Species of Bovine Animals. 



6521 



besides another small [?] species of cow, called by the Burmese F'hain, 

 of which I saw foot-prints, but never the living animal ; it remains, 

 therefore, undecided to what species it should be referred." 



From what we know of the habits of the three animals, it is pro- 

 bable that the gayal keeps exclusively to the hills, the gaour chiefly 

 to the low or comparatively level country, while the banteng inhabits 

 all elevations, being, if possible, even the very shyest of the three. All 

 accounts seem to agree in this respect. Many years ago, the well 

 known and highly accomplished naturalist, Col. C. Hamilton Smith, 

 addressed the writer on the subject of <c a wild ox, inhabiting to the 

 eastward of the Brahmaputra river, and very different from the gaour 

 and gayal. It is simply described," wrote Col. Smith, " as a fine- 

 limbed and deer-like animal, of large size, and of a bright bay colour, 

 exceedingly like a Devonshire ox, very active, fleet, shy, and watchful; 

 living in small herds in the wooded valleys, with watchers on the look 

 out, who utter a shrill warning sound on the least alarm, when the 

 whole dash through the jungle with irresistible impetuosity." These 

 are just the habits of the wild banteng, and pretty much those of its 

 immediate congeners. Another writer, alluding to the Burmese "wild 

 cow, or Sine bar," remarks that " herds of thirty or forty frequent the 

 open forest glades" of the Tenasserim provinces ; and our deceased 

 friend, Capt. Gason (formerly of H. M. 32nd Regiment), observed 

 them and killed a bull at a place called Nathongzoo, about 250 miles 

 eastward of Maulmain. They were " excessively timid, and are gene- 

 rally seen feeding in the valleys, often about a large tank. It is a very 

 game-looking animal," remarked Capt. Gason, " with a heavy body, 

 but fine limbs ; and stands about 15 J hands high." In no account 

 have we met with any notice of the browsing propensities so con- 

 spicuous in the gayal, and infer therefore that it is more of a grazer 

 like the gaour. What its voice may be like we are unaware. Not 

 improbably the wild and domestic cattle of Siam noticed by Crawfurd 

 (vide p. 88 ante) are of this species ; in which case it would be re- 

 markable that, as he states, the tame should often be hornless — 

 scarcely more so, however, than polled or hornless buffalos which 

 sometimes occur. He states that they are never of the white or pied 

 colour, so prevalent amongst the cattle of Hindustan ; but of what 

 colour are they ? The invariable white patch on the buttocks of the 

 banteng would go far towards enabling us to recognise that species. 



XVII. 



