HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



The noise they make when inhaling can be heard a 

 great distance, and sounds almost like an elephant snorting, 

 grunting, and blowing through its trunk. 



In the dry season they still have honey, which seems to 

 exist at all seasons of the year ; but in addition to that there 

 is also a considerable variety of fruit then available, as many 

 of the jungle trees are in fruit at that time. The principal 

 fruits thus met with are Dalu, mora^ kon, weera, timberi^ 

 diwul, and damba^ and at times the strong-smelling flower 

 of the mee tree. The above fruits and the mee flower attract 

 not only the bears but almost all other animals in Ceylon, 

 the palu, weera^ and damba being the most attractive as 

 they are very sweet ; but the mee flower is probably the 

 most attractive of them all. 



Bears go about usually singly, but occasionally in pairs, 

 especially during the mating season, whilst females allow 

 their cubs to run with them until nearly full grown. 



The cub when small is often carried on its mother's 

 back between the shoulders, and is supposed to hold on by 

 the long hair which forms a regular thick tuft there. 



The peculiar form of these bears' legs enables them to 

 get into the most extraordinary positions and attitudes when 

 sucking their food out of ant-hills, grub-holes, cracks in 

 trees or rocks, and such-like, their limbs seeming to be, in a 

 clumsy way, as flexible as a monkey's. They are good but 

 somewhat slow, clumsy climbers, and their gait on the ground 

 is a sprawling walk, which they can quicken into a very 

 lollopy, head- over-heels sort of gallop, but which gets them 

 over the ground at a fair pace. Their sight is poor, and 

 hearing none too good either ; but this is compensated for 

 by their keen sense of smell, and they like to investi- 

 gate everything they come across with their mobile lips 

 and noses. When caught young they are easily tamed, 



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