THE BISON 
(BOS GAURUS) 
T HE Indian bison, sometimes called the gaur, is met with in 
Assam, and as far west as Nepaul, also in Burma, as well as 
the forest hill -country of the Central Provinces, Mysore and 
Travancore, where some of the best heads have been obtained. 
The horns, which are light in colour, are somewhat flattened 
in shape, and the animal is remarkable for the high arch of the 
frontal bone between the horns, the elevation of the dorsal ridge, and the 
shortness of the tail. The points of the horns are often much broken, or 
blunted, the legs below the knee are white or nearly so, and the foot is 
wonderfully small for so huge a beast. The favourite food of the bison 
is the shoots of the young bamboo. The really old bulls are generally 
found alone. They are shy animals, and as the country is opened up by 
roads and railways they retire before the advance of man. Of all the big 
game of India they offer perhaps the finest sport, and anyone who contem- 
plates hunting them would do well to study Forsyth’s excellent book, 
“The Highlands of Central India.’’ Since his day, alas! these animals have 
greatly diminished in numbers. The most deadly time to pursue them is 
at the beginning of the rainy season, when tracking is easy and one can 
approach quietly over the sodden leaves; on the other hand, transport at 
this period is more difficult and there is a good chance of getting malarial 
fever. 
One year I stayed on late with a friend in Assam, where we were camped 
not far from the Bhutan border, and got three good bulls between us in ten 
days’ shooting. The bison used to come down from the hills and feed on a 
plain, and our method of hunting was to follow up a fresh trail on a pad 
elephant; in the early morning tracking was not difficult, and their line of 
march through the wet grass could generally be followed by the mahout 
without having a man on foot. 
One of the finest sights of wild game I have ever witnessed was a herd of 
bison which we came upon just as dawn was breaking. They were well 
out in the open. There were three good bulls among them, which left the 
cows and advanced a little towards the elephants, with their heads up, 
and I could not help thinking how beautiful they would look in an English 
park. However, they soon decided that we were dangerous, and deserting 
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