Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 89

HABITAT.--The hilly tracts east of the Brahmaputra, at the head of the a.s.sam valley, the Mishmi hills, in hill Tipperah, Chittagong, and then southwards through Burmah to the hills bordering on the Koladyne river.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Gavaeus frontalis_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Very like the gaur at first sight, but more clumsy looking; similarly coloured, but with a small dewlap; the legs are white as in the last species. In the skull the forehead is not concave as in the gaur, but flat, and if anything rather convex. The back has a dorsal ridge similar to that of the gaur.

The _gayal_ is of a much milder disposition than the _gaur_, and is extensively domesticated, and on the frontiers of a.s.sam is considered a valuable property by the people. The milk is rich and the flesh good. There are purely domesticated _mithuns_ bred in captivity, but according to many writers the herds are recruited from the wild animals, which are tempted either to interbreed, or are captured and tamed. In Dr. F. Buchanan Hamilton's MS. (_see_ Horsfield's 'Cat. Mammalia, E. I. C. Mus.') the following account is given: "These people (i.e. the inhabitants of the frontiers) have tame gayals, which occasionally breed, but the greater part of their stock is bred in the woods and caught; after which, being a mild animal, it is easily domesticated. The usual manner employed to catch the full-grown gayal is to surround a field of corn with a strong fence. One narrow entrance is left, in which is placed a rope with a running noose, which secures the gayal by the neck as he enters to eat the corn; of ten so caught perhaps three are hanged by the noose running too tight, and by the violence of their struggling.

Young gayals are caught by leaving in the fence holes of a size sufficient to admit a calf, but which excludes the full-grown gayal; the calves enter by these holes, which are then shut by natives who are watching, and who secure the calves. The gayal usually goes in herds of from twenty to forty, and frequents dry valleys and the sides of hills covered with forest." Professor Garrod, in his _Ungulata_ in Ca.s.sell's Natural History, quotes the following account from Mr.

Macrae concerning the way in which the Kookies of the Chittagong hill regions catch the wild gayal: "On discovering a herd of wild gayals in the jungle they prepare a number of b.a.l.l.s, the size of a man's head, composed of a particular kind of earth, salt and cotton. They then drive their tame gayals towards the wild ones, when the two herds soon meet and a.s.similate into one, the males of the one attaching themselves to the females of the other, and _vice versa_. The Kookies now scatter their b.a.l.l.s over such parts of the jungles as they think the herd most likely to pa.s.s, and watch its motions. The gayals, on meeting these b.a.l.l.s as they pa.s.s along, are attracted by their appearance and smell, and begin to lick them with their tongues, and, relishing the taste of the salt and the particular earth composing them, they never quit the place till all the b.a.l.l.s are consumed. The Kookies, having observed the gayals to have once tasted their b.a.l.l.s, prepare a sufficient supply of them to answer the intended purpose, and as the gayals lick them up they throw down more; and it is to prevent their being so readily destroyed that the cotton is mixed with the earth and the salt. This process generally goes on for three changes of the moon or for a month and a-half, during which time the tame and the wild gayals are always together, licking the decoy b.a.l.l.s, and the Kookie, after the first day or two of their being so, makes his appearance at such a distance as not to alarm the wild ones. By degrees he approaches nearer and nearer, until at length the sight of him has become so familiar that he can advance to stroke his tame gayals on the back and neck without frightening the wild ones. He next extends his hand to them and caresses them also, at the same time giving them plenty of his decoy b.a.l.l.s to lick. Thus, in the short s.p.a.ce of time mentioned, he is able to drive them, along with the tame ones, to his _parrah_ or village, without the least exertion of force; and so attached do the gayals become to the _parrah_, that when the Kookies migrate from one place to another, they always find it necessary to set fire to the huts they are about to abandon, lest the gayals should return to them from the new grounds."

NO. 466. GAVAEUS SONDAICUS.

_The Burmese Wild Ox_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Tsoing_, Burmese; _Banteng_ of the Javanese.

HABITAT.--"Pegu, the Tena.s.serim provinces, and the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Java; being domesticated in the island of Bali" (_Blyth_).

DESCRIPTION.--This animal resembles the gaur in many respects, and it is dest.i.tute of a dewlap, but the young and the females are bright chestnut. The bulls become black with age, excepting always the white stockings and a white patch on each b.u.t.tock.

SIZE.--About the same as the last two species.

This animal has bred in captivity, and has also interbred with domestic cattle. Blyth says he saw in the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam a bull, cow, and calf in fine condition. "The bull more especially has an indication of a hump, which, however, must be specially looked for to be noticed, and he has a broad and ma.s.sive neck like the gaur, but no raised spinal ridge, nor has either of these species a deep dewlap like the gayal" ('Cat. Mamm. Burmah').

The banteng cow is much slighter in build, and has small horns that incline backwards, and she retains her bright chestnut colour permanently.

_GENUS POEPHAGUS--THE YAK_.

