CHAPTER XI

INDIAN SHOOTING

BY LIEUT.-COL. REGINALD HEBER PERCY

I. INTRODUCTORY.

In dealing with such a vast tract of country as India it is out of

the question to describe any one class of outfit which will suit the

traveller equally well among the snowy peaks and bitter winds of the

Himalayas and Ladak and in the furnace-like heat of the plains. Snow

is the great obstacle to travel in the former, whilst heat, rain, and

malaria are the evils to be contended with in the latter. Nor is one

class of weapon equally suitable everywhere. For all soft-skinned

animals, such as tigers, and all varieties of sheep, goats, and deer

(except sambur) there is no rifle, in the writer’s opinion, that is so

satisfactory as a .500 Express with a charge of at least 5¾ drachms

of powder. This weapon is sufficiently powerful for any beast to

be met with in the Himalayas. Of course, yak may be found, but the

chance is so remote that it is barely worth while taking a special

rifle for their benefit, and a few cartridges with solid bullets for

the .500 will probably meet all requirements. On the other hand, for

thick-skinned animals, such as elephants, rhinoceros, gaur, buffalo,

and sambur, the smallest bore of any practical use is a 12-bore, and

the powder charge for this should be at least 6 drachms. The light

bullet of an Express is so easily turned by a small twig that it is

absolutely untrustworthy among heavy timber, and it is for this reason

that the writer includes sambur with the larger animals. For the

big dangerous beasts a still heavier weapon, such as an 8-bore with

8 drachms of powder, is desirable, though not absolutely necessary,

as the superior accuracy and handiness of a 12-bore go far to

counterbalance the extra power. For antelope and gazelles the writer

prefers a light single-barrelled .400 Express, taking 3 drachms of

powder, to any other rifle that he has ever used.

So far for rifles. A shot-gun is a necessity everywhere, and one of

the best pot-hunting guns (the chief use of a gun on the trip after

big game) is one of three barrels--two shot, 16-bore, and a .450

rifle underneath--which will meet all requirements on the march and

near camp. As regards tents, the ordinary Cabul tent (part of every

officer’s equipment in India), with a smaller one for the servants,

is ample for the Himalayas and the plains in the cold weather, but

a larger tent is required during the hot weather in the plains.

Manifold are the instructions already published as to outfit--‘Large

Game Shooting,’ by Colonel Kinloch, ‘The Sportsman’s Guide to Kashmir

and Ladak,’ by Major Ward, and ‘The Sportsman’s Vade Mecum,’ by K.

C. A. J., are among the best books to consult, as they are written

by practical men. Among the points that the intending traveller must

bear in mind are: That the unit of transport in the Himalayas is the

coolie, and his load over a snow pass is only 50 lbs., though along

an ordinary road he can carry 60 lbs. Pack animals can certainly be

used over a large portion of the country, but every snow pass forces

the traveller back to the unit, so that his baggage must be capable

of being arranged in 50-lb. loads. Throughout the rest of India carts

can generally travel, and, failing them, camels, oxen, or ponies can

always be procured, so that the unit of transport being greater, the

sportsman can travel with far greater comfort than he can in the

Himalayas. Then, again, if the traveller requires more than sixteen

coolies to carry his baggage in the Himalayas, he will be subjected

to endless delays at every changing station. A dozen men or so can be

collected at short notice almost anywhere, but over sixteen generally

means delay till they can be summoned from outlying villages; and

perpetual detentions of this class when one is racing for ground are

extremely annoying, so that it should be the sportsman’s aim to combine

lightness with efficiency in all articles of his outfit, and to travel

with the smallest amount of state compatible with his standard of

comfort--a standard which, in the writer’s experience, differs with

every individual.

As regards expenses, the following may be taken as a rough guide

throughout the Himalayas:--

Coolie, per march, 4a.

Coolie, monthly, Rs.6 (without rations if employed near his own

village).

Coolie, monthly, Rs.5 (with rations).

Baggage pony, per march, 8a.

Riding pony, per march, R.1.

Baggage yak, per month, Rs.8 to Rs.12 (the drivers bring their own food

and provide carriage for it).

Head shikari, in Cashmere, Rs.20 monthly (with rations).

Assistant shikari, in Cashmere, Rs.10 monthly (with rations).

Luncheon coolie, in Cashmere, Rs.7 monthly (with rations).

Head shikari in Gurwhal, Chumba, Lahoul, &c., being local men, Rs.12 to

Rs.16 monthly (usually without rations).

Assistant shikari, Rs.8 to Rs.10 (without rations).

Luncheon coolie, Rs.7 (without rations).

Rations consist of 4 lbs. daily of flour or rice for head shikari,

assistant shikari, luncheon coolie, and servants brought up from the

plains; baggage coolies get 2 lbs. daily of the same. An estimate of

Rs.300 a month should amply suffice for travelling in any part of

the Himalayas: an old hand will do it for far less, but the Cashmere

shikari so thoroughly understands the art of running up the bill, and

is so plausible withal, that the majority of his employers will find

themselves paying more than its market value for the pleasure of his

company. When the sportsman has sufficient experience and sufficient

knowledge of the language to employ shepherds and local shikaris

to show him the ground near their own homes, he may dispense with

the luxury of having a Cashmeree to rule over him, and find great

advantage accrue both to his sport and to his purse. It is impossible

to give an estimate for big game shooting in the plains, as the rates

for transport and beaters vary in every district. As regards servants

brought up from the plains, two should be enough, and they should be of

the same religion and caste, so as to be able to cook for one another:

the writer prefers Mussulmans, as they will eat meat, which Hindus of

good caste will not do. In any case they will require extra pay in

the hills (an additional Rs.2 or Rs.3 a month should suffice), warm

clothing, an extra blanket apiece, and a waterproof bag to pack their

things in. Also, as their work begins on arrival at camp, they should,

if possible, be mounted for long marches. It is a good plan to hire

milch goats from the village which supplies the coolies, and change

them when one changes the men in the next district.

[Illustration: THE FIRST STALK OF THE SEASON]

The generally accepted rule with regard to shooting grounds in the

Himalayas is that the first comer has the right to any minor stream not

being the main river of a district (except at its source, where it is

considered a minor stream), and to all the land that drains into that

stream; but he must occupy the ground in person, and cannot retain it

by sending servants or tents there before his arrival, or by keeping

servants or tents there during his absence.

In the plains the same rule, though not so accurately laid down, holds

good in spirit, viz. that no sportsman should hunt over ground within

reach of his neighbour’s camp, and in tiger shooting a beat belongs to

the man whose shikaris are tying up for it.

Visitors from home should endeavour to bear in mind that the sport of

India naturally and fairly belongs to those who spend the best years

of their lives in administering and garrisoning it, and that the

assistance they will, as a rule, so freely receive will be given by

good sportsmen from sheer love of sport.

In conclusion, the writer begs to express his grateful thanks for

the kindly assistance afforded him by the authorities of the Natural

History Museum, the Cambridge Museum, and the Senckenburg Museum,

Frankfort, and also to the numerous sportsmen and owners of private

collections for the generous way in which they have, at no slight

trouble to themselves, lightened his labours by contributing records of

sport and measurements of horns and animals.

II. THE BEARS OF INDIA AND BURMAH

There are no fewer than five varieties of bears to be found in our

Eastern Empire. The three most commonly met with are the Himalayan

black bear, _Ursus torquatus_ (native name ‘Kala Bhalu’); the Himalayan

snow bear, _Ursus Isabellinus_ (native names ‘Lal Bhalu’; Cashmere

‘Harput’); and the sloth bear of the plains, _Ursus labiatus_ (native

names ‘Bhalu,’ ‘Reech,’ ‘Adam zad’).

[Illustration: A FAIR CHANCE AT BLACK BEARS]

The Himalayan black bear is common enough on the southern slopes of the

Himalayas, but rarely crosses the main snow-line. Being chiefly a fruit

and corn eater, in contradistinction to the snow bear, whose main food

consists of grass and roots, it likes to live near villages, especially

when the maize crops are ripening. Dense jungle is a necessity to it

for shelter during the day and for the wild fruit and berries it lives

on before the crops are ripe, and this jungle is non-existent on the

northern side of the main range. The snow bear is found on both sides

of the range, but does not extend to Ladak. Both black and snow bears

will kill cattle and sheep if they get the chance, and neither variety

is above eating carrion. The black bear with his short sturdy nails

climbs readily, while the long digging claws of the snow bear prevent

him doing much in that line, though he is said to be able to climb a

little. The villagers in the Himalayas have to keep their bees inside

their houses both for the sake of warmth in winter and also to prevent

the hives being robbed by bears. Both varieties hibernate, but

Colonel Kinloch points out, and all natives agree, that while the snow

bear is never seen abroad in the winter, the black bear periodically

wakes up and makes short excursions for food and water. As regards

their comparative ferocity, the snow bear, being generally found

and shot in the open, rarely has an opportunity of doing mischief,

though he will occasionally show fight. The black bear, on the other

hand, from living near villages has partly lost his fear of man, and

though he rarely if ever goes out of his way to attack, he will charge

freely if cornered, or suddenly disturbed in his midday siesta by

anyone walking almost on to him. This is almost invariably the reason

wood-cutters and herdsmen get mauled.

[Illustration: Snow bears]

One of the best ways to shoot black bears is to have them marked down

into ravines or patches of dense jungle on their return from feeding in

the early morning, and to wait for them to draw out in the evening just

before sunset. As a rule Mr. Bruin is pretty punctual. Shooting bears

by moonlight when they are feeding in the fruit trees is generally

unsatisfactory work, as so many escape wounded, and having the jungle

driven usually ends in disappointment.

The snow bear is easily stalked on the open slopes he frequents, and

provided that the wind is favourable, and that the sportsman remains

absolutely motionless as long as the animal’s head is turned towards

him, he can play almost any trick with a bear, even though standing

in full view; but he must be careful not to let the sun shine on the

barrels of his rifle, for that at once attracts attention. The best

place to find a snow bear is one of those patches of bright green grass

that mark the spots where sheep have been folded the year before. The

writer knows several instances of black bears having been followed into

their caves and shot there under circumstances of intense excitement.

Colonel Howard, whose adventures with sloth bear are narrated below,

had a sparkling time with a Himalayan black bear in a cave; but it is

not everybody’s sport.

Few men, after they have procured a good specimen or two, care to shoot

bears. Their skins require more attention than they are worth, and on

good shooting ground where snow bears are most common, it is rarely

worth the risk of disturbing a good ibex or markhor for the biggest

bear in Asia.

Jerdon remarks of the black bear--and the natives of Chumba at all

events thoroughly believe it--that when one is caught in a rope snare,

if he cannot break it by the first effort he will not try again, but

will remain on the spot moaning and looking at the imprisoned paw

without attempting to bite the rope.

[Illustration: A glorified comet]

The sloth bear is the common black bear of Central and Southern India.

It extends to the base of the Himalayas, but does not ascend them, its

northern limit being about 31° N. Lat. Its long flexible snout and long

claws distinguish it at once from its Himalayan cousin, and though it

delights in a temperature more suggestive of the necessity of punkahs

and ice than of greatcoats, its fur is longer and better. In spite

of its long claws it climbs well, and as, like deer and natives, it

delights in the nasty-tasting flowers of the ‘mhowa’ tree, a moonlight

stroll in March or April, when the blossoms are falling, will often

afford the chance of a shot. The best way of hunting these bears is to

have them marked down in the early morning like _U. torquatus_, and

then either to stalk or have them driven. Should the bears go into

caves, they are easily dislodged by poking sticks or rolling stones

through fissures above, or if the cave is shallow a bundle of rags or

a turban dangled over the entrance and a few shouts will fetch them

out. A firework thrown into or a shot fired down the mouth of the cave

is a very effectual summons. Though _U. labiatus_ is both willing and

able to do a good deal of mischief, if due precautions are taken few

branches of sport afford such a succession of ludicrous episodes. Poor

old ‘Adam zad,’ if he is not witty himself, is a fund of merriment to

others. Forsyth’s and Sanderson’s books teem with comical situations.

The companionship of a fellow-sportsman whose shooting can be relied

upon is necessary if full enjoyment of the sport is desired, as tricks

may then be played which would be a little too risky to attempt

single-handed. Native fireworks, ‘Anar,’ are rather dangerous to use,

as they are apt to explode in the hand. Never will the writer forget

seeing a lot go off in a howdah during a tiger beat: the poor old

elephant went streaking across country like a glorified comet. Two

guns are ample for following up a wounded bear on foot in jungle; if

there are more the party is apt to get separated, and then, if the bear

shows sport, there are too many bullets flying about to be pleasant.

Natives, except perhaps one tracker, are only encumbrances. The way a

cub will ride on its mother’s back and keep its seat under the most

trying circumstances is marvellous. The writer once rolled an old bear

clean over without the cub letting go. Sterndale quotes a capital story

about this. Rusty coloured bears are not uncommon: the writer saw two

in Central India, but as in each case the bear passed under his tree

before the tiger in the beat had been fired at, he had to spare them.

Bears may occasionally be ridden down and speared, but they are not

often found on ground that will admit of this, and the way they ‘_sling

their chat_’ will prevent most horses from going up to them. This bear

does not hibernate.

Colonel Howard gives the following account of his experiences in

Central India in 1884:

L. and I were at Lulliapoora tying up for a tiger, and hearing

of some bears’ caves about two miles off, we rode out to look at

them. On arrival at the ground we dismounted and strolled along,

accompanied by a couple of villagers. Whenever we found a cave we

rolled rocks down into it to see whether it was occupied or not,

and having gone on in this way for some time without result, the

natives began to get careless and went ahead of us. Presently

we heard some growls and saw our Aryan brethren scuttling up

trees. L. and I ran forward and found a large crevice in the

rocky ground about four feet wide, eight or ten yards long, and

from fifteen to eighteen feet deep; at either end of this caves

seemed to run into the ground, and in the centre was a ragged

archway that formed a staircase for the bears to climb in and

out. Standing astride of the crevice I saw a bear’s head appear

at the entrance of one of the caves, and as L. was new to the

work, I signalled to him to come and shoot, while I stood a foot

or two back from the edge, ready for whatever might turn up. The

bear, noticing L., turned, and, on receiving a bullet in his seat

of honour, ran along the bottom of the crevice to the opposite

cave, acknowledging the second barrel with that peculiarly

plaintive moan which a bear so often gives when he has received

his death wound. L. then jumped aside, saying, ‘Look out’; a

second bear’s head and shoulders appeared just above the crevice.

