6442 



Quadrupeds — Birds. 



hammer of a paw : there was, in fact, no sport at all about his method of procedure ; 

 he went most systematically to work, and the business was done in no time. In a 

 civilized country he will of course have to forego the pleasure of such feats; but we 

 doubt not that he will become an object of great admiration for his size and beauty. 

 By the same vessel is likewise forwarded for sale in England a fine, healthy yearling 

 bull-calf of that very rare animal to obtain alive, the gigantic gaour (Bos gaurus), 

 which sportsmen in India persist in miscalling the bison : it is the largest of existing 

 bovine animals, the finest bulls even exceeding 20£ hands high, measuring from the 

 summit of the singularly elevated dorsal ridge (vide ' India Sporting Review,' new 

 series, vol. iii. p. 329, and vol. v. p. 210). This indeed is oue of the most remarkable 

 features of the species, the spines of some of the dorsal vertebrae measuring 16 inches 

 in length. Another characteristic of the adult animal consists in its very broad con- 

 cave forehead, surmounted by a high transverse arched bony ridge between the horns; 

 the skull is extraordinarily massive : we have seen one which, with the horns attached 

 but minus the lower jaw, weighed exactly thirty pounds. The peculiar form of the 

 head is scarcely even indicated in the yearling calf, and the animal is a very slow 

 grower ; we have heard of one which lived for three years in the possession of an officer 

 in the Madras Presidency, and was still to all appearance a mere calf. This is doubt- 

 less the first gaour (Bos gaurus) ever shipped for Europe, and the species must not be 

 confounded either with the gayal (B. frontalis) or with the bauteng (B. soudaieus). 

 Though only generally known as a wild animal, we have been assured that the gaour, 

 in addition to the gayal, is domesticated in the interior of the Tippera hills. The 

 calf at present on board the " Nile " retains not a vestige of wildness, but is as 



quiet and tractable as any ordinary domestic animal. — Calcutta, 



December 8, 1858. 



Occurrence of a Piebald Specimen of Mus rattus near Carlisle. — A beautiful pie- 

 bald specimen of this small animal was caught at Coathill on the 6th of January, 

 1859. On one side of the animal is a large clear white patch, on the other several 

 smaller ones; the head, neck and breast is of a lightish brown, intermixed with 

 numerous jet-black hairs ; the hinder part is of a similar colour. — Thomas Armstrong ; 

 12, Barwise Court, English Street, Carlisle. 



Showers of Feathers. — In reading a most interesting article by Captain Blakiston, 

 in the 'Zoologist,' I was attracted by the following passage (Zool. 6324):— " While we 

 were in that land of water-fowl below Cumberland, I witnessed a shower of feathers : 

 as we sailed up a reach of the river with a fresh breeze, without the knowledge of a 

 human being within many miles of us, it appeared to be snowing ; this was nothing 

 more than small feathers, and we supposed that at some Indian camp in the swamps 

 to windward the operation of goose-plucking must be going on ; these feathers had 

 likely travelled many miles, and would continue while the breeze lasted." Now 

 Herodotus, in speaking of the northern Scythian tribes says, " But as to the upper 

 country, which lies to the north of the extreme inhabitants of the land, they say that it 

 can neither be passed through nor discerned by the eye, on account of the showers of 

 feathers (ttte^uv kexv^evcov) ; for the earth and the air are so full of these that they 

 effectually shut out the view."— (Book IV. chap. 7.) To this Mr. Blakesley appends 

 the following note:— "This is a misrepresentation of the falling flakes of snow, which, 

 in the old German mythology, was represented as feathers tumbling from the bed of 



