210 



The Living Animals of the World 



raised tlie value of average Irish store cattle £2 per head during the last twenty years. The 

 shorthorns are level-backed, large animals, maturing very quickly. The commonest colours 

 are roan, white, red, and red-and-white. Hereford Cattle are red, with white faces and long, 

 ujrturned horns; they fatten quickly on good grass, and are in most demand for summer 

 beef. Highland Cattle have long horns, rough, shaggy coats, and bodies of moderate size 

 and great symmetry; they are grazed on the mountains of the West Highlands mainly, and 

 fattened in the south. The beef is of the finest quality. SusSE.x Cattle are an "all red" 

 variety, large, and formerly much used for drauglit and farm work. The Devoxs are another 

 red variety, very like the Sussex, yielding excellent and rich milk, and, when fattened, being 

 little inferior to any breed as beef. The long-horned black Welspi Cattle gi-ow to a great 

 size, as do the polled Angus breed of Scotland. The polled or hornless cattle include the 

 red Suffolks, a most valualile breed, hardy, and wonderful jiroducers of milk. The cows 

 often give milk every day of the year. The LoKGHORN breed is almost disappearing, as the 



horns are a disadvan- 

 tage both in the fields 

 and when the animals 

 are carried on lioard 

 ship or in the train. 

 The Humped Cattle of 

 India and East Africa 

 belong to a race 

 different from European 

 cattle, of which the 

 parent stock is not 

 known. They have a 

 hump upon the withers, 

 drooping ears (a sign 

 of ancient domestica- 

 tion), and a very large 

 dewlap. The coat is 

 alwaj's exquisitely fine. 

 They are of all sizes, 

 from the tall Brahminee 

 bull to dwarf breeds 

 not larger than a New- 

 foundland dog. The 

 commonest colours are cream, gi-ey, mouse-colour, and white. They do not low, but grunt, 

 and are by no means so fond of shade and water as European cattle. 



WILD OXEN. 

 This group consists of the Gaur of India; the Gayal of Assam, which is possilily a 

 domesticated form of the gaur, but ratlier smaller in size, with skuU and horns different in 

 character; and the Bantiku, a lighter and more slender wild ox, of which different varieties 

 are found m Burma, in Java (where it is kept in a half-domesticated condition), and in 

 IManipur. 



The Gaur. 

 Tlie Gaur, the so-called Indian Bison, is probably the largest of all the wild bovine 

 animals. It is found at the foot of the North-eastern Himalaya, in the Central Provinces 

 of India, tlie forests of Madras and Mysore, and in parts of Burma and the ]\Ialav Peninsula 

 but not m Ceylon. Its range eastward is not accurately knowii. In habits the gaur is 

 mamly a forest animal, retiring always at daybreak into the depths of the junc^le It 

 sometimes attains a height of over 6 feet at the shoulder, and a length of 9 feet 6 inches 



Fhotuh!/(J. W Wilson <t Co., Ltd. 1 



YOUNG GAUK. 

 The largest and handsomest of the wild oxen. 



[AlKrd,, 



