575 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— VITALITY OF INDIAN WOLF (C'ANIS PALLIPES). 



I shot a large male wolf as he was galloping past me and hit him in the 

 abdomen, a little in front of the off stifle joint and blew out his intestines. 

 On being hit the wolf stopped and snapped at and bit off aU his remaining 

 intestines except about 2 feet of the commencement which is attached to 

 the stomach. 



He then trotted off into a series of nullas for about 300 yards, but I 

 turned him towards a big sandy nulla which he tried to cross to get into a 

 patch of sugarcane. Some villagers turned him and he made several rushes 

 at them open-mouthed while they were doing so. He then trotted down the 

 nulla (my second shot missed him and the third shot cut the skin on the tod 

 of his head without in any way damaging the skull) got up on to some open 

 laud and again crossed the nulla, and when he reached the other side was 

 brought down by a villager striking him across the back with a lathi. In 

 all he travelled, after being hit, at least half a mile and probably would have 

 gone very much further. I weighed him on arrival in camp and found (after 

 losing all his intestines and a certain amount of blood) that he weighed 

 45 f lbs. 



As he was a large wolf his measurements may be of interest. Head and 

 body 34'5", tail 13", ear 4-5", hindfoot 8-35". 



The skin and skull (No. 3/1913) have been presented to the Mammal 

 Survey. 



Hazaribagh District, 27tli July 1914. O. A. SMITH, Major. 



No. II.— EFFECT OF CASTRATION ON BLACK BUCK. 



In a recent issue of the Journal I noticed an article on this subject which 

 entirely agrees with my observations when in Peshawar in 1910. I was at 

 the time attached to the Royal Warwichshire Regiment, who had a couple of 

 fine Bucks as their regimental pets. One was rather a savage tempered 

 brute and used to give considerable trouble on parade. When the question 

 of improving his temper by the medium of castration cropped up, there was 

 some demur on the subject, as the general opinion was that rather akin to 

 the case of Samson's locks would be that of the Buck's fine black coat 

 after the operation. However some ultra-flagrant act of violence towards 

 his keepers settled his fate, and it was hoped that his fighting days were 

 over. Now each year during the hot weather the bucks' coats used to 

 change to a didl-brown and the beautiful glossy black did not re-appear till 

 the cold weather. 



But on this occasion the gelt buck's coat changed to a very beautiful 

 fawn colour, and when winter came round it did not re-assume the fine 

 distinctive colour of the normal buck. The above facts can be corroborated 

 by any of the regiment who were in Peshawar at the time. 



C. R. PITMAN, 



27th Punjabis. 

 Tank, N. W. F. P., 11th September 1914. 



No. HI.— FURTHER NOTES ON WILD PIGS. 



On 1st October 1914, I shot a boar near Nathua Maran. Viewed from 

 behind it appeared to be absolutely destitute of hair either on the body or 



