Round the Camp Fire. 179 



Famine is, alas! a game destroyer with which it is out of 

 our power to deal. 



A further consideration of the game destroyers of India 

 brings us to those great pests of the jungle the wild 

 dogs. 



Decrease in the numbers of game, such as deer, etc., 

 would lead one to infer that a corresponding falling off 

 might be expected in those predatory animals directly 

 dependent on them for food and existence ; yet there is 

 little doubt that the numbers of the wild dog (Cyan, or 

 Cuon rutilans] have largely increased of late years, while 

 their usual habits of retirement and shyness before the 

 face of man also seem to have undergone a change. Even 

 within the experience of the writer, the wild dog, once 

 almost a rara avis, has become far too common. 



One has only to note the effect of an incursion of these 

 deadly little hunters into a game-bearing section of country 

 to realize their power. Let but the scent of a few wander- 

 ing Cyons arise in such haunts, and, as if by magic, every 

 other creature scatters and disappears. Not only is there 

 a rapid exodus of the bovidte and cervid^ but even the 

 terror-striking feline himself tiger and panther alike 

 seems to receive an urgent call to other localities far 

 removed from the disturbing presence of the red dogs. 



The writer once had an opportunity of witnessing a case 

 of one such sudden debacle. He had made an excursion 

 from his standing camp to verify reports received of a 

 tiger which was killing in some distant coverts, and had 

 set off on his ride one hot afternoon. It was towards the 

 cool of evening that the track, which had been passing 

 through a bleak succession of bare rocky hills, suddenly 

 descended to a secluded valley full of the kind of covert 

 beloved of spotted deer. Forced to the surface by horizontal 



