1 122 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



cases a herd may include as many as a hundred head; but when fodder is scarce all 

 the larger herds break up into smaller parties of from ten to twenty individuals, these 

 smaller parties keeping within a distance of two or three miles of one another, and 

 reuniting when conditions are more favorable. A female seems to be invariably the 

 leader of the herd, although in it may be included males of all ages, and on the march 

 the females with their calves occupy the van, while the tusked males bring up the 

 rear. The old bulls are frequently solitary for a time, but generally each belongs to 

 a particular herd, which it visits occasionally. Solitary male elephants are known 

 as "rogues," and are generally characterized by their fierce and quarrelsome dispo- 

 sition; according to Mr. Sanderson, elephants that are permanently solitary are, 

 however, comparatively rare, the majority of the so-called rogues really belonging to 

 herds. These leave their companions, as a rule, merely for a time, in order to visit 

 the cultivated lands, where the less venturesome females hesitate to follow, and 

 where they inflict enormous damage on the growing crops. 



The food of the Indian elephant is mainly composed of grass, leaves, and young 

 shoots of the bamboo; stems, leaves, and fruits of the wild plantain, and the leaves, 

 twigs,, and bark of certain trees, more especially figs. The generally succulent 

 nature of its food is in harmony with the structure of the molar teeth, which present 

 a relation to those of the African species almost exactly analogous to that which 

 exists between the molars of Burchell's, and the common African rhinoceros. In 

 plucking tussocks of grass or branches of trees, the elephant coils the end of its 

 trunk around them and then tears them off, and the same method is employed in 

 stripping leaves from a bough, or bark from a stem. Small objects such as fruit 

 are, however, picked up by the small finger-like process forming the termination of 

 the trunk above the aperture of the nostrils. When drinking, elephants immerse the 

 end of the trunk in water, which is sucked up to a distance estimated at from fifteen 

 to eighteen inches in its tubes, and then emptied into the mouth. As a rule, the 

 times of drinking are soon after sunset and shortly before sunrise. Grain is drawn 

 up into the trunk, and then blown out into the mouth. 



Wild elephants are in the habit of roaming about and feeding both during the 

 day and night, although they usually rest from nine or ten o'clock in the morning 

 till three in the afternoon, and again from eleven at night till three in the morning. 

 When sleeping, they lie down in the usual manner, and although the members of a 

 herd at once scatter in all directions on any sudden alarm while feeding, they quickly 

 reassemble. 



When the season of the year is not too cold, elephants are fond of bathing, or 

 rolling themselves in wet mud, but unless the weather be unusually warm they 

 seldom indulge in such pastimes after sundown. When heated they squirt water 

 over their backs from their trunks, and when unable to obtain water externally, 

 they have the power of drawing fluid from their mouths or throats by the aid of the 

 trunk. At times, when exposed to a scorching sun, they protect themselves by 

 throwing dust, leaves, or straw on their backs. 



_ . . In common with its African cousin, the Indian elephant is an excel- 



Swimming , 



lent swimmer, and is perhaps more thoroughly at home in the water 



than any Mammal whose habits are not essentially amphibious or aquatic. Mr. 