I fired into her ear at about a yard’s distance, and she rolled

back to the bottom dead. Tying the ponies’ leading ropes together

I climbed down, put a noose round the bear’s neck, and steadied

her while the others hauled her out.

I now told L. that I was perfectly certain that his bear was dead

too, and that I would go down and see. I did not fancy going

down the archway, as that seemed to be the bears’ regular run,

so looked about for another entrance, and soon found one which

seemed to lead almost perpendicularly down into the back of the

cave. After removing a stone or two at the top in the vain hope

of being able to see without actually going down, I started on

my journey. As it was pitch dark and I had to use both hands in

climbing down, I left my rifle behind, intending to run and not

fight if I got into a scrape.

On reaching the bottom, I found myself on an underground

continuation of the crevice. On one side was a stone about

a couple of feet high on which I stood, and as my eyes got

accustomed to the darkness, I made out an overhanging rock just

in front of me, and protruding from beneath it, at my feet, a

mass of hair.

I did not like to put my hand on it, so climbed up again,

borrowed a stick from one of the natives, then jogged down again,

and jammed the end of the stick into the bear. To my horror he

jumped up with a growl, but luckily, being just as frightened as

I was, he bolted further up the cave, while I legged it up my

hole at about the best pace on record.

I then sent back to camp for a lantern, and with it in my hand

and my short single rifle slung across my back, journeyed down

for the third time, after posting L. at the top of the crevice,

warning him to let any bear that might turn up come well out into

the open before he fired, and on no account to let a wounded one

come back into the cave on me.

Arrived at the bottom, I placed the lantern on the ground,

unslung the rifle, and stepped on to the stones. There, just

sticking out from under the overhanging rock, was undoubtedly

the back of a bear, so I let drive into it. The smoke completely

concealed everything, then there was a prolonged growl,

afterwards a succession of short grunts, my lantern was put

out and sent flying by a bear who charged it, brushing past

me, probably with the idea that the lantern was the assailant.

I scuttled up the hole, and L., who, in the excitement of the

moment had forgotten my warning, fired at the bear and rolled him

back down into the crevice before I got out.

It was now evening, and getting very dark, so I lit a bunch of

grass, and, on throwing it down the crevice, could see a bear

lying at the bottom. I threw a stone down, at which he did not

growl, but, probably owing to the flickering light of the burning

grass, he seemed to move, so we agreed to leave him till next

morning. As we were starting home, my shikari noticed that the

dry leaves at the bottom of the crevice were burning, which meant

that by the morning the bear would have his coat singed off, so

I hardened my heart, and, taking the rope, climbed down again,

gave the bear a kick when I got just above him, and as he did not

move, went up to him, felt for his head, slipped a noose over

it, and the men above hauled him out. We started early next day,

taking L.’s lantern, as mine was in the cave, and, on arrival at

the place, to my infinite disgust, found fresh droppings at the

entrance. They were probably only those of cubs, but one could

not tell their size, and it made the idea of going down in cold

blood much less pleasant.

I fired a shot down the cave, listened, but could hear no sound,

so went to my old entrance and tried to lower L.’s lantern by a

string, which was cut against the rocks, so that the lantern fell

to the bottom.

We were now in a fix, for both our lanterns were down below, and

if we left them there we should have to spend our evenings in

darkness.

L., whose figure was not suited to climbing about in narrow

caves, did not like the idea of my going down again--no more did

I--but I could not well leave the lanterns there simply because I

was afraid of fetching them; so taking my double-barrelled rifle

with me, I started on my fifth journey. The length of the rifle

made the climbing very awkward; however, I reached the bottom

without damaging it, found my own lantern none the worse except

for a few dents and scratches, followed the bottom of the cave

until I reached the crevice, above which the others were standing

anxiously awaiting my reappearance. They lowered a rope and

hauled up the lantern, while I went back, found L.’s lantern in

two pieces, handed it up, and then proceeded in my search for the

bear.

I found him stone-dead under the overhanging ledge, but I could

hear something moving ahead of me the whole time; the cave was

pitch dark, was getting much lower and narrower, and turned two

sharp corners.

To get at the bear’s head I should have to crawl over him, and we

had no rope long enough to reach to where I was, besides which

the cave made so many zig-zags that it would in any case have

been impossible to haul the bear out without several of the party

coming down to assist; so pulling out some hair to show that I

had handled him, I returned, and offered to go on ahead of the

bear as a guard, with rifle and lantern, if some of the others

would bring the rope and do the hauling.

The noise ahead was probably made by cubs, but as I did not know

their size, and as it might have been a fourth bear, I did not

care to risk being attacked while I was tying up the quarry in a

place where I had no elbow-room.

L., I think wisely, decided that we had been very lucky in

recovering two bears and our lanterns without accident, and that

it would be folly to risk an almost certain mauling for the sake

of a third; so I came out, by no means unwillingly. I never

fancied the last part of the job--I could not have got the bear

out alone, and as two or three men on hands and knees in a narrow

cave must get in each other’s way in a scrimmage, a charge would

probably have ended badly.

I only escaped the first time through putting the lantern on one

side of me instead of at my feet, and through the cave at that

place being wide enough for the bear to pass by my side; very

likely also the fact of my standing on the stone, though it was

at the most two feet high, brought me a little above the level of

the bear’s eyes, and seeing the lantern he charged it.

The astonishing part of the whole thing was the rapidity with

which the bears came up the crevice. It was by no means an easy

climb for a man, and yet it hardly seemed to delay them at all.

There is a certain delicacy in this branch of sport that requires such

exceptional temperament and nerve that the writer can hardly feel

himself justified in recommending its practice, at all events to a

novice in the art.

The remaining varieties of the bear family found in India are somewhat

more rare than those already described. They are the Burmese bear

(_Ursus malayanus_), the Beluchistan bear (_Ursus gedrosianus_),

called by the natives ‘mamh,’ and a quaint looking piebald bear

(_Ailuropus melanoleucos_), discovered in Eastern Thibet by the Abbé

David. _U. malayanus_ resembles the Himalayan black bear but is

smaller, the white horse-shoe mark upon the chest of the Himalayan bear

being prolonged in a white stripe down the belly of _U. malayanus_. _U.

gedrosianus_ also resembles, but is smaller than, the Himalayan, but in

colour he is brownish instead of black.

_Measurements_

+------------------+----------+---------+-------+---------+-------+

| | Height | Length | | | |

| Authority | at | nose to | Girth | Forearm | Sex |

| | shoulder | tail | | | |

+------------------+----------+---------+-------+---------+-------|

| URSUS ISABELLINUS |

| | ins. | ins. | ins. | ins. | |

| Major FitzHerbert| 36 | 65 | 48 | 17 | Male |

| ” | .. | 57 | .. | .. | Female|

| Major Ward | .. | 82 | .. | .. | .. |

| | | | | | |

| URSUS TORQUATUS |

| Major Ward | .. | 78 | .. | .. | .. |

| Col. Howard | .. | 76½ | .. | .. | .. |

+------------------+----------+---------+-------+---------+-------+

+------------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+

| Authority | Height at | Length nose | Weight |

| | shoulder | to tail | |

+------------------+-----------+----------------+-----------|

| URSUS LABIATUS |

| | ins. | ins. | lbs. |

| Sanderson | 36 | about 72 | 280 |

| Sterndale | about 36 | 60 to 72 | 210 to 280|

| Major FitzHerbert| .. | 65 | .. |

| | | | |

| URSUS MALAYANUS |

| Sterndale | .. |not exceeding 54| .. |

| | | | |

| AILUROPUS MELANOLEUCOS |

| Sterndale | about 26 | about 58 | .. |

+------------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+

III. THE LION (_Felis leo_)

_Native names_: ‘_Sher-babbar_,’ ‘_Singh_,’ ‘_Unthia Bagh_’

The Indian lion differs little in appearance from the African variety,

the males of both being furnished with manes, though a _black_ mane is

unknown in India.

Lions are almost extinct in India, though there are still a few left in

Guzerat and Kutch, and natives occasionally bring in reports of them

in Central India; but the writer has not heard of one being shot in the

last district for many years. The lion is a less active animal than the

tiger, and apparently not so powerful; in every case of a fight between

the two occurring in a menagerie the tiger has invariably killed his

opponent.

Essentially a wanderer, the Indian lion avoids heavy forest as a rule,

preferring sandy hills covered with thin scrub and grass, and may be

tracked and shot on foot in a way that it would be foolhardiness to

attempt with a tiger. There is a capital account of the sport given in

the ‘Oriental Sporting Magazine,’ July 1876. The narrator came across

four males, shot one that charged him brilliantly, wounded and lost a

second, and missed a third.

Native shikaris declare that lions always put up for the day under

the same bushes, and that consequently if there is a lion about he is

generally easily found. It would be curious if African sportsmen could

corroborate this story.

Unlike tigers, there is a large preponderance of males to females among

full-grown lions, which is supposed to be attributable to the mortality

among female cubs in teething.

_Measurements_

+---------------+--------+----+--------+-----+----------+-------------+

| Authority | Total |Tail|Height |Girth| Weight | |

| | length | |at |of | | Remarks |

| | | |shoulder|chest| | |

+---------------+--------+----+--------+-----+----------+-------------+

| |ft. ins.|ins.| ins. |ins. | lbs. | |

| |{8 6} |{30}| | | | |

|Sterndale |{ to } |{to}| 42 | .. | .. | |

| |{9 6} |{36}| | | | |

| | | | | | | |

| ” quoting }| 8 9½ | .. | .. | .. |{ 490[16]| |

| Captain }| | | | |{(cleaned)| |

| Smee }| | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

|‘The Delhi }| | | | | | |

| Gazette’: }| 8 7 | 34 | 39 | 46 | .. | |

| a lion killed}| | | | | | |

| in Central }| | | | | | |

| India }| | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

|‘Oriental }| | | | | | |

| Sporting }| | | | | | |

| Magazine,’ }| 9 3 | .. | .. | .. | .. | |

| July 1876 }| | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

| | AFRICAN LION |

|Rowland Ward, }| | | | | { |F. C. |

|‘Horn }| .. | .. | .. | .. | 500 { |Selous, ‘A |

|Measurements’ }| | | | | { |Hunter’s |

| | | | | | { |Wanderings’ |

| | | | | | | |

| ” ” | .. | .. | .. | .. | 563 { |‘The Field,’ |

| | | | | | { |July 13, |

| | | | | | |1890 |

| | | | | | | |

| ” ” | .. | .. | .. | .. | 385 |J. S. Jameson|

+---------------+--------+----+--------+-----+----------+-------------+

IV. TIGER (_Felis tigris_)

The tiger is found throughout India wherever there is suitable jungle,

and extends through Burmah to the Malayan Archipelago and China, but is

not found in Ceylon. Sterndale says: ‘It has been found as far north as

the island of Saghalien, which is bisected by N. L. 50°. This is its

extreme north-eastern limit, the Caspian Sea[17] being its westerly

boundary. From parallel 50° downwards it is found in many parts of the

highlands of Central Asia.’

[Illustration: Howdah shooting]

The biggest tigers the writer has heard of are one of 13 ft. that

Sir Charles Reid quotes as having been shot by the late Sir Andrew

Waugh,[18] and one of 12 ft. 4 ins. quoted in a letter by Mr. F.

A. Shillingford to ‘The Asian’ as having been shot by Mr. C. A.

Shillingford of Munshye in 1849; and Williamson, writing about the

year 1805 of a tiger killed by Mr. Paul, the superintendent of the

Elephant Establishment at Daudpore, says: ‘The tiger proved to be the

largest ever killed on the Cossim Bazar island. The circumference of

the joint at his wrist was 26 ins.; he was 13 ft. and a few inches from

the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, and in a right line, taken

as he lay, from the sole of his forepaw to the tip of his withers,

between the shoulders, gave very nearly 4 ft. for his height.’ As

the old gentleman afterwards states that ‘nine in ten do not measure

10 ft.,’ it seems only fair to conclude that the above extraordinary

measurements were honestly taken of the beast as he lay before being

skinned.

Captain Forsyth’s division of tigers into three classes has been

generally accepted by sportsmen as a correct definition of their

habits. They are, as Sanderson writes: ‘Those which habitually prey

upon cattle; those which live upon game alone; and the few dreaded

individuals of their race that frequently prey upon human beings.’

None of these classes absolutely restrict themselves to one diet. The

cattle-lifter will kill game occasionally, the game-killer does not

despise a juicy young buffalo, nor does a man-eater live entirely on

human flesh; but in broad terms the game-killer, who is in reality one

of the villagers’ best friends in that he preys upon the wild pigs

and deer that ravage his crops, is an active wandering beast which

is proportionately hard to bring to bag, being generally met with by

chance.

The cattle-lifter is generally a stay-at-home old gentleman, averse

to travel, who takes two or three villages under his protection, and

lives, as far as they will allow him, on good terms with the people,

simply taking a cow, or a donkey, as his _droit du seigneur_ every

four or five days. Occasionally he may contract the wasteful habit

of knocking over two or three animals at a time out of a herd; but

this, as Sanderson points out, is the result of continual ill-judged

interference on the part of the cowherds. Buffaloes in a herd he is

too wary to meddle with, as he knows they will not hesitate to charge

him, and the small boys who pretend to look after them traverse the

tiger’s domain in perfect safety if mounted on the broad back of one of

their charges. In reality the buffaloes are sent out to look after the

children, and there is no better nursemaid than an old cow buffalo, who

combines perambulator and guardian in one.

Seldom do these tigers attack a man wantonly, and though when they

increase in numbers their system of taxation becomes oppressive, the

damage they do is often overrated. Forsyth gives the alarming figures

of 325_l._ to 650_l._ worth per annum for each tiger, but Sanderson

more justly cuts the estimate down to about 70_l._ He adds, ‘The tiger

might in turn justly present his little account for services rendered

in keeping down wild animals which destroy crops,’ and gives many

excellent arguments in favour of tigers.

The gravest charge against cattle-lifters is that they occasionally

turn man-eaters; the game-killer, according to Sanderson, never does.

