miscellajS'eous notes. 



247 



No. XI.— WEIGHT AND MEASUREMENTS OF A GORAL. 



My collector yesterday, when out after birds at an elevation of about 

 o 500' came across a Goral (Cemas goral) (which I take to be a young 

 male) which he secured. The measurements read as follows: — 



Total length (between legs) muzzle to root of the tail 



Tail without hair 



Tail, including hair 



Height at withers 

 Girth at shoulder 

 Ear from base at tip 

 Horn, right 

 Do. left 

 Weight 



LONGVIEW, T. E., 

 PuNKABARi P. O., Uh August 1911. 



41i" 



6" 



IQi" 



26i" 



28" 

 6" 



6" 



56 lbs. 



A. M. PRIMROSE. 



No. XII.— STRANGE MORTALITY AMONGST BLACK BUCK 

 {ANTILOPE CERVICAPRA). 



In Vol. XVIII, Part 2, pages 493-4, some notes appeared under the 

 heading "Do wild animals die a natural death. " In these notes attention 

 was drawn to the fact that, in spite of the numerous herds of buck abound- 

 ing in certain localities, sportsmen rarely, if ever, found a buck dead, which 

 appeared to have succumbed to natural causes, nor do they, I believe, meet 

 with natives who admit having found animals dead without being able to 

 assign a cause. The following facts may not be without interest. In 

 December last Colonel Farmer and I were out on some work on the Farm 

 at Hissar in the Punjab. On our way home one of our Camel Sowars no- 

 ticed a buck lying stretched out in an open place. On going to the spot we 

 found a very fine buck lying quite in the open and evidently not long- 

 dead. We examined the carcase carefully and so did the men but we 

 failed to find any wound or injury. There was a greenish watery dis- 

 charge from the mouth and nostrils. The animal was in splendid condi- 

 tion. We hoisted the buck on a camel, brought it in and made a post- 

 onortem. The lesions, we observed, were those of gastro-enteritis, as if the 

 result of some irritant poison. The Bir Chuprassis were warned to keep 

 a sharp look-out in case there was disease prevalent ; some two days after 

 a doe and fawn were found dead and brought in, we made post-mortems 

 on these animals and the appearances presented were exactly the same 

 as those seen in the buck. We did not hear of any other deaths, and 

 there were no cases of sickness or death among the stock grazing over the 

 country. It is strange that these animals should have presented similar 



