, and easily " picked up " with a glass. To 

 judge an animal's faculties fairly one must have 

 had him under observation when he knows that he 

 is an object of pursuit. The takins in China, as 

 we saw them, were so accustomed to the noise and 

 passage of woodcutters that I do not think they 

 were unduly alarmed at the proximity of man. 

 Those which we afterwards secured were in full 



