Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/107

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FAUNA
91

colour of Burmese cattle is red with white patches on the buttocks.

Carnivora. Tigers are to be found in all parts of the country. Though numerous they are not nearly so much in evidence as in many parts of India. This is perhaps due to the abundance of game in the large forests. In general Burmese tigers are more game than cattle killers. They have been reported to attack full grown elephants, but rarely. Man-eaters are by no means unknown. Within the last fifty years, on two separate occasions, tigers were shot in Rangoon, one in a crowded street[1], one on the side of the great pagoda. They had obviously strayed from their usual haunts and lost their way. Leopards or panthers are common in many parts of the province. They are much more inclined than tigers to hang about villages and human dwellings and kill dogs, calves, goats, even ponies and small oxen. Quite lately a leopard invaded Magwe, a small town in Upper Burma, and wounded several people. This visitation was a protest against the killing of cows, the worst mauled victim being the butcher. Burmans who, theoretically, do not kill any animal, and Hindus who reverence the cow, were ostentatiously spared. Black panthers have been shot but are very rare. About a dozen kinds of wild cats are described, of which the savage jungle cat and several civets including one which the Burmans call kyaung-myin or horse-cat (Viverra zibetha) and the clouded cat sometimes called the clouded panther, may be mentioned. Mongooses are not common. Jackals, though rare in most places, are plentiful enough in Akyab and have been found elsewhere. Wild dogs are numerous and widely distributed. They are found wherever there is game in a forest, generally near salt licks. They live in rather small packs and are excellent hunters, scaring away game to the annoyance of sportsmen. Whether there are any wolves in Burma is still a matter of controversy. Himalayan and

  1. This tiger was shot by Mr Arthur H. M. Middleton.