Somewhat smaller than the common ox, with large head; nose hairy, with a moderate sized bald m.u.f.fle between nostrils; broad neck without dewlap; cylindrical horns; no hump or dorsal ridge, and long hair on certain parts of the body. Requires an intensely cold climate.

NO. 467. POEPHAGUS GRUNNIENS.

_The Yak or Grunting Ox_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Yak_, _Bubul_, _Soora-goy_, _Dong_, in Thibet; _Bun-chowr_, Hindi; _Brong-dong_, Thibetan.

HABITAT.--The high regions of Thibet and Ladakh, the valley of the Chang Chenmo, and the slopes of the Kara Koram mountains (_Kinloch_).

DESCRIPTION.--"In size it is somewhat less than the common or domestic ox. The head is large, and the neck proportionally broad, without any mane or dewlap, having a downward tendency; the horns are far apart, placed in front of the occipital ridge, cylindrical at the base, from which they rise obliquely outward and forward two-thirds of their length, when they bend inward with a semi-circular curve, the points being directed to each other from the opposite sides; the m.u.f.fle is small; the border of the nostrils callous; the ears short and hairy. At the withers there is a slight elevation, but no protuberance or hump, as in the Indian ox. The dorsal ridge not prominent; body of full dimensions; rump and hinder parts proportionally large; limbs rather small and slender; hoofs smooth, square, and well defined, not expanded as in the musk-ox; anterior false hoofs small, posterior large; tail short, not reaching beyond the houghs, naked for some inches at the root, very bushy, lax, and expanded in the middle; colour black throughout, but varying in tint according to the character of the hairy covering; this, on the anterior parts, the neck, shoulders, back, and sides, is short, soft, and of a jet-black colour, but long, s.h.a.ggy, pendulous, and shining on the sides of the anterior extremities, and from the medial part of the abdomen over the thighs to the hinder parts" (_Horsfield_, 'Cat. Mam. Ind. Mus.').

_GENUS BUBALUS--THE BUFFALOS_.

Horns very large, depressed and sub-trigonal at the base, attached to the highest line of the frontals, inclining upwards and backwards, conical towards the tip and bending upwards; m.u.f.fle large, square.

No hump or dorsal ridge; thirteen pairs of ribs; hoofs large.

NO. 468. BUBALUS ARNI.

_The Wild Buffalo_ (_Jerdon's No. 239_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Arna_ (male), _Arni_ (female), _Arna-bhainsa_, _Jangli-bhains_, Hindi; _Mung_, Bhagulpore; _Gera-erumi_, Gondi; _Karbo_ of the Malays; _Moonding_ of the Sundanese.

HABITAT.--In the swampy terai at the foot of the hills from Oude to Bhotan, in the plains of Lower Bengal as far west as Tirhoot, in a.s.sam and in Burmah, in Central India from Midnapore to Rajpore, and thence nearly to the G.o.davery; also in Ceylon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Bubalus arni_.]

DESCRIPTION.--This animal so closely resembles the common domesticated buffalo that it seems hardly necessary to attempt a description. The wild one may be a trifle larger, but every one in India is familiar with the huge, ungainly, stupid-looking creature, with its bulky frame, black and almost hairless body, back-sweeping horns, and long narrow head.

SIZE.--A large male will stand 19 hands at the shoulder and measure 10-1/4 feet from nose to root of tail, which is short, reaching only to the hocks. Horns vary greatly, but the following are measurements of large pairs: In the British Museum are a pair without the skull.

These horns measure 6 feet 6 inches each, which would give, when on the head, an outer curve measurement of nearly 14 feet. Another pair in the British Museum measure on the skull 12 feet 2 inches from tip to tip and across the forehead, but these horns do not exactly correspond in length and shape.

The buffalo never ascends mountains like the bison, but keeps to low and swampy ground and open gra.s.s plains, living in large herds, which occasionally split up into smaller ones during the breeding season in autumn. The female produces one, or sometimes two in the summer, after a period of gestation of ten months.

Forsyth doubts their interbreeding with the domestic race, but I see no reason for this. The two are identically the same, and numerous instances have been known of the latter joining herds of their wild brethren; and I have known cases of the domestic animal absconding from a herd and running wild. Such a one was shot by a friend of mine in a jungle many miles from the haunts of men, but yet quite out of the range of the wild animal. Probably it had been driven from a herd.

Domestic buffalo bulls are much used in the Central provinces for carrying purposes. I had them yearly whilst in camp, and noticed that one old bull lorded it over the others, who stood in great awe of him; at last one day there was a great uproar; three younger animals combined, and gave him such a thrashing that he never held up his head again. In a feral state he would doubtless have left the herd and become a solitary wanderer. Dr. Jerdon, in his 'Mammals of India,' says: "Mr. Blyth states it as his opinion that, except in the valley of the Ganges and Burrampooter, it has been introduced and become feral. With this view I cannot agree, and had Mr. Blyth seen the huge buffalos I saw on the Indrawutty river (in 1857), he would, I think, have changed his opinion. They have hitherto not been recorded, south of Raepore, but where I saw them is nearly 200 miles south. I doubt if they cross the G.o.davery river.