As regards man-eaters, the crafty she-devils--they are generally

tigresses--often bring up their cubs to the same way of living. They

roam over a considerable tract of country, rarely staying long enough

in one place to afford a chance of beating them out like ordinary

tigers, killing perhaps on successive days at villages ten miles apart,

rendering the whole district helpless from terror. These are the

hardest brutes of all to destroy. The sportsman can get no help from

the natives, he can gain no knowledge of the brute’s conduct to assist

him in the pursuit; ceaseless hunting at all hours and in every method

available, hoping that luck may favour him at last, is his only chance

of ridding the country of its scourge. Even if he succeeds in killing

every tiger he finds in the district, he can never be sure of having

destroyed the real culprit; he may have driven it away only to return

after his departure. There may be more than one man-eater at work, or

it may very possibly be a panther that is doing the real damage, which

he might refrain from firing at, like Sterndale, for fear of spoiling

his chance of a tiger. Unless the beast is caught red-handed, time

alone will prove its destruction.

Well may the unhappy villagers attribute to it supernatural powers,

declaring that the spirits of its victims ride on its forehead, and

that even, as Forsyth relates, a corpse raises its arm to warn the

tiger of the hidden shikari. Well may they magnify its size, declaring

it has a white moon on its forehead, and its belly sweeps the ground.

Till all killing has ceased for some months no man dare pursue his

usual avocation or travel to the nearest village alone.

Tiger shooting may be broadly divided into three classes, viz.:

shooting from elephants; driving with beaters to guns posted in trees;

sitting up over kills. The first method is that usually employed in

the high grass jungles of the Terai. The ordinary plan, if a tiger is

marked down into a particular patch of grass, is to send one or two

guns ahead to prevent the creature slinking out, and these guns should,

if possible, be posted in trees, as the restless movements of the

elephants will almost invariably head the tiger back, and the elephant

is better employed with the line. Of course, if it is considered

desirable to hem the tiger in till the line gets up, elephants should

be posted ahead, but a man in a tree will as a rule get a better chance

than if he were on an elephant. The forward guns being posted, the line

beats up to them with guns on the flanks and the pad elephants in the

centre; if there are more than two guns with the line, the remainder

distribute themselves along it. The elephants should not, if possible,

be more than twelve yards apart at starting, and if a tiger is wounded

should be closed up till they almost touch one another, as the

elephants and their mahouts will gain confidence, and the formidable

aspect of the close line will prevent most tigers from attempting to

charge home; short half-hearted attacks he may make, but the line will

stand firm, for the mahouts are under too close supervision and have

hardly room to turn their elephants round; the guns on the flanks are

also close enough to protect the whole line.

To hear of tigers making good their charges and springing on to

elephants’ heads sounds very nice and exciting, but nothing is more

demoralising to the elephants, especially at the beginning of a trip,

and every precaution should be taken to save your elephants from

getting mauled; for, if injured, many of them never recover confidence,

and become absolutely worthless for tiger shooting afterwards. Forsyth

mentions an instance of an elephant dying of wounds received from a

tiger. It is all very fine for the sportsman to take a charge, standing

in a howdah perched on the back of a large tusker; but it is a very

different thing for the opium-sodden nerves of an unarmed mahout riding

a small timid pad elephant. Close order is the only safe formation

for pad elephants, and should invariably be adopted. If the tiger is

marked into a particular bush, the line may be halted, and the howdah

elephants alone be taken up to engage him; but until the mahouts have

thorough confidence in the guns a fight is better avoided.

It is a good plan to reward all the mahouts engaged after a successful

hunt, and the douceur should be bestowed on the spot, or at latest

the same evening on return to camp; any mahout misconducting himself

of course forfeits the reward. A wounded tiger rarely goes far before

lying up, and there is really less chance of a close line missing him

than an extended one, as with the latter he may crouch and be passed

over.

Ringing tigers with a large number of elephants, as practised in the

Nepal Terai, is merely a variation of the ordinary method, and is thus

described by Sir E. Durand:

The usual method is to send men ahead the day before, to tie up

buffaloes in all the likely places round the place selected for

camp, then beat up the jungle with a long line of three or four

hundred elephants. If a kill is found, the flanks of the line

gradually get forward and wheel inwards, and on a tiger being

seen the flanks sweep round as rapidly as possible and form a

ring round the patch of jungle the tiger is supposed to be in.

If the tiger breaks out, fast elephants are sent in pursuit at

once to head him and try to detain him till a fresh ring can be

formed. On one occasion, when a kill had been found, both flanks

of the line of elephants had gradually been creeping forward till

they were almost at right angles to the centre, which still kept

steadily advancing. Suddenly, although apparently no news had

been passed up, a sort of electric current seemed to run through

the line; then bugles sounded right and left, and the movement

became hurried. The Maharajah (Bir Shumshir of Nepal) and I then

stopped to mount our howdah elephants (as we had hitherto been

riding pads), and, advancing on them, found ourselves outside

a ready-formed ring of elephants, some two hundred yards in

diameter, encircling a lovely glade in the forest, damp and

cool, with tall green reeds and scattered trees. A tiger had

been viewed, and the question now was, whether he was inside the

ring or not. Orders were now given for the ring to close very

slowly and steadily, till it had contracted to a circle of about

a hundred yards, and the elephants were in some places standing

two deep. A halt was now made to complete the formation; gaps had

to be filled up here and there, and big tuskers sent round to any

weak points where a number of small elephants had got together,

to give them confidence in case of a charge. The Maharajah and

I then entered the ring, and took up a position on our howdah

elephants, between where we thought the tiger was lying hid and

the heaviest cover. I have seen several tigers break the ring and

escape for the time when this precaution has not been observed.

Three big tuskers, which had accompanied us to rouse the tiger,

then began moving about very quietly, lifting up a tangle of

grass here, shaking a bush there; for tigers in these rings lie

very close, the elephants invariably making a masterly retreat

immediately pending the result of each special inquiry. Suddenly,

not fifty paces from us, a lovely tigress with a glitter of

gold on her flanks appeared, standing listening and motionless.

As we had detected no movement she must have been crouching in

the short grass and risen to her feet. We usually took it in

turn to fire first, and as it was the Maharajah’s shot, and our

elephants were standing side by side, I leant over my howdah and

touched his arm. He fired hurriedly, and with a whoop of anger

the lady answered the shot and sprang into a thick bed of high

reeds. Thinking she was hit, we went round and posted ourselves

again between the reeds and the line of elephants on the far

side. We had hardly settled ourselves when there was a deliberate

rush, beginning some thirty yards from us, and the charge came

straight and true. When within three yards of the tusks of the

Maharajah’s elephant she met her fate, and rolled over and over

like a rabbit, almost between the lowered tusks of the elephant,

with a bullet through the head, and never moved again. The

Maharajah’s elephant, usually impassive and unhysterical, had

actually been so far shaken by the decided nature of the charge

that he had moved and forced his rider to sit down just at the

critical moment. The noise of the charge and the shot roused up

her mate, a heavy, long tiger, who gave me a chance as he walked

quietly between two patches of cover about sixty yards off, and

I dropped him with an Express bullet through the shoulder. Now

began a performance that I never like, and for which the only

excuse is the fear--a very real one--that if the howdah elephants

get mauled they no longer remain absolutely staunch and reliable.

The game is, that when a tiger is wounded in thick cover, the

big tuskers are sent in to move him. It is often a very funny

sight as the tiger goes for them and they find pressing business

on the other side of the ring, whilst the careful way they hunt

for him or break down a tree to fall near him and stir him, and

then clear out, is quite a study. The mischief is that they are

often caught, and on this occasion three of them were caught by

the tiger, one after the other. The tiger once was swinging under

a big tusker’s head and getting his hind leg up; for a moment we

thought he would pull the elephant down, but the latter managed

to shake him off. The Maharajah and I then went in and killed the

tiger before he had time to get in a fair charge at us.

On some occasions we have had as many as three, four, or even

five tigers in one ring, and the excitement is of course

proportionate. Then, though a purist would object that the whole

thing is not real sport, it is most interesting from beginning

to end: the careful search for the tiger, always an excitement

in itself, the ringing, the doubt whether you have him inside

or not, his break, perhaps, before or after the ring is formed,

and the mad rush of shouting mahouts and crashing elephants

to head him and surround him again; the lesser life that goes

whirling up overhead when the tuskers search the ground--peacock,

jungle-fowl, partridge--or the blundering gallop round the ring

of a frightened boar, the rush of terrified hogdeer or chital;

and perhaps, at last, a circus performance on the part of the

tiger himself, who will gallop round the ring, his tail whirling

like that of an angry cat, trying the circle here and there with

a hoarse, grunting charge, which is met by a volley of abuse and

cudgels flung by the mahouts, and by shrill trumpetings on the

part of the elephants, backing with fright. All this tends to

make a Nepalese tiger ring an interesting and an exciting show,

even before the tiger charges the howdah elephants, which he

seems to recognise at once as the real enemies he has to fear.

The second way of hunting tigers by beating them out is that generally

practised in Central India, Bombay, and Madras; here, though a few

elephants may be employed as they are in Central India, their chief use

is for following up wounded animals, and not for obtaining the first

shots. The circumstances of tiger hunting in these two districts are

entirely different.

Instead of the seas of high grass in which tigers are found in the

Terai, the usual beats in Central and Southern India are densely

wooded ravines, often with precipitous banks. The modes of hunting

vary slightly in different districts, but the method perfected by the

Central India Horse parties is the one generally adopted. It is as

follows: a line of country for the party is decided upon, and the camp

is preceded by three or four pairs of shikaris, who practically form a

line of scouts ten or twelve miles ahead of the camp. These men visit

all the known tiger nullahs, and on obtaining information from the

villagers tie up young male buffaloes (the cheapest animals that can

be bought, as they are of little use except to train as pack animals,

and even then are not as good as bullocks for the purpose) as baits in

all the likely spots within reach of the village; the baits are visited

next morning, and reports of kills sent in to headquarters. The head

of the party, after receiving the reports from all the country round,

is then able to decide on his plan of operations, selects one or more

beats for the day’s work, and orders the remainder of the shikaris

to keep on tying up. The shikaris of the beat selected assemble the

beaters, sixty or a hundred men being engaged according to the ground.

Operations begin about noon, when the tigers are pretty sure to be

lying up. The guns, usually four in number, as there is rarely room

for more, draw lots for their trees (this is generally done for each

beat), and take up their positions as quietly as possible. Each gun is

accompanied by his gun-carrier, and is provided with a leather bottle

of water and a stout leather cushion two feet square, with eyelet-holes

at the corners and ropes to sling it.

The cushion is lashed up in the tree so that the sportsman’s left

shoulder is towards the beat; loops of rope are arranged as stirrups

to prevent an attack of pins and needles in his legs, and another loop

should be passed loosely round his body and fastened to the trunk or to

a strong bough, so that he can lean well over without fear of falling;

the small boughs that would interfere with his shooting are cut away as

noiselessly as possible with a green-wood saw. The gun-carrier is sent

to another tree, about a hundred yards in rear; the sportsman takes a

good pull at his water-bottle and sits, slowly frying in the sun, till

the beat strikes up. He will now appreciate the precautions he has

taken of wearing a good big hat, a thick cummerbund round his waist,

and a cotton quilt down his back. In the meantime men have been posted

as stops along the flanks of the beat and in places where the tiger may

break out; these are of course either up trees or on high rocks, and

their orders are merely to clap their hands if the tiger tries to break

out. The slightest noise ahead will suffice to turn a tiger. As a rule

the guns are not allowed to smoke, and this, not so much from fear lest

he should wind the tobacco, as because, if he hears a match struck,

he will perhaps crouch till the beaters come up to him, and then dash

back through them. The beaters form line under the direction of all the

available shikaris (the four or five elephants that may be out being

distributed along the line), and advance towards the guns making all

the noise they can with tomtoms, horns, rattles and their own sweet

voices. If matters go smoothly the tiger will walk with long swinging

strides close past one of the guns, and be either dropped on the spot,

the point of the shoulder being the place to aim at, or will dash on

with a loud ‘wough’ towards the gun-carrier in rear, who should be able

to mark him down. He may, however, particularly if he has been driven

before, creep on just ahead of the beaters, hide before he reaches the

guns till the last moment, and then come out at a gallop. If he has to

cross an open glade, he will almost invariably bound across, pulling up

to a walk in the cover of the far side.

Probably the first things that the sportsman will see will be a herd of

chital trooping quietly past his tree, or he will hear an irresolute

tread among the dry leaves coming closer and closer, till the head of

a peacock peers round a bush, instantly detects him--for no man ever

yet hid from a peacock--and the bird scurries off with a squawk. A bear

may come shambling by, or a panther walk right under his tree, but the

first shot must be reserved for the tiger; when that is fired anyone

may take his choice. The sure signs of either a tiger or panther being

in the beat are when the monkeys begin swearing or peafowl get up with

a peculiar ‘kok-kok.’ Monkeys running along the ground is a bad sign

for sport, but not an absolute guide.

As soon as the first shot is fired the beaters are stopped, and either

sent up trees or collected in masses on rocks or high ground. The

elephants come up to the guns, and the head of the party details one or

two guns to get round the wounded tiger and force him back up to the

other guns, who remain in their trees--this is when the fun begins. The

tiger’s every move will be probably observed by some of the men in the

trees; he can hardly get away, and has every inducement to show fight.

If a tiger is killing near camp, there is a good deal of sport to be

had by going round the baits in the morning oneself. If one of them

is taken, a wide circuit should be made round the cover with a good

tracker to ensure the tiger being at home. An inner circuit may be then

made to determine his approximate position, and to do this well without

disturbing him requires great care and skill; but the knowledge so

gained is invaluable in beating for him afterwards.

In Bombay and Madras elephants are not generally used, and, instead

of the square cushions to sit on, light bamboo ladders are carried

and set up against trees or clumps of bamboo where cushions could

not be slung, the top of the ladder being lashed to the tree or

bush, and the sportsman seating himself on one of the rungs. Many

sportsmen praise these highly, as being easier to erect and giving

more choice of position; but, on the other hand, they entail an extra

man to accompany the sportsman to his tree, and are more conspicuous.

Accidents of course happen equally to both; men have been taken out of

their cushions, and ladders have been upset. The district in which the

sportsman has received his training usually decides his choice of gear.

