THE GAUR 67 



straight into the tracker's arms, who promptly 

 cut it down with a ' dah ' before he could intervene. 

 This calf was newly born ; certainly not more 

 than a fortnight old. The incident above 

 related of the bison consorting with a herd 

 of mithun occurred early in May, and during 

 May, June and July the writer has frequently 

 found tracks of a bull closely pursuing the cows 

 of a herd. So that, if anything, the breeding 

 season would appear to be during those months, 

 rather than in the cold weather. I once shot 

 a bull tsaing in November, in a herd which had 

 several young calves with it, whose age could 

 not have exceeded two months at the most. 

 I do not remember ever to have seen quite 

 young calves either of bison or tsaing during 

 the latter part of the rains. During the cold 

 weather bison or tsaing are rarely met with, 

 owing to the height of the undergrowth and 

 the hard state of the ground, which prevents 

 tracking, so that, unfortunately, there is little 

 data obtainable during the months of December, 

 January, February and March. I once, however, 

 met a couple of bison cows in the middle of 

 December face to face as I topped a ridge. 

 These animals were quite alone, which I think 

 would hardly have been the case in the breed- 

 ing season. This was in independent territory 

 miles from anywhere, so there was no question 

 of their having been disturbed. 



