104 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



victim are almost invariably the favourite objective of this 

 infernal brute, and he will not usually leave the poor flesh 

 until it is difficult to tell to whom it once belonged. That 

 this picture is not too highly coloured may be proved by 

 anyone travelling in those parts. Gruesome objects jaw- 

 less, scalped horrors are at the present moment to be 

 seen in the hamlets of the forest region referred to. These 

 are instances of the somewhat incomplete handiwork of 

 Melursus. 



Fewer accidents occur to the sportsman through the 

 agency of bears than by that of felines. This is to be 

 attributed to various reasons. Melursus is not so quick, 

 and his armament is inferior to that of tiger or panther ; 

 the ground he chooses as his resort often abounds in points 

 of vantage for the hunter on foot ; his black coat will not 

 permit him to hide in a handful of twigs. All this, added 

 to the fact that some of our books on Indian sport make 

 light of and poke fun at him, induces the ordinary sports- 

 man to undertake operations against the "sloth" bear 

 without, perhaps, that seriousness which would accompany 

 his actions when tackling more dangerous game. 



However, it is a dangerous thing to underrate one's 

 adversary, and nasty, sometimes fatal accidents have before 

 now occurred to sportsmen, who have discovered too late 

 that the so-called sloth or "honey" bear can on occasion 

 wake up, and attack with remarkable vigour, inflicting 

 wounds as severe, though not so septically dangerous, as 

 those dealt by ^.^f elides. 



She-bears of this variety, especially those with cubs, are 

 apparently the offenders in most cases of unprovoked 

 assault ; although it is the writer's experience that, when 

 wounded, bears have been more aggressive as a rule than 

 similarly wounded felines. 



Bear stories are so common, and have figured so largely 

 in tales of Indian sport, that in sympathy with the reader 

 one is inclined to cry " Halt ! " But the narrative of an 