The want of elephants, however, in Bombay and Madras obliges the guns

to follow up their wounded tigers on foot. The orthodox procedure is

to form a picked force of beaters and shikaris into a solid triangle,

the apex and flanks being formed by the guns. Every man should provide

himself before starting with all the stones he can carry; the wounded

tiger is generally given a considerable time to stiffen--two hours if

they can be spared may well be spent thus. The trail is then followed

at a slow pace, every bush being well stoned before it is approached,

far more passed; at every tree the party is halted and a man sent up

to look, and if a tracker is necessary, he moves close under the guns

of the two sportsmen who form the apex. If the natives can only be

persuaded to keep together, with cool guns and fairly open ground like

the bamboo jungles of Southern India, there is no excessive danger;

but the writer’s experience of the work was that for the first hundred

yards the men kept together pretty well, but would go too fast; then

they became careless, and as the danger really increased began to

straggle. Being single-handed, though there was another party working

parallel to him at about fifty yards distance, the writer was unable

to keep his men in order, and by the time the tiger was found, luckily

dead, by the other party, his followers were all over the place.

The subjoined account by Captain Lamb gives a good idea of what may be

expected to take place without trained men:

As soon as the beaters came up we [Major Mansel and himself] had

awful trouble to prevent them scattering about in the jungle.

We waited about twenty minutes, and then started to follow the

tiger up. We took twenty men and formed them four deep, close up

and shoulder to shoulder, M. and I going in front. We impressed

upon the men that they were on no account to leave the square,

and sent two men on each flank up trees to examine the ground

in front. We could easily track the tiger by his blood, and in

one place found what looked like a piece of his liver. We knew

he could not go far, especially as he was full of cow. Some of

the men began to wander a little, and we had to abuse them to

make them keep their places. The trail led us through dry grass

up to our knees, but not very thick, and growing under scattered

young trees. After going about two hundred yards we heard the

tiger growling, but he must have moved on. We could still follow

him by his blood. Another hundred yards, and we could hear him

distinctly. The square began to break, and several men started

shinning up trees; M. shouted ‘Look out,’ and the words were

not out of his mouth when the tiger came, his tail up, his mane

on end, at a gallop, roaring and making straight for us. He was

about twenty yards off when he first came out, and looked an

awful devil, being almost black from rolling in the ashes where

the jungle had been burnt. M. fired at him when he was about

ten yards off, and he swerved a little to his right, passing M.

within five yards. I was on M.’s right and could not fire before,

but as the tiger passed I turned and fired behind M.’s back;

there was a cloud of dust, and at first we only heard a thud, and

could not see whether the tiger had gone on or not; as the dust

cleared, we saw him lying stone-dead. It was a very lucky shot

through the neck, as by this time the square was in full retreat,

the men scattering all about and falling over each other. The

front rank and part of the second alone stood firm, so if the

tiger had gone on he would certainly have mauled one or two of

the natives. He measured 9 ft. 9 ins. as he lay.

The worst part of getting a native hurt is, that though it almost

invariably happens through his own wilful disobedience of orders, the

news spreads like wildfire through the district, and makes it very hard

for the party to procure beaters. Rustum Ali, the villagers argue, was

a brave man; he didn’t fear tigers, we have seen him throw stones at

tigers, and he went out with those sahibs and got killed--the said

Rustum having met with his death by getting out of his tree and going

to get a drink of water while the guns were following up a wounded

tiger, or some equally nonsensical breach of orders. Accidents of

course do happen, even when all precautions are observed, but the

majority of them are occasioned by the natives’ own carelessness.

Natives are often very unwilling to give information about tigers,

partly from fear of being turned out to beat, and partly from the

universal idea that the tiger, if he escapes, or his mate, if he is

killed, will take vengeance on them. They often also consider it

unlucky to mention his name, and talk of him as a jackal, precisely as

in Sweden a bear is never talked of as such.

Sitting up for a tiger over a kill or bait is the least amusing and

least certain of any method of hunting him, but often in large forests

which cannot be beaten, or where the sportsman is single-handed and

without elephants, it is the only way to get a shot.

[Illustration: ‘THE FRONT RANK AND PART OF THE SECOND ALONE STOOD FIRM’]

The erection of the platform, or ‘machan,’ too frequently disturbs the

tiger and drives him away. If the sportsman can procure baits, a good

plan is to select a good place for a machan before tying up; tether

lightly so that the tiger may drag the carcase away. Make the machan

when the first bait is taken, tie up again till he kills again in the

same place, and about three days after the second kill tie up again and

sit over it. The best machan is a cot with low rails round the edge,

fitted with ropes to sling it in a tree. The sportsman’s blankets and

pillows can be spread in it, he himself can lie comfortably at full

length watching the bait or kill, there are no sticks to crackle and

make a noise; and when the moon goes down or he has had his shot, he

can turn round and sleep as one only sleeps in the open. The sportsman

should be at his post by four o’clock in the afternoon, as if the tiger

means coming he will probably come early. Sanderson says he enjoys

the sport; it’s pleasant enough if the tiger comes soon, but if he

puts off his visit to 3 A.M., as happened to the writer, who was at

that hour peacefully sleeping and never woke up, the entertainment is

mediocre. Allowing a native to perch on the same tree is ruination to

sport: cough he must; besides, the jungle man is unsavoury, and the

evening air seems to make him smell worse than usual. If a kill is

found in the jungle and the sportsman decides to sit over it, General

Macintyre’s plan is worth trying; i.e. take some men up to the tree,

let them talk loudly, or shout while the machan is being prepared, and

then retire talking or shouting, according as the tiger is supposed to

be bold or timid. He will very likely come at once, as their voices die

away, not to eat, but to see if they have removed the kill. This often

succeeds where professional skinners are in the habit of saving what

they can of the hides of kills. Lieutenant-Colonel Fife Cookson, in his

book ‘Tiger Shooting in the Doon and Ulwar,’ gives a curious account of

a tiger stalking a bait:

Suddenly there emerged from underneath the trees a

brownish-yellow object which appeared about the size of a monkey,

and for a moment, in the failing light, I thought it was one. It

darted rapidly along the bare ground for about twenty yards at a

time, moving towards the bullock, and stopping at the end of each

run behind one of the tufts of grass about two feet high, over

which it peeped, then sinking down again and gliding forward as

before. It was now nearer, and by this time I could see that it

was not one of the monkeys; but still I could not clearly make

out what it was. It reminded me of a very ugly, large, yellow

and black mask at a pantomime. I could see no legs or body.

Now it reached a tuft about forty yards from me, over which it

also peeped, staring intently at the bullock. By this time I

was convinced that it was the tiger, though it looked about the

size and shape of a horse’s head. The curious appearance which

the tiger had presented at a distance of about seventy yards,

in shape like the head of a horse with the chin touching the

ground, was no doubt owing to my seeing his forepaws underneath

and part of his back foreshortened over the top of his head. What

most particularly struck me was the small object which the tiger

appeared during the stalk. It must be remembered that, although I

perhaps saw a little of the back between his ears, I was looking

down upon him from a much higher level, and that if I had been

on the ground I should probably have seen nothing but his head.

Thus the tiger was evidently able to hide himself behind any tuft

of grass which was large enough to conceal his head. Another

remarkable thing was the position in which he held his head.

It was no longer in the usual attitude, with the nose in the

air, as when the animal is walking about; but the face was held

vertically, the chin being drawn in, and the forehead pressed

forward, thus displaying its black stripes and markings, together

with the intent stare of the large eyes. This greatly added to

its sinister appearance.

Williamson describes another variety of sitting up, the sportsman being

enclosed in a strong bamboo cage and playing the part of bait himself,

being armed with two or three spears:

Being accompanied by a dog, which gives the alarm, or by a goat,

which by its agitation answers the same purpose, the adventurer

wraps himself up in his quilt, and very composedly goes to sleep

in full confidence of his safety. When the tiger comes, and

perhaps after smelling all round begins to rear against the cage,

the man stabs him with one of the spears, through the interstices

of the wickerwork, and rarely fails at destroying the tiger.

The writer heard of an instance of this being tried by a European, with

a cage made of iron. Unfortunately the bars were set too far apart, and

the tiger got his paw through and slew that adventurer.

Williamson also narrates the old story--possibly it was taken from

his book--of tigers being caught by covering leaves with birdlime;

it was told him by a Mahommedan gentleman of the Court of the Nabob

Vizier of Oude. Sanderson gives a capital account of tiger-netting,

as practised in Mysore, and describes the various traps occasionally

used by natives. The late Maharajah of Patiala, about 1872, had a tiger

that had been trapped in the hills turned out on the plain outside

the town, he and his guests being mounted on elephants. Of course the

whole of the populace assembled to see the fun, forming a large circle

round the plain. The tiger, on being released where there was not

sufficient cover for a quail, selected as his point of exit the buggy

of a native gentleman, who sought refuge between the wheels; his groom,

being unfortunately in the way as the tiger cleared the conveyance, was

knocked over, but luckily more frightened than hurt. The tiger then

took refuge in a garden, pursued by the elephants. On their arrival at

the spot the gardener was found placidly pursuing his avocation, and,

on being asked if he had seen the beast, imprudently pointed him out.

The tiger at once sprang on the man, upset him and bolted; but as he

was now heading for the English doctor’s stables he was considered to

be becoming dangerous, and was cleverly shot by the Maharajah.

Sanderson, in describing the way a tiger attacks and kills his prey,

says that in attacking a bison his object is to get the latter to

charge, and then, avoiding the rush, to follow on the instant and

endeavour to emasculate the bull by striking him behind. In killing

cattle he writes:

The general method is for the tiger to slink up under cover of

bushes or long grass, ahead of the cattle in the direction they

are feeding, and to make a rush at the first cow or bullock that

comes within five or six yards. The tiger does not _spring_

upon his prey in the manner usually represented. Clutching the

bullock’s fore-quarters with his paws, one being generally over

the shoulder, he seizes the throat in his jaws from underneath,

and turns it upwards and over, sometimes springing to the far

side in doing so, to throw the bullock over, and give the wrench

which dislocates its neck.

Sir S. Baker writes that while lions and cheetahs (_Felis jubata_) use

their paws in striking down their prey at the moment of capture, tigers

apparently never do. Sanderson points out that Forsyth, as also Captain

Baldwin in his ‘Large and Small Game of Bengal,’ agree that tigers

seize by the back of the neck, and then give the dislocating wrench.

The writer noticed the fang-marks on a good many kills in Central

India, and certainly they appeared from their position rather low

down, apparently too much so to have been inflicted by a bite on the

back of the neck--a tiger’s jaw is not very long--to entirely support

Sanderson’s description. As regards a tiger’s powers of springing,

Sanderson says he has often measured the bounds of tigers that have

pursued deer, and found 15 ft. to be about the distance they usually

spring.

The writer particularly noticed the way a tiger sprang at an elephant:

he did not bound from a distance at all, but simply galloped up till

he was just under the elephant’s ear-hole, and then sprang vertically

upwards, placing his forepaws on the elephant’s head, and there he

hung till the elephant shook him off. A tiger can with ease get his

forepaws on to an object twelve to fifteen feet from the ground; but he

seems clumsy in getting sufficient hold with his hind paws to enable

him to proceed after his first spring. Sanderson says that tigresses

do not breed at any fixed season. Sterndale states that they go with

young for about fifteen weeks, and produce from two to five at a birth.

Sanderson gives four as an unusually large number; the writer saw six

taken out of a tigress, but probably these would not all have been born

alive. He also saw a tigress with four cubs which must have been nearly

a year old, one of them which was shot measuring 4 ft. 9 ins. Mr.

Shillingford’s memorandum quoted by Sterndale is interesting:

Cubs one year old measure {Males 4½ ft. to 5½ ft.

{Females 4 ” 5 ”

” two years ” {Males 5½ ” 7 ”

{Females 5 ” 6½ ”

” three years ” {Males 7 ” 8½ ”

{Females 6½ ” 7½ ”

When they reach three years of age they lose their ‘milk canines,’

which are replaced by permanent fangs, and at this period the mother

leaves them to cater for themselves, the tigress breeding once in three

years.

Mr. Shillingford also notes that out of 53 cubs (18 mothers) 29 were

males, and 22 females, the sex of two cubs not being given. This tends

to prove that there are an equal number of each sex born,[19] the

marked preponderance of adult tigresses over tigers being accounted

for by most writers by the native story that the male tigers kill the

young male cubs. The writer offers another suggestion: may not the

young male tigers as soon as they leave their mothers avoid the domains

of the heavy old cattle-lifters, and taking to the hills and forest

form the game-killing class, till they are powerful enough to succeed

to the estates of their sires, either by force or by inheritance,

owing to their sire having met with an accident when entertaining a

sahib, and so settle down and take wives? The writer has no proof to

give in support of this suggestion, but merely offers it for sportsmen

to consider. With respect to the common native story that the age of

tigers may be told by the number of lobes in their livers, the writer

made the following observations in Central India: Tigress, 6 lobes;

tiger, 8 lobes; tigress, 7 lobes; cub (male), 6 lobes; male panther, 7

lobes; tigress, 7 lobes; tiger, 8 lobes; tigress, 7 lobes; tigress (a

very old light-coloured one), 7 lobes; tiger, 7 lobes.

Sanderson says he has shot tigers and panthers with from 9 to 15 lobes.

An article on the age of tigers as shown by their length, written by

Mr. F. A. Shillingford for ‘The Asian’ and copied in ‘Land and Water,’

August 30, 1890, appears to be worth quoting:

It was the opinion of the late Mr. Joe Shillingford that

in Bengal and the Nepal Terai, at all events, tigers, as

distinguished from tigresses, did not attain full maturity until

they attained a length of over 10 ft., measured ‘sportsman’s

style,’ and that occasionally they attain a length of 11 ft., and

that the 12 ft. tiger shot by the late Mr. C. A. Shillingford was

an exceptional monster, like the exceptional tigress, 10 ft. 2

ins. in length, shot in 1867, and in these opinions I entirely

concur. I have a collection of over a hundred tiger skulls, and

in no case are the parietal sutures obliterated from old age of

skulls of tigers below 10½ ft. in length.

Tigers take to water readily, and swim higher out of the water than

most animals.

Elephants who take matters into their own hands and charge at tigers

are exceedingly dangerous in the field, particularly after a tiger

has been killed and men are dismounting to pad it. All the elephants

in such a case, except the one destined to carry the beast, should be

taken away from near the carcase; they are more or less in an excited

state, and are apt to mistake a man in the grass for another tiger. The

writer remembers being on an elephant that stood perfectly steady for

the shot, but as soon as the tiger was killed--it was within a few feet

of her--it was all the mahout could do to prevent her charging it.

