1070 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



had a good opportunity of watching them for several days at a distance of 

 about 80 yards as they emerged from the rhododendron and willow jungle 

 to drink the hot water. 



The first thing that strikes one on seeing the herd of animals is, the 

 great variety of colour, ranging from very dark grey to a golden yellow ; 

 the animals are all conspicuously lighter on the withers and have a darker 

 dorsal stripe. The very young ones are quite dark, the dorsal stripe being 

 inconspicuous ; the females are also dark having no trace of the yellow 

 which is seen on the males. Adult males are light yellow over the withers 

 and back and darker in other parts, while the very old and large males are 

 a darker yellow. 



The horns of the young grow straight up from the head with an outward 

 tendency ; later they grow outwards and upwards (see fig. 1); in the final 

 stage the horns grow forwards, bend downwards and outwards, with the 

 points growing up (see figs. 2 & 3). The horns are very deceptive as 

 regards length, and even at a short range with a telescope it is difficult to 

 pick a good head. The points of the horns of a young male which have 

 not yet curled may be higher above the occiput than those of an older 

 animal, a fact which makes it diflicult to distinguish a large pair of horns. 

 In shooting the animals I found it best to disregard the horns and to 

 shoot the animals of largest size. The old males are quite easy to 

 recognise being very much more bulky than the others and being darker in 

 colour than the younger males. 



In the figure which accompanies Mr. Pocock's paper in Vol. XIX of the 

 Journal the neck appears to be too long and not nearly thick enough. The 

 horns are longitudinally wrinkled and irregularly transversely ringed at 

 the base but old horns (see fig. 4) are much smoother and the points being- 

 worn down, they are also shorter. 



Takin are possessed of a very keen sense of smell but their alarm even 

 when fired at, quickly subsides and they returned to the hot spring a few 

 minutes after being driven away. Only on one occasion did I hear a 

 sound uttered by these animals ; this was a snort of alarm given by a 

 female who walked up to where I was standing and did not see me until 

 she was within six or eight feet ; on hearing this the herd galloped off. 

 On other occasions when alarmed, they were ofi^ w^ithout making any 

 sound . 



In the day time this herd remained in the dense rhododendron forest, 

 but at 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon they would come down to the hot 

 spring and stand in the water in a dense crowd sometimes pushing and 

 bustling each other in their eagerness to drink the water. It is probable 

 that they remained here all night, as before daylight they were still in 

 and near the spring and could be seen browsing on the willows trees near 

 the water. I was told that in winter no Takin are found at the hot 



