MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 245 



up with his horns, after which, with loud snorts he came round to one side, 

 and as it sesmed to me he would soon descend to the same level as 

 ourselves, and have us at his mercy. I stepped out and faced him at 6 

 paces, and as he was not quick enough in making up his mind to go, I fired 

 both barrels into his dewlap, and to my relief he turned and bolted with 

 the whole herd. We found no blood at all, and I do not know where my 

 bullets could have lodged. I have no doubt these bison imagined they 

 were being watched by a leopard or a tiger, and not by human beings. 



Bison ascended to the highest plateaux, 8,000 ft. above the sea and over 

 on these hills, and live on them if undisturbed for prolonged periods. In 

 spite of their shyness and apparent timidity I am quite sure they are 

 capable of being domesticated at any rate to the same extent as the 

 ' Gayal ' of Northern India. Some individuals are, no doubt, more docile 

 than others, as is the case with every cow and every bandy bullock. I 

 have kaovn bisoa to feed and drink at all times of the day and night. 



About their calls, they make several sounds; along drawn out 'Moo' 

 rather like the English short horn, or a low ' Moo ' seemingly enquiring as 

 to the proximity of its neighbours, a rough snort when dashing oS in alarm 

 and several repeated short snorts when challenging, say, a carnivorous or 

 supposed carnivorous enemy. 



I have known wounded bison to charge, and in one case a Muduvar 

 nearly stepped on a bull in the Vuttavadi Valley in long grass, and was 

 gored in the stomach — marvellous to relate he recovered from the horrible 

 wound. 



I do not credit tales of quite unprovoked assault on the part of the 

 Bison in spite of the above case, where, no doubt, the poor brute was quite 

 as alannei as his victim ; it was the result of sudden fright, and not malice 

 of which I believe this great and noble animal to be incapable." 



No. IX.— THE DOMESTIC BREEDS OF INDIAN SHEEP. 



Prof. Cossar Ewart, F.R.S., of Edinburgh and myself are engaged in an 

 investigation as to the origin of some of the domestic breeds of sheep, a 

 subject which has been greatly neglected by modern Zoologists, who 

 mostly ignore the domestic races. I should be very much obliged if any 

 members of the Society could supply us with (1) good photographs taken 

 from living animals of the pure races of Indian sheep, (2) skulls with horns 

 as large as possible of typical adult rams, (3) a sample of the skin showing 

 the wool or hair when fully grown. As there has, no doubt, been a great 

 deal of inter-breeding some local knowledge is necessary in selecting the 

 specimens. So far as I know at present there are in India the following 

 distinct species: — (i) the Hunia breed of Nepal with its unicorn variety, 

 which I believe has been segregated and breeds a proportion at least of 