The elephant has a way of playing football with an animal which though

diverting to a spectator is awkward for the man in the howdah. The

elephant performs a kind of war dance over the carcase, kicking it

about between his feet, lifting it with the front of the hindfoot and

returning it from the back of the forefoot till tired, when he places

one ponderous hindfoot upon it and squashes it flat. If an elephant

has been mauled, it is not at all a bad plan to let it play with the

carcase of its enemy; but everything should be taken out of the howdah,

and the skin will not be worth much afterwards.

Two other serious dangers that have to be guarded against in tiger

shooting are bees and red ants. Bees generally hang their hives from

boughs of trees or on the face of rocks, but often they have them in

high grass, and an elephant pushing his way through disturbs them,

rendering them exceedingly aggressive, whilst a shot fired near them

is quite enough to make them attack. Deaths of men and animals from

their stings have often been recorded; they almost always go at the

head, and the best way of escaping is to cover the head with a blanket,

which should invariably be placed in each howdah. The mahouts always

sit on theirs. Oddly enough, if the head is covered the rest of the

body, even of unclad natives, usually escapes their attentions. A nest

of red ants, though not so dangerous, is quite enough to put anyone

to flight, as they bite unmercifully and leave their nippers in. No

one would ever think of climbing a tree with a bee’s nest in it, but

equal care should be taken that red ants, which are hard to detect,

are not in it also; an inspection of the trunk will usually decide the

question, especially if the boughs touch nothing else. In selecting

camping grounds particular attention to these points is also necessary;

most servants do not take the trouble to look up into the trees, and

will light their fires under a bee’s nest till they have been properly

stung once; but their carelessness may result in the loss of ponies’ or

even men’s lives.

Sanderson remarks on the danger of firing at a tiger’s head except at

very close ranges. The writer saw an instance of this in a tigress

hit on the side of the head with an Express bullet; she dropped in

her tracks, lying with her head underneath her for nearly a minute,

when she recovered, went back into the jungle, and gave a good deal

of trouble afterwards, charging the elephants freely. A shot through

the shoulder is far more likely to be effective. A tiger seems rather

a soft beast, and nearly always drops on receiving his first wound,

though he picks himself up pretty quickly. Subsequent wounds have

comparatively little effect on any animal, and another curious thing

that the writer has noticed is that wounded animals nearly always lie

down on their wounded side.

Tigers do not seem to be very particular as to what they eat. Sterndale

records an instance of their eating carrion; Sanderson gives a story

of three tigers killing and eating a fourth, and of their eating

bears; and Colonel Kinloch told the writer of his finding a snow bear

killed by a tiger in Chumba, on barasingh ground. Tigers seem to be

yearly penetrating deeper into the Himalayas; probably they follow the

ever-increasing herds of cattle that come up from the plains in the

summer to graze.

Sterndale gives an ingenious formula for finding the length of a tiger

from its skull. For details the reader is referred to his book.

In the following list of measurements only tigers of 10 ft. or over are

mentioned except where weights are given and of exceptionally large

tigresses. The system of recording tigers’ weights as shot does not

appear satisfactory. Those which scaled over 500 lbs. must surely have

included a good deal of beef.

_Measurements_

+------------+------+----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+------+

|Authority |Total |Tail|Height|Girth|Girth|Girth|Length|Breadth|Weight|

| |length| |at |of |of |of |of |of |as |

| | | |shoul-|chest|fore-|upper|skull |skull |shot |

| | | |der | |arm |arm | | | |

| +------+----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+------+

| | Remarks |

+------------+------+----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+------+

| | ft. |ft. | ins. |ins. |ins. |ins. | ins. | ins. | lbs. |

| | ins. |ins.| | | | | | | |

|Gen. Sir C. |12 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Reid, K.C.B.| Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’ (skin measured 13 ft. 5 in.) |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Lieut.-Col. |12 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Boileau, | | | | | | | | | |

|1861 | Sterndale |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Col. Ramsay |12 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Hon. R. |11 9 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Drummond, | | | | | | | | | |

|C.S. | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Col. |11 8 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shakespeare | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Gen. Sir C. |11 6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Reid, K.C.B.| ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Sterndale, |11 6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|‘Meade | | | | | | | | | |

|Shell’ | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. F. A. |11 5 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shillingford| Letter to ‘The Asian,’ ‘Land and Water’, Aug. 30, 1890 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |11 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |11 0 |3 6¾| 43 | .. | .. | .. | 15¼ | 10½ | .. |

| | Ditto (skull quoted by Sterndale now in Calcutta Museum) |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |11 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |11 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |11 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Sir G. Yule |11 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. |11 0 |3 4 | 43 | 54 | 26 | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shillingford| Shot in Purneah |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 2 |3 1 | 45 | 73 | 34 | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | Shot in S. India |

| | Quoted by Sterndale to compare the bulk of tigers in |

| | Bengal and S. India |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. F. A. |10 10 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shillingford| Letter to ‘The Asian’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 10 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. |10 9½|3 6½| 43 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shillingford| Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 8½|3 5½| 44½ | 55 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Sir J. |10 8 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Fayrer | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. F. A. |10 8 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shillingford| Letter to ‘The Asian’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 7 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 7 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| ” ” |10 6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Gen. Sir C. |10 6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Reid, K.C.B.| Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Col. J. |10 4 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Macdonald | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Maharajah of|10 2½|3 2½| 39½ | 48½ | 20 | 26½ | .. | .. | 530 |

|Kuch Behar | Letter to ‘The Asian’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 2½| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 493 |

| | Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. F. A. |10 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Shillingford| ‘The Asian,’ ‘Land and Water’, Aug. 30, 1890 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Sir E. |10 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Durand, | [20] | | | | | | | | |

|Bart. | Nepal, Jan. 18, 1891 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Maharajah of|10 1½|3 1 | 44¾ | 54 | 21 | 29 | 15¾ | .. | .. |

|Kuch Behar | ‘The Asian’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 1 |3 3½| 41 | 56 | 19½ | 26 | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Forsyth, |10 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|‘Highlands | | | | | | | | | |

|Central | | | | | | | | | |

|India’ | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Maharajah of|10 0 |3 1 | 40 | 52 | 21 | 26 | .. | .. | 540 |

|Kuch Behar | ‘The Asian’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” |10 0 |3 2 | 40 | 51 | 18¾ | 29 | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 10 |3 0 | 41½ | 47½ | 18½ | 26½ | .. | .. | 426 |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 6 |3 1 | 38 | 52 | 19 | 29 | .. | .. | 481 |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 5 |3 1 | 38¼ | 49 | 18 | 26 | .. | .. | 420 |

| | ” ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|‘Deccan | 9 10 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 432½ |

| Ranger,’ | | | | | | | | | |

|‘Oriental | Tiger |

|Sporting | | | | | | | | | |

|Magazine,’ | | | | | | | | | |

|1876 | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 10 |3 1 | 46 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 425 |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 6 |2 11| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 370 |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 6 |3 2 | 45 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 447½ |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 330 |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 0 |3 0 | 42 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 282 |

| | Tigress |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 8 11 |2 9 | 39 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 245 |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 8 8 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 285 |

| | Tiger |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 8 5 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 256 |

| | Tigress |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 8 5 |2 9 | 39 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 253 |

| | ” |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Mr. H. L. | 9 10 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Heber Percy | [20] | ” Nepal, Feb. 12, 1891 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 2½| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | [20] | ” ” Jan. 31, 1891 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | 9 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | | ” ” Jan. 21, 1891 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|The Writer | 9 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” Central India, May 23, 1876 |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Col. Gordon |}9 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Cumming, |}9 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|‘Wild Men | ” |

|and Wild | | | | | | | | | |

|Beasts’ | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Capt. Lamb | 9 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | ” Central India |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Sir E. | 9 0 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

|Durand, | [20] | ” Nepal, Jan. 17, 1891 |

|Bart. | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Sanderson, | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 349½ |

|‘Thirteen | | | | | | | | | |

|Years among | | | | | | | | | |

|the Wild | | | | | | | | | |

|Beast’ | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Rowland | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 14½ | 10 | .. |

|Ward’s | | | | | | | | | |

|Collection | Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’ |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Average of | 9 6 |3 1 | 42 | 48 | 18 | 26 | .. | .. | 420 |

|full-grown | | | | | | | | | |

|tiger | | | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

|Average of | 8 4 |2 10| 39 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 265 |

|full-grown | | | | | | | | | |

|tigress | | | | | | | | | |

+------------+------+----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+------+

V. PANTHER (_Felis Pardus_)

_Native names: generally, ‘Chita’; in the Himalayas, ‘Lagá Bagá’; in

Central India, ‘Téndwá’_

The panther is common all over India, Burmah, and Ceylon, but does not

cross the snow-line of the Himalayas, being replaced beyond the range

by the ounce. Sterndale gives two varieties, the pard and the panther,

describing the pard as being larger, the spots more clearly defined in

rosettes, and the skull longer and more pointed than the panther’s.

Sanderson also gives two varieties with the same distinctions, but

calls Sterndale’s pard the panther, and Sterndale’s panther the leopard.

This is in itself perplexing to the ordinary sportsman, and as the

writer saw two beasts shot in the same beat, the male corresponding

to Sterndale’s pard and the female to Sanderson’s leopard, the only

solution he can offer of the difficulty is that the sportsman may call

the beast he shoots either leopard or panther according to his own

fancy, and not one man in a hundred will be able to contradict him.

The panther is a nuisance wherever he is; he is perpetually prowling

about villages at night picking up unconsidered trifles, such as dogs,

goats, ponies and babies, in short anything. Occasionally panthers

become regular man-eaters, and though far more plentiful than tigers,

they are so cunning that they are far harder to shoot. A wounded

panther is always a dangerous beast to follow up. He can hide, like a

quail, in anything; his attack is always sudden, and being a quick,

active beast, he more frequently makes good his charge than a tiger.

More men get mauled by panthers than by tigers, but on the other hand

fatal results are the exception, and stories are told of men having

strangled panthers with their hands when they have been attacked.

Many a pet dog has been carried off in broad daylight, in the middle

of large hill stations, where the forest comes close up to the roads

and houses. A dog of my own had the narrowest escape in Chamba,

being chased by a panther almost up to my feet. The beast had almost

got hold of him when I drove him off. Ward recommends trapping, and

gives capital directions for making a cage-trap. When the writer was

stationed at Chakrata a few panthers were caught in these traps, but

more were shot over dogs tied up as baits. Panthers are often shot in

this way, or by sitting over a kill. At night a very good plan is to

strew chaff thickly all round the bait, and if it is dark arrange a

lantern so as to throw its light on the bait; neither of these plans

will scare a panther, though it might a tiger.[21] Sterndale recommends

phosphorescent oil (one grain phosphorus to one drachm oil dissolved

in a bath of warm water) for touching the sights at night. There is a

magnesium wire lantern, a Hanoverian invention, which is made to fit

on the sportsman’s shoulder, and on a string being pulled throws a

broad search light down the barrels of the rifle lasting about thirty

seconds; but this, if the sportsman was sitting on the ground, might

lead to complications should the first shot fail to kill outright. If a

panther’s cave is found, it is often worth while watching the entrance

about 4 P.M., when the animal will come out and sun himself before

starting on his evening ramble. In Central India panthers are often

beaten out like tigers, but they are unsatisfactory beasts to try and

drive, as they are so apt to hide and let the beaters pass by them. On

one occasion a panther came within shot of one of the guns, who did

not fire as a tiger was expected. The panther first amused himself by

catching a hare that the beaters had driven up to him, then, as the men

got near, he selected a plump youth and proceeded to stalk him, when

the gunner thought it time to interfere.

Sitting up over a bait at night is the poorest of all amusements. Often

has the writer undergone it, and as often sworn he never would do it

again, till the next absolute certainty has been offered him with the

usual disappointing result.

When a panther is in the habit of attacking flocks on their way home in

the evening, a good plan is to select a place before the flock returns,

and arrange with the shepherd that he shall drive the flock past your

hiding-place and tether a kid as he passes; the apparent absence of

pre-arrangement will probably induce the panther to show at once.

Sanderson gives some stirring accounts of his adventures with panthers

in which the following points are particularly noticeable, viz. the

necessity of posting markers outside the cover beaten to watch the

panther if he leaves it; that panthers will not charge out of caves

even if poked up with bamboos; that, unlike most tigers, a panther

charged home at a large party of men closed up, and used his paws,

cuffing right and left instead of biting. Not that a panther never

bites, as the beast referred to had bitten a man previously, but in

nearly all cases of men being mauled the bulk of their injuries are

claw wounds.

Sterndale relates a curious legend about a well-known man-eating

panther that killed over two hundred people in three years, and was

supposed to be a kind of Wehr-wolf. Panthers have often been ridden

down and speared, but two or three men are required for this amusement,

as on the first horse overtaking it the panther will at once crouch

and endeavour to spring on the horse’s back as he passes. The second

horseman should, therefore, be close up ready to cut in at once; care

should be taken to get the first spear home in a good place, and the

panther should be held down if possible, till despatched by the spears

of the rest of the party. It is foolhardiness for a single man to

attempt it. Panthers climb readily, and many have been shot out of

trees where they have taken refuge, or been found lying asleep on a

branch. Forsyth considers that many panthers escape in drives by taking

to trees, and mentions finding the body of a child, that had been

killed by a panther, lodged in a forked bough.

The troopers of the Central Indian Horse used often to kill panthers

in the rainy season by tracking them into patches of sugar-cane, which

they surrounded with men armed with spears and swords (guns were

naturally not allowed), and then hunted the beast out with a pack of

dogs. When panthers or bears were marked down in jungle too big to be

surrounded, the guns were posted in trees, and the pack laid on to hunt

the beasts up.

Terriers were chiefly used, but it was necessary to employ a greyhound

or two to prevent the beast galloping away from the little dogs; the

greyhounds would not tackle, but by ranging up and snapping would

impede the beast’s movements. Sanderson had great sport with his pack,

hunting bears, bison, and even on one occasion a young elephant. He

gives every instruction for getting together a pack, but does not

mention the use of greyhounds, though they would evidently have saved

his heavy seizers from long tiring runs. Sambur hunting with dogs in

Ceylon is an old-established custom, but there apparently the whole

pack is hunted together, while Sanderson appears to have kept his

seizers up till the quarry came to bay and then slipped them.

Black panthers are occasionally found, but they are merely instances

of melanism, several cases of a single black cub in a litter being

recorded. As a rule, these black specimens are only found in heavy

forests, not in the more open ground, and they are more common in the

south of India than the north. There is a lovely stuffed specimen in

the British Museum, upon which the markings are just discernible in

certain lights.

