150 



Out of that hill and, I think, the same afternoon, in one beat we 

 turned a herd of bison, a tiger, and two or three bears. 



No men have more opportunities than have sportsmen, of observ- 

 ing the wonderful goodness of the Creator in placing " every living 

 creature that moveth after his kind" upon ground where the animal 

 cannot be readily seen and where natural aids are always present for 

 the concealment necessary either to protect the weak antelope, or 

 squirrel from foes, or to enable the tiger to procure his prey. 



Every Indian sportsman must have observed how completely the 

 yellowish fawn-color of the antelope, or the gazelle assimilates with 

 that of the dusty, sun-burnt plains on which they are generally 

 found, and how difficult it is to see a doe when, she is gazing and 

 offering, what a friend of mine terms, the " knife-shot" that is, stand- 

 ing end on facing the spectator and giving him almost as puzzling 

 a target at a one hundred yards, as if he were about to try the 

 Yankee feat of attempting, at twenty, to split a bullet on the edge 

 of a knife, 



Or ; he can probably remember how easily the large hill 

 squirrels, page 59, animals as large as a cat, can conceal themselves 

 on branches almost perfectly bare of leaves. 



Or ; how black volcanic rocks, or deep shadows match the dusky 

 coat of a bear ; or, how closely the light and shade caused by the 

 sun falling through bushes and on dead leaves, lichen tinted rocks, 

 or stumps correspond with the colors of the tiger or leopard ; or r 

 how difficult it is to see even a mighty stag grazing on a grey 

 mountain side ; or, to take a much more humble and familiar 

 instance, even when one knows that a flock of green pigeons 

 (treronidas) are in a certain tree, and the birds may be heard, or their 

 shadows seen, as they flit among the branches,, how nearly impos- 

 sible it is to mark one of their bodies. 



Those who only think of elephants as they have seen the domes- 

 ticated giants working at any of the innumerable tasks on which 

 these almost reasoning slaves may be employed, can hardly imagine 

 how puzzling a matter it is to see them distinctly among the dark 

 shadows and irregular outlines that fill up any portion of a landscape 

 in their forest haunts. I can only say, that with a experienced and 



