Big Game Shooting, volume 2 (of 2)

by Clive Phillipps-Wolley

Measurements

Authority	Height at shoulder	Length, head and body	Tail	Girth at shoulder	Girth at belly	Girth at neck (thinnest part)	Length, horns	Girth at base	Splay, tip to tip	Widest span inside	Remarks
Bos grunniens
	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.
Hume Collection, British Museum	..	..	..	..	..	..	38¼	17	19	31½	Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. E. Smyth, Leeds Museum	72	130½	37	121	112	50	36	18	..	..	Gen. Macintyre, ‘Hindu Koh’
Major FitzHerbert, Cambridge Museum	..	..	..	..	..	..	35	15	..	..
Hume Collection, British Museum	..	..	..	..	..	..	34⅞	15	16	27¾	Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Hon. W. Rothschild	..	..	..	..	..	..	34	12	20½	..	”
British Museum	..	..	..	..	..	..	32⅜	13⅜	16½	26⅜	”
Mr. H. C. V. Hunter	..	..	..	..	..	..	32	13⅞	15¼	22¼	”
Major Ward	..	..	..	..	..	..	31½	..	..	..	‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
”	..	..	..	..	..	..	31	..	..	..	”
” (quotes one)	70	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	64	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	64	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Sir R. Harvey, Bart.	..	..	..	..	..	..	30¾	13½	10½	..	Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Capt. Duff	61½	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Col. Kinloch	60 or more	..	..	..	..	..	about 36	about 14	..	..	‘Large Game Shooting’
Jerdon’s ‘Mammalia’	66	..	..	..	..	..	30	15	..	..
Major FitzHerbert	..	..	..	..	..	..	21	8	..	..	(A cow)
Average of good head	..	..	..	..	..	..	27	12	..	..

In 1866 another sportsman managed to evade the Tartars, and crossing the Sutlej beyond Niti, found a herd of eighty yak, out of which he shot a bull and three cows, one of the latter being piebald.

There is a quaint story from Nepal, that, during the war between the Nepalese and the Thibetans, Jung Bahadur, finding his army very short of food, referred the case to the chief priests in Khatmandu, who decided that yak were deer, and not cattle at all, as their tails were different, and so might safely be killed and eaten by the pious Nepalese.

XXI. BUFFALO (Bubalus arni)

Native names generally: ‘Ban Bhains,’ ‘Arná’ the male, ‘Arni’ the female; in Bengal, ‘Mains’

The buffalo is found in Nepal, and extends eastward through Assam to Burmah. It is plentiful in the Sunderbuns, in the Central Provinces, and in Ceylon, but is not found, according to Sanderson, in Southern India. Forsyth gives 80° as the extreme western limit of buffaloes in Central India, and says that they are not found north of the Nerbudda river.

The wild buffalo only differs from the tame one in being slightly larger and more uniform in colour (tame ones are of many shades, and have often a good deal of white about them, in fact albinos are not uncommon), and in having regular white stockings, which the tame ones may or may not have. The horns are more symmetrical and larger. In the high grass jungles of the Terai and Assam, buffaloes are generally shot off elephants, and Kinloch notices ‘the strong sweet bovine scent’ emitted by a herd. In the Sunderbuns and parts of Lower Bengal they are occasionally shot out of boats when the country is flooded. The sport is described as magnificent, but requires a fever-proof constitution.

In the Central Provinces, however, the ground is more open; there buffaloes can be stalked on foot, and Captain Forsyth gives an account of a sparkling episode when shooting buffaloes from horseback.

When pursuing them on foot, the best time for sport is in April and May, when a good deal of the grass has been burnt and water is comparatively scarce. The best way of finding the animals is to look for fresh tracks near pools of water, and follow them up. The plan recommended for bison, of sending the trackers on ahead, should be adopted if possible.