418 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
the one above mentioned. I was once rather ludicrously and very 
uncomfortably held at bay by a boar who covered the retreat of his 
family. One evening, after dismissing my am/ah, I took up a shot 
gun, and, ordering the elephant to follow, strolled across some fields 
to a low scrub-covered hill where I thought I might pick up a few 
partridges or a peafowl before dusk. On entering the bush which 
skirted the base of the hill I was suddenly brought up by a savage 
grunt, and there in front of me stood an old boar with his bristles up, 
_ whilst the rest of his family scampered off into the thicket. I re- 
membered Shakespeare’s (the poet’s—not the gallant shikari general’s) 
opinion :— 
“To fly the boar before the boar pursues 
Were to incense the boar to follow us,” 
and therefore stood my ground, undergoing the stern scrutiny of my 
bristly friend, who cocked his head on one side and .eyed me in a 
doubtful sort of way, whilst he made up his mind whether to go for me . 
or not, whilst I on my part cogitated on the probable effect at close 
quarters of two barrels of No. 6 shot. However, he backed a bit, and 
then sidled to the rear for a few paces, when he brought up with another 
grunt, but, finding I had not moved, he finally turned round and dashed 
after his spouse and little ones. (See also Appendix C, p. 528.) 
Colonel (now General) Shakespear winds up a thrilling account of a 
fight with one with the following paragraph, which will give a good idea 
of the endurance of these creatures :— 
“There he was with a broken spear in his withers, the shaft sticking 
up a foot and a-half from the blade, knocking over a horseman and 
wounding his horse ; receiving two bullets—ten to the pound each—the 
first in his neck and throat, a very deadly part in all animals ; the second 
breaking his jaw, and fired within a few feet of the muzzle; making 
good his charge, cutting down his enemy like grass, wounding him, 
knocking over a second man armed with a spear, defying the dogs, and 
then, when in the act of charging again, shot to the brain and dying 
without a groan.” 
Although I had not intended giving any shikar stories, I cannot 
resist quoting one from General McMaster’s ‘Notes on Jerdon.’ He 
writes :— 
‘In further proof of the savage courage of a boar I may mention 
the following instance which is recorded in the ‘Hunt Annals’ of the 25th 
December, 1869. A large wnzwounded boar had succeeded in getting 
into some thick bushes. On being bullied by a terrier he charged the 
nearest hunter, and ripped the horse very badly. Two other sportsmen 
who were not riding then tried to tempt the boar to charge, one by firing 
No. ro or quail shot into the bush, the other by riding a camel into it. 