VI. THE CLOUDED PANTHER (_Felis Diardii_ vel _Macrocelis_)

_Native names: ‘Tungmar’ Lepcha; ‘Zik’ Bhotia; ‘Lamchitta’ of the Khas

tribe (Sterndale)_

This panther seems to be entirely a forest animal. It extends from

Nepal eastwards through Assam.

Kinloch gives an instance of one having been shot, but specimens are

very rarely obtained, though occasionally live cubs have been bought

from natives.

The chief peculiarities of this species are the extreme beauty of the

colouring, and the fact that the upper canines are the longest in

comparison of all living felines.

VII. THE HUNTING LEOPARD (_Felis jubata_)

_Native names: ‘Chita’ generally; ‘Yuz’ of the Chita-catchers

(Sterndale)_

This animal is generally found in Central or Southern India. The writer

has never heard of it in the Punjab or North-West Provinces. According

to Sterndale, it is most common in Jeypur in Upper India and Hyderabad

in Southern India.

In general colour it is like a panther, except that its nose is black

instead of pinkish; it has a mane on the neck and long hair on the

belly; its spots are single and not in rosettes. Its shape is quite

different from that of the panther. Instead of having the muscular

forearm, short legs and rounded body of that beast, it is a tall

greyhound-like animal with thin long legs, and toes like a dog, the

claws being only semi-retractile.

It is not often shot, but most native princes have tame specimens for

hunting antelopes. These have to be caught when nearly full grown, as

cubs cannot be trained for the sport, and chita catching is a regular

profession in certain districts. In Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia of India’

there is an interesting account of catching chitas quoted from ‘The

Asian.’ As regards its habits when wild, the writer says:

It is said by shikaries to feed only once every third day, when,

after gorging itself, it retires to its den for the other two.

On the morning of the third day he visits some particular tree,

which the animals of his species in the neighbourhood are in the

habit of frequenting. Such trees are easily to be recognised

by the scoring of the bark, on which he whets his claws. From

this meeting place, after having played about with such of his

comrades as may be there, they go off on a hunting expedition.

Here is evidently the tip for any sportsman wishing to shoot one:

find a tree with tracks three days old, and sit up in it on the fourth

morning.

Sterndale says:

Chita kittens are quite grey without any spots, but can always

be recognised by the black stripe down the nose, and on cutting

off a bit of the soft hair I noticed that the spots are quite

distinct in the under fur. As a rule the young of all cats, even

the large one-coloured species, such as the lion and puma, are

spotted, but the hunting leopard is externally an exception,

although the spots are there lying hid.

Hunting antelope with chitas has been described _ad nauseam_, and is in

the opinion of the writer very poor sport. It is worth witnessing once,

if only to see how fast a chita can go.

VIII. THE OUNCE, OR SNOW LEOPARD (_Felis Uncia_)

_Generally, ‘Safed Chita’; Thibet, ‘Stian’_

The ounce is fairly common on the higher ranges; there are few ibex

grounds on which its tracks will not occasionally be seen, but owing to

its nocturnal habits it is very rarely met with. It preys chiefly on

ibex and burrel, and rarely, if ever, descends to the forest line. It

will kill sheep and goats. A farm in Lahoul, belonging to the Moravian

missionaries, suffered considerably in 1884 from the depredations of

a pair of ounces that lived in the valley behind Kielang. The male of

this pair was killed by an officer of the Royal Artillery, who saw

the ounce on his return from shooting late in the evening. The next

day he went back up the nullah prepared to spend the night out, shot

a young male ibex and dragged the carcase down to where he had seen

the ounce the day before. Just at dusk the ounce came to the bait and

was missed clean with the first barrel; however, the sportsman, being

highly favoured by the gods, bagged him with a second shot, and next

morning brought him in triumph down to Kielang. The skin was a beauty,

very pale yellowish white with black spots and black rings on the thick

furry tail.

From the amount of slaughter ounces effect among ibex, it is probable

that they hunt in pairs. In 1874 a sportsman in Pangi found a flock

of five or six male ibex lying dead within a few yards of each other,

killed by ounces; he had seen this particular flock some days before,

had either disturbed them or was unable to get at them, and had given

them a few days’ rest to settle down in. When he did go after them he

found that they had all been slaughtered.

IX. THE THIBETAN LYNX (_Felis Isabellina_)

_Thibetan, ‘Ee’_

This beautiful animal is very rarely met with, but as the Tartars know

it well by name, it is possible that it may be more plentiful than is

commonly supposed; its nocturnal habits, as in the case of the ounce,

shielding it from observation. The Tartars aver that it frequently

kills sheep and goats; but though the lynx is quite powerful enough to

do so, it is probable that the natives occasionally confound the lynx

with the ounce. The lynx stands about 17 ins. at the shoulder, and is

of enormously powerful make, with teeth and claws large enough for an

animal of twice its size.

The Thibetan lynx has the orthodox prominent whiskers which are absent

in the red lynx of the plains, but it differs from the European variety

in the pads of its feet being prominent and bare, with short close fur

between them, whereas in the European lynx the long fur completely

conceals the pads.

The red lynx, _Felis caracal_, called by natives ‘Siagosh,’ is

occasionally met with all over India. It is not common anywhere, or

at least, possibly owing to its nocturnal habits, it is not often

shot. A few are known to have been shot in Central India. It preys

chiefly on hares, birds, and small deer. Sterndale gives the following

measurements: Head and body, 26 to 30 ins.: tail, 9 or 10 ins.; height,

16 to 18 ins.

_Measurements_

+--------------------+------------+----+--------+----------------+

| | | | Height | |

| Authority | Total |Tail| at | Remarks |

| | length | |shoulder| |

+--------------------+------------+----+--------+----------------+

| | FELIS PARDUS | |

| | ft. ins. |ins.| ins. | |

|Col. Gordon Cumming{| | | | |

| (‘Wild Men and {| 7 10 | .. | .. |Male |

| Wild Beasts’) {| 7 8 | .. | .. | ” |

| | | | | |

|Capt. A. G. Ferguson| 7 8 | .. | .. | |

| | | | | |

|Col. Howard | 7 4½ | .. | .. |Male |

| | | | | |

|Mr. H. L. Heber }|[22]7 4 | .. | .. |Nepal, |

| Percy }| | | | Dec. 9, 1892 |

| | | | | |

| ” ” |[22]7 1 | .. | .. | ” |

| | | | |Jan. 30, 1891 |

| | | | | |

|Sir E. Durand, Bart.|[22]7 1 | .. | .. | ” |

| | | | |Jan. 17, 1891 |

| | | | | |

|Major FitzHerbert | 6 8½ | .. | 26½ |Male |

| | | | | |

|Col. Kinloch | 6 4 | .. | .. |Female |

| | | | | |

|Col. Howard | 6 0 | .. | .. | ” |

| | | | | |

|Sterndale’s }| 7 0 | 30 | | |

| ‘Mammalia’ }| to | to | .. |Pard |

| | 8 8 | 38 | | |

| | | | | |

| ” ” | 5 6 | 30 | 18 |Panther (female)|

| | to | | to | |

| | 6 0 | | 24 | |

| | | | | |

|Sanderson }| 6 8 | | | |

| (‘Thirteen Years }| | .. | .. | ” ” |

| among the Wild }| | | | |

| Beasts’) }| | | | |

| | | | | |

| ” ” | 6 3½ | .. | 26 | ” ” |

| | | | | |

| ” ” | 6 10 | .. | .. | |

| | | | | |

| ” ” | 5 4 | .. | .. |Leopard (male) |

| | | | | |

| ” ” | 5 2 | .. | .. | ” (female) |

| | | | | |

| | FELIS DIARDII | |

|Sterndale | 6 4 | 36 | .. |{Jerdon states |

| | | | |{that it grows |

| | | | |{to a larger |

| | | | |{size |

| | | | | |

| | FELIS JUBATA | |

|Sterndale | 7 0 | 30 | 30 | |

| | | | to | |

| | | | 33 | |

| | | | | |

| | FELIS UNCIA | |

|Sterndale | 7 4 | 36 | 24 |{Measurements |

| | | | |{apparently |

| | | | |{too big |

| | | | | |

|Major Ward }| 6 4 | 36 | .. |Male |

|(‘Sportsman’s Guide}| 6 0 | 33 | .. |Female |

|to Kashmir’) }| | | | |

| | | | | |

|Capt. Dawkins (May }| 5 11½ | 36 | 18 |Male |

|24, 1884.) }| | | | |

+--------------------+------------+----+--------+----------------+

X. WOLVES AND WILD DOGS

Space does not permit an exhaustive description of these vermin, and

it must be briefly said that there are three kinds of wolves in India.

First is the ordinary wolf of the plains (_Canis pallipes_) which is

more destructive to children and cattle than to game, and is generally

called ‘Bheria’ by the natives. Authenticated tales of its ravages

among the infant population are only too common, an old bitch wolf with

cubs laid up near a village naturally finding Indian baby the most

easily procured and most succulent diet for her offspring. Wolves have

occasionally been ridden down and speared, but only when found in the

morning, and more or less gorged; a wolf in the evening, when empty,

will lope along just ahead of good greyhounds till the latter lie down

exhausted. They can occasionally be smoked out if their earths are

found. Williamson describes a big bag made in this way near Allahabad

in 1780; the earths were dug out, and at least ten pounds weight of

children’s ornaments found in them. He also narrates a ghastly story of

the way wolves attacked the starving natives during the famine of 1783

in broad daylight; as a rule, however, they seldom attack men.

The next well-known varieties are the grey and black Thibetan wolves

(_Canis laniger_ and _Canis niger_), generally called ‘Chanko.’ These

are very destructive to game as well as to flocks and herds, as they

hunt in small packs. Both grey and black wolves are found together, and

interbreed. The black wolf is said to be rather the larger, but it is

an open question whether the varieties are distinct or not, in spite

of the fact of the black specimens Colonel Kinloch presented to the

Zoological Gardens only producing black cubs.

A third variety of ‘Chanko,’ called the ‘golden wolf,’ has been

mentioned by sportsmen, but this may possibly be the European wolf

(_Canis lupus_), which extends to Turkestan.

The chief points of distinction between the three varieties of wolves,

i.e. European, Thibetan, and Indian, are as follows: in the European

wolf the carnassial tooth is as long as the two molars together, which

is not the case with the others; it has also a dark stripe on the

forelegs, which the others have not; and, lastly, the European and

Indian wolves have black tips to their tails, which the chanko has not.

The remaining species of vermin is the Wild Dog (_Cuon rutilans_),

generally called ‘Jungli-Kutta’: in Cashmere ‘Ram Hun.’ These

veritable pests are found everywhere, and as they hunt in large packs

are most destructive to all kinds of game, absolutely clearing out

whole tracts of country, even being credited occasionally with killing

tigers, which, as Sanderson points out, is by no means impossible if

the tiger attempts to run away, and they get a chance of making their

favourite attack from behind. He narrates two occasions on which he saw

deer eviscerated by one or two snaps from wild dogs. They rarely, if

ever, attack men, and are more like big red jackals than dogs. The cubs

are quite untamable, and are the nastiest, most evil-smelling, vicious

pets that heart could desire.

_Measurements_

+----------+------------+--------+-------------------+

|Authority |Total length| Tail | Height at shoulder|

+----------+------------+--------+-------------------+

| | CANIS LUPUS | |

| | ins. | ins. | ins. |

|Sterndale | 62 to 68 | 20 | 30 to 32 |

| | | | |

| | CANIS PALLIPES | |

|Sterndale | 52 |16 to 18| 26 |

| | | | |

| | CANIS LANIGER | |

|Sterndale | 68 | 20 | 30 |

| | | | |

| | CUON RUTILANS | |

|Sterndale | 48 to 52 | 16 | 17 to 20 |

|Major Ward| 60 | .. | .. |

+----------+------------+--------+-------------------+

XI. THE STRIPED HYÆNA (_Hyæna striata_)

_Native names: ‘Lakhar baghar’ generally; ‘Rerha,’ Central India_

This is scarcely a sporting beast, but being destructive to dogs is

generally saluted with a shot if found by daylight, a thing which does

not often happen. The striped hyæna is a large brute, with tremendous

power of jaw, which lives principally on carrion, and will pick up a

dog if found alone, though two or three dogs will easily beat it off.

The hyæna has often been ridden down and speared, and shows little

or no fight in spite of its large teeth. Hyænas are found all over

the plains of India, but apparently neither in Burmah nor Ceylon.

There were several which used to prowl about the barracks at Nowgong

in Central India when the writer was quartered there, two or three of

which were shot by the soldiers, and the jackals there paid them all

the honours usually accorded to tigers, following them and uttering

their peculiar note of warning which the natives call ‘kole baloo.’ The

writer has often heard this cry, and as long as it continues no jackal

within earshot will set up his ordinary howl. This hyæna is the common

species that is found throughout Persia, Asia Minor, and North Africa.

Sterndale gives its length as 3½ ft., head and body; tail, about 1½ ft.

The writer never measured one, but estimated the height of an old male

as about 22 ins.

XII. ELEPHANT (_Elephas indicus_)

_Native names: ‘Hati’ generally; ‘Anay,’ Canarese (Sanderson); ‘Allia,’

Singhalese (Sterndale)._

The elephant is found along the foot of the Himalayas, from Deyhra Doon

through Assam and Burmah to Siam; also in some parts of Central and

Southern India and Ceylon.

The difference between the Indian and African elephant is well marked;

the small ears, smooth trunk, and more intelligent head of the former

being very conspicuous. The marks on the grinders are also different,

being in the Indian elephant irregular loops, while in the African they

form a string of decided lozenges joined by the corners. The African

elephant has only three toes on the hind foot, while the Indian has

four. The point of difference, however, which chiefly concerns the

sportsman is that in the Indian elephant there is a cavity in the

skull behind the bump on the top of the trunk which enables a bullet

properly placed to reach the brain, while with the African variety this

cavity is protected by the roots of the tusks, making the front shot

ineffective.

