204 UJiSID^E. 



Except in puffing and humming, the Indian bears are quite 

 silent animals as a rule, and have no call for each other. Occa- 

 sionally, however, they make the most startling noise, whether 

 connected with pairing or not I cannot say. I have only heard it 

 in the beginning of the cold season, which is not their usual 

 pairing-time. They occasionally fight under fruit-trees, but I 

 think the noise then made rather different. 



When surprised or disturbed, and especially when wounded, a 

 bear is generally very noisy, uttering a series of loud guttural 

 sounds. When hit by a bullet it is far more demonstrative than 

 a tiger ; indeed I have more than once known a tiger to receive a 

 bullet without a sound, but I never knew a bear to be hit without 

 much howling. Besides this, when a bear is mortally wounded 

 and lies dying he almost always makes peculiar wailing cries. 

 This has been observed by McMaster. 



If two or more bears are together and one is wounded, a fight 

 generally ensues, which Sanderson considers due to an attack by 

 the unwounded animal or animals ; but this is not necessarily the 

 case, as I have seen an old female when hit attack two half- 

 grown cubs that were with her, and cuff them heartily, and in one 

 instance, when both of two bears were hit, they stood up on their 

 hind legs and fought till one dropped dead from the bullet-wound. 



As a rule the sloth-bear is a timid animal, but occasionally it 

 attacks men savagely, using both its claws and teeth, and espe- 

 cially clawing the head and face. Sometimes, especially when 

 surprised suddenly and attempting to escape, a bear merely 

 knocks a man down with a blow of its claws, often, however, 

 inflicting severe wounds ; but in other cases it holds its victim 

 with its claws and bites him severely, not leaving him until some 

 time after he ceases to struggle. Many of the most savage attacks 

 are made by female bears that have young with them, some are by 

 wounded animals, but occasionally the onslaught appears quite 

 unprovoked. The story of sloth-bears hugging is, 1 think, un- 

 known to the natives of India, and is only repeated by those 

 whose ideas on the subject are derived from European folk-lore. 



There are, however, many folk-lore stories connected with the 

 Indian bear. It is a common belief in parts of India that male 

 bears abduct women. It is possible that the name of Adam-zad 

 is connected with this story. The same belief exists in Baluchistan 

 regarding U. torquatus. 



Sportsmen in India generally either drive patches of jungle or 

 hills, and shoot the bears as they run out, or else mark them down 

 in the morning, and go up to their lair on foot. Elephants are 

 seldom used, they have a great dread of bears, and are but rarely 

 steady with them, and the country is frequently too rough and 

 rocky for the sport. When bears inhabit hills, sportsmen occa- 

 sionally post themselves before daybreak in a commanding spot, 

 and intercept the animals on their return from their nocturnal 

 rambles. Bears are occasionally speared from horseback, and have 

 sometimes been hunted with large dogs and killed with a knife 



