242 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



to the decrease in the areas of jungle capable of affording 

 asylum to some of the larger animals owing to the extension 

 of agricultural lands, the development of the mineral wealth 

 of the country, the building of railways and roads, and to the 

 conservancy operations of the Forest Department through 

 which the jungles are constantly disturbed. 



All of these are, it may be admitted, factors leading to a 

 decrease in the fauna and especially in the game fauna of the 

 country and will be treated of in a subsequent chapter. But 

 as important a factor, perhaps a more important one in its 

 effects on the great decrease which is imperilling some of 

 the species in the country, is to be found in the operations 

 of the Indian poacher. The poacher has remained outside 

 the notice of the Government and has had a free hand to 

 perpetrate his nefarious practices. I propose to deal 

 briefly with some of the methods by which this inhuman 

 class of slayers carry out their operations. They will speak 

 for themselves. Considerable ingenuity is displayed in many 

 of the methods employed by the poaching fraternity. But 

 any admiration one may feel for the cleverness is over- 

 whelmed by horror as one realizes that both animals and 

 birds are often done to death by methods the brutal callous- 

 ness of which has to be witnessed in order to be credited. 



A few of the common practices in force are enumerated 

 below. Some of them I have myself seen and investigated 

 personally. For others I am indebted to Messrs. Douglas 

 Dewar and P. Wyndham, both of the Indian Civil Service ; 

 and to Messrs. P. H. Clutterbuck, CLE., and W. F. Perree, 

 CLE., of the Forest Service, all well-known authorities who 

 have studied this game- and animal-protection question. 



Some Indian Poaching Methods of Trapping and Securing 

 Animals and Birds 



I. ANIMALS 



Elephants 



Pitfalls. — A barbarous method of catching elephants used 

 to be commonly in force, and still is in parts of the country. 

 Pitfalls are dug on the elephant tracks in aU sorts of 

 ground and carefully concealed. In spite of this animal's 