The main points to be considered by the sportsman may be shortly

summarised as follows:

The brain, which at most only presents a mark of about twelve inches

in length by six inches in height, is situated low down and far back

in the skull, the centre of it being nearly in the line between the

two ear-holes. The three chief shots are the front shot, in the centre

of the forehead towards the top of the bump at the base of the trunk,

and about three inches higher than a line drawn between the eyes;

the temple shot, the head of the elephant being at right angles to

the sportsman, through the ear-hole in a line to pass through the

opposite ear; the rear shot, behind the ear in the hollow just over

the large bump at the junction of the jaw and neck. It must be taken

at about an angle of 45° with the elephant’s course from behind. These

are the shots to be tried for; if the elephant’s head is inclined at

an angle, calculation has to be made to determine the line of the

brain. If charging with the head carried high and trunk curled, it is

almost impossible to kill him with a front shot, but heavy rifles will

generally stop him. In head shots an elephant not killed on the spot

generally escapes, so no time should be lost in finishing one that is

floored. For weapon, a 4-smoothbore spherical ball with twelve drachms

of powder is recommended. Indian elephants are seldom shot behind the

shoulder, for as Sanderson says, ‘When an elephant can be approached to

within a few yards, and dropped on the spot, it is hardly sportsmanlike

to take a long shot, and risk wounding the animal uselessly.’ Females

in a herd are always the first to charge. The tuskers are most likely

to be found in the rear guard of a herd, and the animals should not

be approached in cover unless they are feeding. A peculiar short,

shrill trumpet is the sign that the hunter has been discovered; the

herd stands perfectly still for some minutes and then closes up and

moves rapidly off; or, if the elephant that perceives danger discovers

that it is very near, it retires quickly without a sound, followed by

the rest, so that the hunter may find the whole herd gone before he

is aware that he has even been perceived. If a herd is attacked it

stampedes, and if hard pressed the females with calves will charge.

When a herd stampedes in cover, as it is impossible to tell the

direction it will take, the best course the sportsman can adopt is to

stand still against a tree or a bamboo clump, and not attempt to run.

A tree eight inches in diameter is said to be about the largest that

an elephant can overthrow. If circumstances ever occur to make a run

unavoidable, the flight should always be down hill and the steepest

places at hand chosen, as elephants fear to trust themselves on a rapid

descent at any great pace; up hill or on the level a man would be

speedily overtaken on rough ground.

When a herd makes off it goes at a great pace for a short distance

and then settles into a fast walk, which is often kept up for ten or

fifteen miles if there is a wounded elephant and no young calves with

it. The sportsman should pursue at once, as an ordinary runner can

generally keep near for two or three hundred yards.

When elephants are close at hand, standing in indecision, no one should

shout to turn them, as a charge from one or more of them is almost sure

to be the result. A friend of the writer’s told him that once when

stalking an elephant he could not get a fair shot at his head, so he

whistled to make him turn; the elephant simply swung round and charged,

but a shot in the head, though it did not floor, turned him.

The impression of the tusks in soft soil gives a good idea of their

size. A groove that will admit five fingers means that the tusks will

probably weigh over 60 lbs. the pair. Twice round the forefoot gives

the height of the elephant at the shoulder.

In shooting single elephants, after the first rush of a hundred yards

or so all noise often ceases, as the elephant breaks into a walk, and a

novice would suppose that he had stopped when in reality he is rapidly

retreating.

In following wounded elephants it is a good plan to send a couple of

trackers ahead while the sportsman and his gun-carriers follow a

hundred yards in rear, as the trackers, if alone, are not likely to be

taken by surprise. Rogue elephants, though more liable to attack in the

first place, are not more determined than others; a female with a young

calf is much more likely to charge persistently, and the advantage of

having only one animal to deal with is immense.

The wild elephant’s attack is one of the noblest sights of

the chase. A grander animated object than a wild elephant in

full charge can hardly be imagined; the cocked ears and broad

forehead present an immense frontage; the head is held high,

with the trunk curled between the tusks to be uncoiled in the

moment of attack; the massive forelegs come down with the force

and regularity of ponderous machinery, and the whole figure is

rapidly foreshortened, and appears to double in size with each

advancing stride. The trunk being curled and unable to emit any

sound, the attack is made in silence, after the usual premonitory

shriek, which adds to its impressiveness. A tiger’s charge is

an undignified display of arms, legs, and spluttering; the

bison rushes blunderingly upon his foe; the bear’s attack is

despicable; but the wild elephant’s onslaught is as dignified

as it seems overwhelming; and a large tusker’s charge, when he

has had sufficient distance to get into full swing, can only be

compared to the steady and rapid advance of an engine on a line

of rail. With all this, the sportsman who understands his game

knows that there is a natural timidity in the elephant which

often plays him tricks at the last moment. It is not difficult to

turn or stop him with heavy metal, and if knocked down, he never,

I believe, renews the attack.

Thus Sanderson writes, and in conventional phraseology that is all very

fine; but Sanderson seems to have let his feelings run away with him.

I confess that a tiger charging never appeared undignified to me; his

charge has always struck me as being a particularly neat, business-like

performance, and the coughing roar that accompanied it did not at all

detract from the show--spluttering indeed! Sanderson’s elephant does

not roar because he is afraid of hurting his trunk. Then the poor bison

a blunderer! The way an old bull will charge, dodge behind a bush

till he sees someone following him or hears someone speak, and then

charge back again, shows an amount of systematic ‘cussedness’ which

deserves praise not ridicule. As for the bear, his best friends must

admit that his natural grotesqueness is only enhanced by his efforts at

retaliation; but he does his best.

With a single exception, all those elephants which Sanderson shot

behind the shoulder seem to have given him a long chase before he could

bring them to bay, probably because the position of the heart is much

harder to judge in the Indian than in the African species, the centre

of the outside edge of the latter’s ear when thrown back marking the

spot. It is not so with the Indian elephant, whose ear is smaller.

A fight between two wild tuskers is said frequently to last for a day

or more, a round being fought every now and then. The more powerful

elephant occasionally keeps his foe in view till he perhaps kills him.

Though elephant catching is of old date, shooting wild elephants seems

to have been unheard of at the beginning of the century. Williamson,

who wrote about the year 1805, remarks with reference to M. Vaillant’s

exploits in South Africa:

Without disparagement to M. Vaillant’s veracity, I should think

I might with great safety venture a wager that no native of

Bengal, nor any European resident there, would undertake such

a piece of rashness as to go out shooting wild elephants; and

that, in the event of anyone possessing such temerity, the

sportsman would come off second best. M. Vaillant performed

his miracles in a wilderness, without anyone to record his

achievements; consequently he was obliged to be his own

historian. Persons under such circumstances are in possession of

one great advantage: namely, that of relating not only the facts

as they would appear to any common observer, but of describing

the wondrous coolness and presence of mind which pervades them

throughout the perils of the enterprise.

Sanderson says the largest elephant he has seen measured 9 ft. 10 ins.

at the shoulder, and declares there is not a 10-ft. elephant in India.

Colonel Kinloch measured one he shot 10 ft. 1 in., and the writer

has seen a foot in Mr. Rowland Ward’s shop that measured 5 ft. in

circumference, which should make the animal 10 ft. at the shoulder.

Sterndale gives 10 ft. 7½ ins. as the largest authentic measurement

on record, and oddly enough quotes Sanderson as authority for the

measurement of this elephant, which belonged to the Sirmoor Rajah.

As regards tusks, Sanderson’s biggest pair measured 4 ft. 11 ins. and

5 ft. respectively, with a girth of 16½ ins. at the gum, the pair

weighing 74½ lbs.

Sir Victor Brooke’s big tusker measured: Right tusk, 8 ft.; 5 ft. 9

ins. outside socket; girth 1 ft. 4⁹⁄₁₀ ins.; weight, 90 lbs. Left tusk,

3 ft. 3 ins.; 1 ft. 2 ins. outside socket; girth, 1 ft. 8 ins.; weight,

49 lbs.

The skeleton of the well-known Arcot rogue elephant, now in the Madras

Museum, measures 10 ft. 6 ins. at the shoulder. Mr. Rowland Ward

considers that when alive it must have stood 10 ft. 10 ins.

‘Jumbo,’ the African elephant in the Zoological Gardens, stood 11 ft.,

and Sir S. Baker says that African elephants measure 12 ft. or more.

The three largest African tusks recorded in ‘Horn Measurements,’ by

Rowland Ward, are:

+--------+----------------------+------+

|Length |Greatest circumference|Weight|

+--------+----------------------+------+

|ft. ins.| ins. | lbs. |

| | | |

| 9 5 | 22½ | 184 |

| 9 4 | 20½ | 160 |

| 9 4 | 18 | 110 |

+--------+----------------------+------+

XIII. RHINOCEROS

There are no fewer than four different kinds of rhinoceros to be found

in India and Burmah; viz. _Indicus_, _Sondaicus_, _Lasiotis_ and

_Sumatrensis_. The first, which is the most generally known, extends

from the Nepal Terai to Assam. The second is found in the Sunderbuns,

and from Manipur through Burmah to the Malay Peninsula; the third is

found in Arakan and Tenasserim; the fourth, from Tenasserim through

Burmah to Siam and the Malay Peninsula; the two first varieties being

one-horned, the two last two-horned. The Asiatic rhinoceros differs

from the African in three particulars: the skin is divided into shields

by well-marked folds; he has long upper cutting teeth (the African

having none), and the nasal bones of the skull are produced and conical

instead of broad and round (Sterndale).

The chief difference between _R. indicus_ and _R. sondaicus_ is that

the latter has a well-marked fold in front of the shoulders, the line

running over the back of the neck, whilst in _Indicus_ it dies away on

the shoulder-blade; the head of _Sondaicus_ is also somewhat slenderer,

and the female has no horn. In _Indicus_ both sexes have this horn, and

the curious tesselated appearance of the hide in one is very different

from the tuberculated armour of the other.

Though _Sondaicus_ has been described as the lesser Indian rhinoceros,

there is little difference in the size between this and other Indian

varieties.

_R. lasiotis_ and _R. sumatrensis_ have more or less hairy hides

instead of tubercles. _Lasiotis_ is larger, lighter in colour, with

wide-set ears, a short tufted tail, and a long fringe of hair on the

back edge of the ear; _Sumatrensis_ is smaller, darker, with close-set

ears (which are filled with black hair but have no fringe), and tail

long, tapering, and semi-nude.

The native names of all four varieties seem much the same: ‘Gaindá,’

‘Gairá,’ ‘Gonda,’ generally; ‘Gor’ Assam, ‘Khyenhsen’ Burmah, ‘Bodok’

Malay.

The rhinoceros does not extend to Central and Southern India, being

only found in the heavy grass swamps of the Terai, Assam, &c.;

consequently the only way of hunting this beast is with elephants. The

rhinoceros may be either tracked up to his lair on a single elephant,

or the jungle may be beaten as for tigers.

_Measurements_

+-------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+-----+

| | Height | Length | | Girth | Girth |Length|Girth|

| Authority | at |head and| Tail | chest |forearm | of | at |

| |shoulder| body | | | | horn | base|

+-------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+-----+

| | Remarks |

+-------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+-----+

| | | | R. INDICUS | | |

| |ft. ins.|ft. ins.|ft. ins.|ft. ins.|ft. ins.| ins. |ins. |

|Col. Kinloch,| 5 9 | 10 6 | 2 5 | 9 8 | 3 2 | 12 | .. |

| ‘Large Game | | | | | | | |

| Shooting’ | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

|British | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 19 | 20½ |

| Museum | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 38 | 26½ |

| | Single horns--doubtful specimens |

| | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 33½ | 27 |

| | Single horns--doubtful specimens |

| | | | | | | | |

| | | | R. SONDAICUS | | |

|Sterndale | 5 6 | 12 3 | 2 4½ | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | The length 12 ft. 3 ins. appears to include tail |

| | | | | | | | |

| | | | R. LASIOTIS | | |

| | No measurements procurable |

| | | | | | | | |

| | | | R. SUMATRENSIS | | |

|Sterndale | 3 8 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |

| | | | | | | | |

|British | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 27 | 17½ |

| Museum | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

| ” ” | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 32¼ | 17¼ |

| | | | | | | | |

|Mr. A. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 8½ | .. |

| Manson, | | | | | | | |

| ‘Oriental | | | | | | | |

| Sporting | | | | | | | |

| Magazine,’ | | | | | | | |

| 1876 | | | | | | | |

| | Rear horn merely a knob |

+-------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+-----+

In no branch of sport is it more necessary to have trustworthy men in

charge of the mahouts of the pad elephants. A rhinoceros when roused

makes such a noise crashing through the reeds and snorting, that,

though he rarely charges home, and even then only bites instead of

using his horn, he fairly terrifies both mahouts and their animals,

and consequently, unless the line is under good control, the beating

is carried out in a very half-hearted manner. The usual pace of a

rhinoceros is a trot, but he will sometimes break into a gallop and

gets over the ground with surprising speed. When shot they usually sink

down on their knees and rarely roll over on to their sides. The flesh

is said to be as good as, or better than, most Indian beef. The track

is easily distinguished, as the foot has only three toes.

There is a story of a fight having been witnessed between a rhinoceros

and a wild male elephant, in which the latter was worsted. A rhinoceros

is said to have wantonly attacked the camp of two officers from

Dinapore, near Derriapore, in 1788. The brute killed their horses,

which were picketed, treed the officers and their servants, and ‘after

keeping them in dreadful suspense for some time, and using some efforts

to dislodge them, seeing the sun rise, retreated to his haunt.’

Their habit of depositing their dropping on the same spot, which is

shared by many deer and antelopes, has been noted by all writers on the

subject. Native shikaris watch these large heaps and take poor rhino at

a disadvantage.

XIV. THE MALAY TAPIR (_Tapirus malayanus_)

_Native names: ‘Ta-ra-shu,’ Burmese; ‘Kuda-ayer,’ Malayan_

Sterndale says of it:

Habitat: Tenasserim provinces, as high as 15° N. Lat., Lower

Siam, the Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. Description:

General colour glossy black, but with the back, rump, and sides

of the belly white; the young are beautifully variegated, being

striped and spotted with yellow fawn on the upper parts of the

body and with white below. Mr. Mason writes: ‘Though seen so

rarely, the tapir is by no means uncommon in the interior of

the Tavoy and Mergui provinces. I have frequently come upon

its recent footmarks, but it avoids the inhabited parts of the

country. It has never been heard of north of the valley of the

Tavoy river.’ The tapir is naturally, all the world over, a very

shy, retiring animal, but it is capable of being tamed when taken

young, and of showing great attachment. It is not found in India

proper, but is occasionally come across in Burmah.

