2 30 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
during the day ; they are by no means shy, nor do 
they appear to shun the neighbourhood of man, and 
they commit great havoc amongst growing crops. 
Sometimes a herd or a soHtary bull will take 
possession of a field and keep off the men who own 
it. In fact buffaloes are by far the boldest and most 
savage of the Indian Bovidce, and a bull not un- 
frequently attacks without provocation, though, pro- 
bably on the principle that a council of war never 
fights, a herd, although all will gallop to within a 
short distance of an intruder and make most formid- 
able demonstrations, never attacks any one who does 
not run away from them. A wounded animal of 
either sex often charges, and has occasionally been 
known to knock an elephant down. Buffaloes retain 
their courage in captivity, and a herd will attack a 
tiger or other dangerous animal without hesitation, 
and, although gentle with those they know, and 
greatly attached to them, they are inclined to be 
hostile to strange men and strange animals. Whether 
wild or tame they delight in water, and often during 
the heat of the day lie down in shallow places with 
only parts of their heads above the surface." 
The island of Mindoro, in the western half of the 
Philippine group, is the home of a stoutly built black 
buffalo intermediate in size between the Indian 
species and the under-mentioned anoa, which is 
known to the natives as the tamarao, and was 
described in 1888 by a missionary resident in China 
— Pere Heude — as a distinct species under the name 
of Bos, or rather Bubalus, mindorensis. Subsequent to 
that date an opinion was expressed that, in place of 
a species, it might be a fertile hybrid between the 
Indian buffalo and the anoa. Be this as it may, the 
