SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



27 



are interested in such creatures, would do well to 

 examine. 



It is not a long journey to the haunts of the 

 White Rocky-Mountain goat, for the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway cuts its home in twain as the line 

 passes through the Rockies. An easy transit of 

 ten or twelve days would, therefore, bring the 

 British sportsman, in search of this animal, to his 

 hunting grounds. As in other cases of this sort it 

 would of course be of no use to think of bringing 

 home the adults, but kids of the Rocky Mountain 

 goat would, no doubt, be readily procurable from 

 the native hunters and easily brought to this 

 country. It is curious that an animal apparently 

 so accessible should not yet have been captured 

 and brought to Europe. 



The remaining animal that I wish to suggest as 

 a desirable addition to the series of ruminants 

 exhibited in our Zoological Gardens is also a 

 member of the Rupicaprine series, and not very 

 remotely allied in osseous structure to the Rocky 

 Mountain goat, although very different in external 

 appearance. This is the Takin of the Mishmi 

 Hills, discovered by the well-known Indian 

 naturalist, Mr. Brian Hodgson, in 1848, and named in 

 scientific language Budovcas taxicolor. It is a stoutly 

 made beast, with thick limbs and a large head 

 provided with massive twisted horns in both sexes, 

 and generally of a reddish brown colour, with a 



Skull of Takin. 



black head. The unwary might mistake it for a 

 gnu or a small buffalo, but neither of these animals 

 is very nearly allied to it. The takin is found in 

 herds at high elevations in the Mishmi Hills of 

 Assam, and is probably 

 a denizen of the highest 

 parts of the wooded 

 ranges towards the 

 snow-line. In Moupin, 

 a district of Eastern 

 Tibet, where the Abbe 

 David made so many 

 remarkable zoological 

 discoveries, an allied and 

 nearly similar form is 

 also found, which it has 

 been proposed to regard 

 as a sub-sY>ec\es(Budorcas 

 taxicolor tihctana) on ac- 

 count of its lighter and 

 more yellowish colour. 

 Neither Moupin nor the 

 Mishmi Hills, I must 

 confess, are very con- 

 veniently situated fcr 

 the exportation of living 

 animals, but from Cal- 

 cutta to Assam, at least, 



Rocky Mountain Goat. 