_Measurements_

+---------------+--------+---------------------+-------------------+

| Authority | Height |Length, head and body| Remarks |

+---------------+--------+---------------------+-------------------+

|British Museum.|36½ ins.| 75 ins. |{A skeleton, tail |

| | | |{with some vertebræ|

| | | |{wanting |

+---------------+--------+---------------------+-------------------+

XV. WILD BOAR (_Sus indicus_)

It is a maxim in India that the only sportsmanlike way of killing

boar is with horse and spear, and therefore as these volumes treat

principally of those beasts which fall or should fall to the rifle,

this pluckiest of all beasts must be dismissed with a very brief notice.

Occasionally there may be some justification for shooting boar, but as

they travel great distances, none ought to be shot within forty miles

of rideable ground.

Several cases are on record in which an old boar has beaten off

a tiger, and some in which the latter has been killed by a boar.

The boar’s extraordinary activity and sharp tusks make him no mean

adversary, and his short neck makes it difficult for a tiger to seize

it and give it that fatal wrench with which he likes to polish off his

victims.

XVI. THE PIGMY HOG (_Porcula salvania_)

_Native names: ‘Sano-banel,’ Nepal; ‘Chota soor,’ Hindi_

This tiny little wild pig is found in the Sál forests of Nepal and

Sikkim. It has the reputation of going in herds like the peccary and

attacking intruders in the same fearless way. In shape it only differs

from the common wild pig in that its snout is comparatively shorter,

and the eye consequently set midway between snout and ear. Its tail,

too, is short and is hidden among the bristles on the rump. It has long

bristles all over its back and sides, but no well-defined mane like an

ordinary boar, whilst its ears are quite hairless and the under parts

of the body and limbs almost so. Some stuffed specimens in the British

Museum of apparently half-grown beasts are deep chestnut, a full-grown

one being nearly black.

_Measurements_

+--------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+

| Authority |Length, head | Height | Weight | Remarks |

| | and body | | | |

+--------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+

|Sterndale |18 to 20 ins.|8 to 10 ins.|7 to 10 lbs.| |

| | | | | |

| | | | |{A stuffed |

|British Museum| 28 ins. | 11½ ins. | .. |{specimen |

| | | | |{tusks 1 in.|

+--------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+

XVII. CROCODILES

_Native names: ‘Muggur,’ the snub-nosed variety; ‘Ghayal,’ the

long-nosed variety_

The crocodile is a kind of vermin, of which there are two varieties in

India--the flat-nosed and the long-nosed. Though not perhaps objects

of the highest form of sport, still a good deal of fun may be had

with them; and as they are awful brutes for robbing the sportsman of

any birds that may be dropped on the water--will take down his dog

if he sends it in to retrieve, and in many places will take human

beings--their destruction should invariably be attempted.

A few may be shot with a rifle, but they are uncommonly wary, and

nineteen out of twenty that are hit will get back into the water and be

lost. The most satisfactory way of dealing with them, besides being far

the most sporting, is to bait a good large hook with a bird or small

animal, and fasten it by a chain to a good long rope, the end of which

is firmly picketed, the rope being coiled and the bait laid in shallow

water. There must be lots of slack line, as the crocodile does not

swallow anything at once, but seizes it and takes it into deep water

to gorge. A number of lines may be laid and looked up in the morning

or cool of the evening. When hooked it will take a good many men to

haul a crocodile out, and as he resents the operation and can use his

tail as well as his jaws, one or two sportsmen will find considerable

entertainment in despatching him with spears. Some crocodiles grow to

an enormous size, and their maws always contain round white stones, and

often trinkets, the relics of inside passengers. The writer assisted

at the death of a not extraordinarily large ‘snub-nose,’ which had

six women’s rings in her. This beast was a female, and full of eggs.

Another plan worth trying is to tie up a kid in the evening as a bait,

just sufficiently far from the water to attract the crocodiles by its

bleating on to dry land, so that the sportsman, lying well hidden about

sixty yards off, should be able to make sure of shooting them through

the back of the head.

[Illustration: Landing a ghayal]

_Measurements._--British Museum: a snub-nose, 17 ft. 4 ins.; a

long-nose, 15 ft. 1 in.

XVIII. GAUR (_Gavæus Gaurus_)

_Native names: ‘Gaor,’ ‘Gaori-gai’; generally, ‘Gail,’ Chota Nagpur;

‘Khulga,’ Western Ghauts; ‘Karti,’ Mysore; ‘Mithan,’ Bhootan._

Gaur, or bison,[23] as they are usually called, are found in suitable

localities, from the Terai, through Bhootan, Assam and Burmah, to the

Malayan Peninsula and throughout Central and Southern India, but do

not extend to Ceylon. The 28th degree of North latitude seems their

extreme northern limit, otherwise it would be difficult to account for

their absence in what appears to be such thoroughly suitable ground

as the Sewalik range and the lower slopes of the Himalayas north of

this limit, although elephants, whose food and requirements are almost

identical with those of the gaur, are plentiful there. Hilly country,

covered with extensive tracts of forest and bamboo jungle, is the

likeliest ground for bison, though they occasionally visit the low

ground at the foot of the hills, particularly when driven from the

higher ridges by flies and the want of suitable pasture. Bison vary

much in their habits according to locality; their migrations from high

to low ground being mainly influenced by the rainfall (which regulates

the growth of grass) and the prevalence of flies in their district.

During the latter part of the rainy season, when the grass has grown

high and coarse and flies are most numerous, Sanderson remarks that

bison move into the thinner jungle at the foot of the hills. Forsyth

says that in Central India bison retire to the tops of the hills at

that season.

The general colour of an old bull bison is a dark brown, almost black,

with a light slaty patch on the forehead, a grey muzzle, and the legs,

from above the knees and hocks downwards, a yellowish white, the inside

of the forearms and thighs being chestnut; the head is particularly

handsome, and well-bred-looking, the high frontal which rises above the

base of the horns adding to, rather than detracting from, its beauty;

the pupil of the eye is large, and of a pale blue colour. Jerdon

says the eyes are small. They may be in actual measurement, but they

certainly do not appear so. The muzzle is large, and the ears broad

without being coarse. The ears of an old bull are often torn to ribbons

from fighting. The horns of such animals are rather rugged at the base,

and the points are chipped and worn; but they are massive, have a

beautiful outward curve, and are light coloured. The neck is short and

powerful, the skin rather loose, with curious wrinkles in it that give

the appearance of a small dewlap, which the beast is really destitute

of. Behind the neck the beauty of the bison vanishes. The high dorsal

ridge towering above the insertion of the neck makes the shoulders look

loaded and straight, and the neck itself put on too low; the ridge

running down to the centre of the back and there ending abruptly gives

the quarters a dwarfed and drooping appearance, though this is far from

being really the case. The tail is rather short and fine; the legs are

particularly fine and clean, the hoofs being marvellously small and

neat for so large an animal.

The cows, less heavily built than the bulls, are of a coffee-brown

colour; the dorsal ridge is not so much developed, though it is still

prominent; the legs are white instead of yellow--the writer heard an

old bull described as looking as if he was wearing gaiters. The horns

are thinner and more upright; young bulls are very like cows, and

mistakes are frequently made when stalking herds, except by really

experienced men. Old cows look enormous, they are often darker in

colour than young bulls (in certain lights they look almost black),

and are not unfrequently shot by mistake. Of course if there is an

old bull in the herd to compare with them, there is little chance of

error. The best bulls are those that have been driven from the herds

by younger and more active rivals, and henceforward live alone. These

solitary bulls are always the finest specimens, and are consequently

the chief objects of the sportsman’s ambition. It is a very curious

fact that bison appear to be the only animals which regularly resign,

or are ousted from possession of, a herd when they attain their largest

size and most powerful horns. Old stags will keep their hinds even when

their horns are diminishing from age. Sanderson says solitary elephants

are frequently young males waiting till they can appropriate a herd;

but no sooner does a bison get really at his best to all appearances,

than he at once gives way to a younger animal. The cream of bison

shooting is naturally stalking them on foot. Sanderson describes

hunting them on an elephant, a method which, of course, enabled him to

bring heavy rifles into the field without fatigue, and was of enormous

assistance in thick cover and in carrying the trophies; but his

using the elephant to make the first approach must have considerably

detracted from the sport, although he discarded his mount when

following up a wounded beast.

The writer has had bison driven to him, on ground where stalking

was impracticable owing to the density of the forest, and where the

dryness of the season rendered tracking impossible; but there the fun

only began when a wounded beast had to be followed up, though it was

pleasant listening to the avalanche-like rush of an approaching herd,

and amusing to see cows come through an apparently impenetrable thicket

of bamboos, like harlequin through a trapdoor, only to stand staring

at a few yards distance with their noses poked out, an expression of

puzzled funk in their eyes.

[Illustration: A CHARGING GAUR]

But when the first few showers of the rainy season have moistened the

dry crackling leaves, and softened the ground so that tracks can be

followed, you should start in the early morning so as to catch the

beast before he is down for the day (that is, before the sun gets

hot, about 9 A.M. according to Sanderson), and getting on the fresh

tracks of a solitary bull, follow him up. If your trackers are good,

you should soon begin to find signs that you are getting near him

(the droppings warm, &c.); you can then dismount from your pony which

you have been riding in rear, and close on the trackers with your

gun-carrier till they show you the beast. But whether your trackers

are good or not, it is quite useless for you to interfere with them

unless you have sufficient experience to do the tracking yourself and

let the men follow behind. You must take it for granted they are doing

their best; the fact of their being on a bison’s trail will ensure

their running no undue risk from carelessness, and if you interfere

you only confuse and put them out: therefore take Sanderson’s advice,

unless they wish you to keep close to them, which they probably will

not do, ride your pony comfortably about one hundred yards in rear,

till they signal you up. You should then be either pretty close to or

within sight of your game. It is assumed that you have two rifles, an

8-bore and a 12-bore, with round bullets; conical bullets are not to be

relied on in jungle. Try to approach within sixty yards, and get your

first shot in with the 8-bore. Should the bull bolt, run after him at

once, whether you have fired or not. Very likely he will pull up after

going a short distance and give you a chance. Aim well forward; if you

break his shoulder you are more likely to get him than if you take him

too far back; keep him in sight as long as you can; if he goes out of

sight sit down and smoke a pipe or have breakfast. In any case give him

half an hour, then follow up with your trackers, carrying the 12-bore

yourself and your gun-carrier the 8-bore. If the track lead into thick

stuff, send a man up the first tree you come to, and if he cannot see

the animal, work carefully on to the next tree in the direction the

track leads, though not necessarily on it. Work clean through the thick

patch in this way from tree to tree, till you get to the far side;

never mind the trail inside. Should you get through without seeing

the beast, try to pick up the trail outside, and if you fail in this

go back the way you came to where you lost the track, and try working

through it from tree to tree in another direction. If your lines have

formed a not too broad angle at the point you left the trail, and you

cannot track him outside, the bull should be within the triangle, and

if there are no more trees you must follow the trail. Should the jungle

happen to be ‘Kharwee,’ the stems of which are about as thick as

your finger, growing about six inches apart and eight feet high, you

will find it exciting enough. The bull will probably turn short off

at an angle just before he lies down, and if he means mischief will

be watching his trail; you will then probably get within ten yards of

him before you see him, in which case you will be able to realise the

sensations of a valiant mouse hunting a man in a stubble-field. At

this period in the chase you will naturally have the 8-bore in hand

again. Presently the bull will either start up close to you, or you

will perceive a black mass on the ground. Your only course then is to

fire and lie down on the ground at once; the smoke will prevent your

getting in a second barrel, and if the bull charges the smoke he will

gallop over you without seeing you. It is not a bad plan to leave a

man permanently up the first tree you reach to watch till you have

quite done with the cover, as he will probably be able to see where

the bull goes if he moves. If the bull is wounded again in thick stuff

and again lies down in it, he is probably past doing harm; but still

it is advisable to give him the time of another pipe. A man up a tree

who can watch the exact place he is lying in is invaluable. Natives at

this period of the chase, more particularly the inexperienced ones,

invariably get excited and lose their heads, offering to go in and

pull the bull out by the tail, and looking upon any precaution taken

as a sign of faint-heartedness on the part of the sportsman. If the

sportsman gives way to them and allows them to accompany him in the

final stalk, he will probably get some fool hurt through disobedience

of orders. The last approach to a wounded bull in thick cover should

invariably be made alone, or with one gun-bearer, the rest of the men

being put up trees.

Solitary bulls, Sanderson declares, are not a bit more savage by

disposition than herd bulls, and the instances of their attacking

natives when unwounded are almost invariably due to the bull being

approached unawares within striking distance in the midst of thick

cover.

He narrates a case of a gentleman being killed on the Putney Hills in

1874, but this was through incautiously following a wounded bison into

thick cover. In this case the beast went on at once, after killing his

victim in his rush. ‘Only in one instance that I know of has a wounded

bison turned and gored his victim. I do not even think the solitary

bull is more dangerous when wounded and followed up than a member of

a herd. I have seen both die without resistance, and both give some

trouble.’ An officer on the Head-Quarters Staff at Madras had a very

narrow escape from a wounded bull a few years ago, getting knocked down

and only escaping by kicking the bull in the face as he tried to gore.

Several writers have noticed that a stag sambur or bull nylghao

(apparently it is always a male) occasionally attaches himself to a

herd of bison, and that this follower is invariably the wariest and

most watchful beast in the herd. Forsyth mentions a bull nylghao in

company with a herd of buffaloes. Sanderson states that the bison,

after a sharp hunt, gives out an oily sweat, and in this peculiarity

it differs from domestic cattle, which never sweat under any exertion.

He also says that herd bison retreat at once if intruded upon by

man, and never visit patches of cultivation in the jungle; later on,

however, he enumerates three varieties of cattle disease to which they

are liable, and states that they sometimes contract these diseases by

feeding in jungles used by infected domestic cattle. Of course these

two statements are not necessarily contradictory, but the writer when

shooting in the Western Ghauts found both herd and solitary bison

within a mile or two of villages, saw their tracks on patches of ground

cleared for crops in the jungle, on one occasion found bison on the

side of a hill overhanging a main road on which there was daily a

certain amount of traffic and near enough to it to see and hear the

passers-by; and there was a range of hills, the plateau on the summit

of which was a kind of open down where the village cattle were daily

brought to graze, and there were a good many bison in the densely

wooded ravines and slopes. The writer had been studying Sanderson’s

book before starting, as every sportsman should who desires success

in the pursuit of bison, and was particularly struck by the tolerance

these herds, at all events, showed to the vicinity of natives.

_Measurements_