BIRDS AND BEASTS OF PREY. 145 



in any other way, when we mention that during a 

 terrible drought in India, a hare actually came up, 

 entered an officer's tent at a military encampment, and 

 drank out of a vessel held in the hand of the adjutant 

 of one of Her Majesty's regiments at Ellore. * 



But be those things as they may, to the sportsman 

 birds and beasts of prey being present in great num- 

 bers is always more or less a welcome fact, because 

 it may be regarded as an unfailing proof that game 

 is also abundant, seeing that these creatures in a wild 

 country must, in the absence of domestic cattle, etc., 

 have game to prey upon. Moreover the larger and 

 fiercer carnivorae are themselves much sought after 

 by sportsmen as trophies of the chase, and as such, 

 as we have said, often require the exercise of the highest 

 skill on his part to bring them to bay. 



Tiger hunting, and the pursuit of other beasts of 

 prey, is more or less strictly speaking a form of forest 

 and jungle shooting, because the haunts of these 

 animals, where they have to be sought after, are gener- 

 ally in forest wooded ravines or other heavy cover. 

 Yet like much of this sport, it is only obtained on the 

 edges of the forest, where these adjoin the plains coun- 

 try, or where extensive clearings have been made by 

 man within the forest boundaries; for in the heart of 

 vast forests which extend without a break over a wide 

 section of country, the larger beasts of prey are scarce 

 and rare, and probably even entirely wanting though 

 the smaller species, such as wolves, foxes, and the 

 smaller cat tribes, penetrate everywhere through the 



* This circumstance is vouched for by the late Mr. Chas. Darwin 

 who had it from Dr. Malcolmson (See Journal of his researches during 

 the Voyage of H.M.S. "Beagle" foot-note to page 133 I4th Edition, 

 1879). 



VOL. III. 10 



