214 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



sambhar stag, the sharper one of the chital, and witnessed 

 fights of no mean order between the claimants to the favours 

 of some fair hind. Whilst grazing, deer, especially the hinds, 

 constantly emit sharp yelps or squeals, or high-pitched notes 

 of various cadences, which doubtless in deer language 

 signify endearments, repartees or merely tittle-tattle and 

 scandal-mongering. The one note about which there is 

 never any doubt is the note of alarm. It is the females in 

 the deer tribe, and in fact all horned animals of my acquaint- 

 ance, who do the sentry-go for the herds — usually old, 

 experienced females. In stalking this fact has to be remem- 

 bered. It is essential to mark down the sentries and also 

 any young and foolish members of the weaker sex who may 

 stray far in front of the herd whose lord and master, ever 

 in the rearguard, is the object of the stalk. Failure to omit 

 this necessary precaution will cause the miscarriage of many 

 a stalk begun with rosy promise. 



Deer feed chiefly at night, leaving the forest just before 

 sunset and returning to it soon after sunrise. Chital require 

 a lot of water and consequently will be certain to visit the 

 water nearest to their haunts in the morning and evening, and 

 they will keep to the plains forest ; but the larger and older 

 sambhar stags prefer the foothills forming the base of the 

 mighty Himalayan range or the hilly parts of the great 

 plains of India. Consequently, if one wishes to secure a good 

 sambhar, it is to the hills that one must resort to stalk the 

 animal. It is astonishing what rough rocky ground this 

 heavy stag will negotiate with ease and speed and the extra- 

 ordinary, narrow knife edges along a crest which he can 

 gallop over. When alone in this fashion and depending upon 

 himself, he becomes most wary, usually taking up a position 

 for the day on some commanding vantage point from which 

 he can watch all approaches. 



As regards the attitude of the larger animals of the 

 Indian jungles amongst themselves, the carnivora, tiger and 

 leopard, never willingly interfere with any of the more danger- 

 ous species, such as elephant, bison, buffalo, rhinoceros, 

 bear or boar ; and they probably usually refrain from 

 attacking the larger stags of the deer tribe. When aware of 

 the near presence of the former, tiger or leopard will usually 

 move silently in an opposite direction. This is not to say that 

 homeric encounters do not take place between the carnivor- 

 ous eats and the other species if through unforeseen circum- 



