6550 Notice of the various 



I have remarked on the excessive shyness of the gaurs ; and it follows 

 that, when approached, they will retreat so long as they can ; but if 

 compelled to stand and defend themselves, they do so with a courage 

 and determination not to be surpassed. Their beef is unequalled for 

 flavour and tenderness [we have been told this likewise of the banteng] ; 

 but to the aborigines only it is illicit food, and not to all tribes of them, 

 nor are any of them allowed to kill the gaur in Hindu kingdoms. The 

 gaur stands from 6 to 6£ feet high at the shoulder, and is either of a 

 ruddy brown alias tan, or of a black colour, the forehead and limbs 

 below the mid-flexures being pale, and the forehead and knees [mode- 

 rately] tufted. Captain Tickell, a good observer, believes that there 

 are two species of Bibos in the Chota Nagpore territories alone ! 

 Doubtless close investigation will reveal many new species in the 

 Bovinae. 



Not any more in cis-Brahmaputran India, we suspect ; and we 

 regard the identification of the continental Tsoing with the insular 

 banteng as an important step gained. Strange indeed that such a 

 question, referring to animals of such magnitude and interest to the 

 sportsman, should not long ago have been settled, as all such questions 

 require to be, by actual comparison of specimens ; and still more 

 strange that educated sporting gentlemen should feel so little interest 

 in their decision, — that twenty years should have elapsed since Heifer, 

 for example, called attention to the different species of bovines that 

 inhabit the Tenasserim provinces, and that even yet they are not 

 determined — the gayal for instance — with absolute certainty, and the 

 banteng only now with a very near approach to certainty ! Let us 

 hope that these notices will awaken some attention to the subject. 



The third primary division of the bovine animals is the bubaline, or 

 that of the buffaloes, properly so called. We have treated of the bison- 

 tine, which comprises— -first, Ovibos, or the musk cattle of Arctic 

 regions; secondly, Bootherium, extinct; thirdly, Bison, the true shaggy 

 bison of the north temperate zone ; and fourthly, Poephagus, or the 

 yak of high Central Asia. Also of the taurine, in which we recognise 

 three principal types, — first, Bos or Taurus, exemplified by the 

 domestic cattle of Europe and Northern Asia ; secondly, Zebus, or the 

 humped cattle of the tropical regions of the anciently known continents; 

 and, thirdly, Gavceus, or the flat-homed group peculiar to tropical and 

 juxta- tropical Asia. We now arrive at the bubaline series, or that of 

 the true buffaloes. 



These animals are peculiar to the warmer regions of the eastern 

 hemisphere, and are at once recognised and distinguished from other 