"I have seen them repeatedly, and killed several in the Purneah district. Here they frequent the immense tracts of long gra.s.s abounding in dense, swampy thickets, bristling with canes and wild roses; and in these spots, or in the long elephant-gra.s.s on the bank of jheels, the buffalos lie during the heat of the day. They feed chiefly at night or early in the morning, often making sad havoc in the fields, and retire in general before the sun is high. They are by no means shy (unless they have been much hunted), and even on an elephant, without which they could not be successfully hunted, may often be approached within good shooting distance. A wounded one will occasionally charge the elephant, and, as I have heard from many sportsmen, will sometimes overthrow the elephant. I have been charged by a small herd, but a shot or two as they are advancing will usually scatter them."

The buffalo is, I should say, a courageous animal--at least it shows itself so in the domesticated state. A number of them together will not hesitate to charge a tiger, for which purpose they are often used to drive a wounded tiger out of cover. A herdsman was once seized by a man-eater one afternoon a few hundred yards from my tent. His cows fled, but his buffalos, hearing his cries, rushed up and saved him.

The attachment evinced by these uncouth creatures to their keepers was once strongly brought to my notice in the Mutiny. In beating up the broken forces of a rebel Thakoor, whom we had defeated the previous day, I, with a few troopers, ran some of them to bay in a rocky ravine. Amongst them was a Brahmin who had a buffalo cow. This creature followed her master, who was with us as a prisoner, for the whole day, keeping at a distance from the troops, but within call of her owner's voice. When we made a short halt in the afternoon, the man offered to give us some milk; she came to his call at once, and we had a grateful draught, the more welcome as we had had nothing to eat since the previous night. That buffalo saved her master's life, for when in the evening the prisoners were brought up to court martial and sentenced to be hanged, extenuating circ.u.mstances were urged for our friend with the buffalo, and he was allowed to go, as I could testify he had not been found with arms in his hands; and I had the greatest pleasure in telling him to be off, and have nothing more to do with rebel Thakoors. Jerdon says the milk of the buffalo is richer than that of the cow. I doubt this. I know that in rearing wild animals buffalos' milk is better than cows' milk, which is far too rich, and requires plentiful dilution with water.

There is a very curious little animal allied to the buffalo, of which we have, or have had, a specimen in the Zoological Gardens at Alipore--the _Anoa depressicornis_; it comes from the Island of Celebes, and seems to link the buffalo with the deer. It is black, with short wavy hair.

Before pa.s.sing on to the true Cervidae I must here place an animal commonly called a deer, and generally cla.s.sed as such--the musk-deer according to some naturalists. There is no reason, save an insufficient one, that this creature should be so called and cla.s.sed, there being much evidence in favour of its alliance to the antelopes.

In the first place it has a gall bladder, which the Cervidae have not, with the exception, according to Dr. Crisp, of the axis ('P.

Z. S.'). On the other hand it has large canine tusks like the muntjacs, deerlets, and water-deer, and, as these are all aberrant forms of the true Cervidae, there is no reason why the same character should not be developed in the antelopes. Its hair is more of the goat than the deer, and the total absence of horns removes a decided proof in favour of one or the other. The feet are more like some of the Bovidae than the generality of deer, with the exception, perhaps, of _Rangifer_ (the reindeer), the toes being very much cloven and capable of grasping the rocky ground on which it is found. A very eminent authority, however, Professor Flower, is in favour of placing the musk-deer with the Cervidae, and he instances the absence of horns as in favour of this opinion, for in none of the Bovidae are the males hornless. There are many other points also, such as the fawns being spotted, some intestinal peculiarities, and the molar and premolar teeth being strictly cervine, which strengthen him in his opinion. (_See_ article on the structure and affinities of the musk-deer, 'P. Z. S.' 1879, p. 159.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Skull of Musk Deer.]

_GENUS MOSCHUS--THE MUSK DEER_.

Canines in both s.e.xes, very long and slender in the male; no horns; feet much cloven, with large false hoofs that touch the ground; the medium metacarpals fused into a solid cannon bone; in the skull the intermaxillaries join the nasals; hinder part of tarsus hairy; fur thick, elastic, and brittle; m.u.f.fle large; no eye, feet, or groin-pits; a large gland or praeputial bag under the stomach in the males, which contains the secretion known in commerce as "musk."

NO. 469. MOSCHUS MOSCHIFERUS.

_The Musk Deer_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Kastura_, Hindi; _Rous_, _Roos_, and _Kasture_, in Kashmir; _La-lawa_, Thibetan; _Rib-jo_, Ladakhi; _Bena_ in Kunawur (_Jerdon_); _Mussuck-naba'_, Pahari (_Kinloch_).

HABITAT.--Throughout the Himalayas at elevations above 8000 feet, extending also through Central and Northern Asia as far as Siberia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Moschus moschiferus_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Moschus moschiferus_.]