52 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



should retire to their head-quarters out in the open country 

 at this period, brief visits only being paid to the jungle. 



The reasons which entailed my remaining on the 

 spot proved, as it turned out, a golden opportunity ; as 

 unique opportunities arose for studying the fauna of this 

 part of India as I could not otherwise have hoped to do. 



They were an extraordinary place those jungles in the 

 monsoon in the late nineties of last century. Teeming with 

 animals they were, in fact, a giant sanctuary in which the 

 shyest members of the jungle folk, such as the elephant 

 and the bison, roamed at will, free and practically un- 

 molested. It is difficult to believe that this state of affairs 

 existed, for the short interval which has elapsed has brought 

 about very different conditions, so far as the numbers of 

 the game animals are concerned. 



On one brilliant day during a break in the rains in August 

 of that year three separate herds of bison, two containing 

 over forty animals apiece, were tracked down and put up, 

 whilst two old solitary bulls were seen ; one inadvertently 

 run into as he was resting under the shade of a bamboo 

 clump, and the other after two hours' hard tracking. This 

 latter was a fine old bull, his skin jet black and shining 

 like satin, and horns deeply furrowed at the base and 

 blunted and worn at the tips. 



The fleeting glance we obtained of the other bull, as he 

 sprang up and crashed away into a bamboo thicket, showed 

 an animal in its prime, with what appeared to be an un- 

 usually long and curved pair of horns. 



That day, as regards the number of bison actually seen, 

 proved a red-letter one. But we had few blank days — 

 either seeing animals or coming upon absolutely fresh 

 tracks on most occasions. 



And the same state of affairs was disclosed with respect 

 to other game. Sambhar were plentiful and many a good 

 head could have been bagged had I not held my fire, being 

 unwilling to disturb the jungles in the hopes of obtaining a 

 good bison. 



In the light of the present condition of these forests in 

 this respect I often bitterly regret that I did not keep an 

 accurate daily record of the animals seen. It may be 

 admitted that such a record would not have been absolutely 

 correct, since the same animal may have been put up more 

 than once. But as the tract of jungle visited at different 



