It is worthy of remark that the new and full moon are the periods at which the Kookies in general commence their operations of catching the wild Gyalls, from having observed that at these changes the two sexes are most inclined to associate. The same observation has been made with respect to Elephants.
About four years after the publication of Mr. Macrae's account of the Gyall (namely in 1808,) there appeared, in the Eighth volume of 'Asiatic Researches,' a description of a species of Ox, named Gayal, communicated by H. T. Colebrooke.
He commences by observing, that "the Gayal was mentioned in an early volume of the 'Researches of the Asiatic Society,' (vol. ii, p. 188, 1790,) by its Indian name, which was explained by the phrase "Cattle of the mountains." It had been obscurely noticed (if indeed the same species of Ox be meant) by Knox, in his historical relation of Ceylon (p. 21), and it has been imperfectly described by Captain Turner, in his journey through Bootan, ('Embassy to Tibet,' p. 160).
"Herds of this species of cattle have been long kept by many gentlemen in the eastern districts of Bengal, and also in other parts of this province; but no detailed account of the animal and of its habits has been yet published in India. To remedy this deficiency, Dr. Roxburgh undertook, at my solicitation, to describe the Gayal, from those seen by him in a herd belonging to the Governor-General. Dr. Buchanan has also obligingly communicated his observations on the same cattle; with information obtained from several gentlemen at Tipura, Sylhet, and Chatgaon, relative to the habits of the animal. The original drawing from which the plate has been taken was drawn by a native artist."
[Illustration: Reduced copy of the Plate just referred to.]
This representation does not appear to have been taken from a specimen of the animals here described: it bears a much stronger resemblance to our figure of the Gaur, which was taken from the stuffed specimen in the British Museum (see p. 97), than it does to the Gyall (_Bos frontalis_ of Lambert, see p. 51), or to the Gayal, which died in the Zoological Gardens in 1846, from which our figure was taken, which is given on p. 68.
Dr. Roxburgh, who undertook, at the solicitation of Mr. Colebrooke, to describe the Gayal, appears to have done so by the very simple method of copying Mr. Macrae's description of the Gyall, which appeared in the 'Linnean Transactions,' in 1804, to which he has added, that the dewlap is deep and pendant; and this, according to every other account, is not the fact.