50 Wild Beasts 



the herds are protected their numbers are increasing, so 

 that the same necessity for thinning them out will again 

 arise. 



All over the cultivated portions of India platforms are 

 erected in fields, where children by day, and men at night, 

 endeavor to frighten away these invaders, together with 

 the birds, antelopes, bears, monkeys, and wild hogs, that 

 ravage their crops. No very signal success can be said to 

 attend these efforts, and when a herd of elephants makes 

 its appearance, they simply keep at a distance from the 

 stages, and otherwise do as they please. 



Plundering bands survey the ground, study localities, go 

 on their diiroras like a troop of Dacoits, and are organized 

 for the time being in a rude way, under the influence of 

 what Professor Romanes calls "the collective instinct." 



Hunters favorably situated can easily see this. A far- 

 off trumpet now and then announces the herd's advance 

 through the forest, but as they approach the point where 

 possible danger is to be apprehended, no token of their 

 presence is given, and its first indication is the appearance 

 of a scout, — not a straggler who has got in front by acci- 

 dent, but an animal upon whom the others depend, and 

 who is there to see that all is safe. Everything about the 

 creature, its actions and attitudes, the way it steps, listens, 

 and searches the air with slowly moving trunk, speaks for 

 itself of wariness, knowledge of what might occur, and an 

 appreciation of the position it occupies ; no doubt, to a 

 certain extent, of a sense of responsibility. When this 

 scout feels satisfied that no danger is impending, it moves 

 on, at the same time assuring those who yet remain hidden 



