The great and small game of India, Burma, & Tibet . animal is almost invariably called bison—atitle properly belonging to Bos bonasiis of Lithuania and the are sometimes asked in sporting newspapers whether theapplication of the term bison to the gaur is legitimate. The answeris very simple, namely, that it is not. Domesticated oxen (togetherwith their extinct wild progenitors), gaur and gayal, bison, yak,and buffaloes collectively constitute the ox tribe. And since thedomesticated ox is the type of the whole group, they may all, in ageneral sense, be classed as oxen. Had th
The great and small game of India, Burma, & Tibet . animal is almost invariably called bison—atitle properly belonging to Bos bonasiis of Lithuania and the are sometimes asked in sporting newspapers whether theapplication of the term bison to the gaur is legitimate. The answeris very simple, namely, that it is not. Domesticated oxen (togetherwith their extinct wild progenitors), gaur and gayal, bison, yak,and buffaloes collectively constitute the ox tribe. And since thedomesticated ox is the type of the whole group, they may all, in ageneral sense, be classed as oxen. Had the bison of Europe been madethe typical representative of the group, then that term might likewisehave been employed in the same general sense, and the gaur termeda bison as it now is an ox. But as matters stand, such a usage is totallyindefensible. The true domesticated oxen form one division of the to this comes a second and nearly allied section of the group com-prising the gaur, the gayal, and the banting ; all the members of which. h 42 Great and Small Game of India, etc. are characterised by their elevated withers, short hair, and white-stockinged limbs. The third section includes the European andAmerican bisons (the former commonly miscalled aurochs, and the latterbuffalo), with which the yak may perhaps be included, all these havinglong hair on some part of the body, uniformly dark limbs, and lacking theridge-like hump of the second section. Lastly, there are the buffaloes,differing from all the others by the peculiar form of their horns. Eachsectional group is perfectly well defined, and it would be just as logical tocall the gaur a buffalo as to dub it a bison. But since there are few thingsmore difficult to amend than popular misapplications of names, a bison itwill probably remain among sportsmen for many years to come. Of the general characteristics of the ox tribe but little need be saidhere. With the exception of a few stunted island forms, the member
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