20 2 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
in northern India by the Maharaja of Cooch-Behar,^ 
while Mr. T. R. Hubback ^ has described seladang- 
hunting in the Malay Peninsula. As the first two of 
these accounts have been quoted over and over again, 
while the works in which they occur are easily ac- 
cessible to the reader, a very brief reference to the 
habits of the species will suffice on the present 
occasion. 
Hilly districts, such as those of Pachmari, are the 
favourite resorts of gaur, which scale sharp ascents 
in a manner scarcely to be expected of animals of 
their size and bulk. Forest — bamboo or otherwise — 
is, however, essential to their existence ; and it is in 
the shelter of these that the hottest hours of the long 
Indian summer days are passed. Equally essential 
are open glades where abundant grass can be found 
for at least a part of the year ; while the near neigh- 
bourhood of water is equally important to the well- 
being of these animals. From 2000 to 5000 feet are 
the elevations commonly frequented by gaur in the 
Pachmari Hills; and one of the finest sights in the 
world is to see an old bull standing under the shelter 
of a clump of bamboos and surveying the prospect 
from the summit of a scarped precipice. 
In the matter of colour the gaur is the most 
specialised of the more typical wild cattle, having 
discarded in both sexes the red or fawn which 
appears to have been the primitive type of colouring 
in the group for a blackish livery. 
In the bantin {B. soiidaicus), on the other hand, 
^ Thirty-Seven Years of Big Game Shooting in Cooch-Behar, 
London, 1908. 
2 Elephant and Seladang Hunting in the Malay States, London, 
1905. 
