i88 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



work, as so many escape wounded, and having the jungle driven 

 usually ends in disappointment. 



The snow bear is easily stalked on the open slopes he fre- 

 quents, and provided that the wind is favourable, and that the 

 sportsman remains absolutely motionless as long as the animal's 

 head is turned towards him., he can play almost any trick with 

 a bear, even though standing in full view ; but he must be care- 

 ful not to let the sun shine on the barrels of his rifle, for that at 

 once attracts attention. The best place to find a snow bear is 

 one of "those patches of bright green grass that mark the spots 

 where sheep have been folded the year before. The writer 

 knows several instances of black bears having been followed 

 into their caves and shot there under circumstances of intense 

 excitement. Colonel Howard, whose adventures with sloth 

 bear are narrated below, had a sparkling time with a Himalayan 

 black bear in a cave ; but it is not everybody's sport. 



Few men, after they have procured a good specimen or two, 

 care to shoot bears. Their skins require more attention than 

 they are worth, and on good shooting ground where snow bears 

 are most common, it is rarely w^orth the risk of disturbing a 

 good ibex or markhor for the biggest bear in Asia. 



Jerdon remarks of the black bear — and the natives of 

 Chumba at all events thoroughly believe it — that when one is 

 caught in a rope snare, if he cannot break it by the first effort 

 he will not try again, but will remain on the spot moaning and 

 looking at the imprisoned paw without attempting to bite the 

 rope. 



The sloth bear is the common black bear of Central and 

 Southern India. It extends to the base of the Himalayas, but 

 does not ascend them, its northern limit being about 31° 

 N. Lat. Its long flexible snout and long claws distinguish it 

 at once from its Himalayan cousin, and though it delights in a 

 temperature more suggestive of the necessity of punkahs and 

 ice than of greatcoats, its fur is longer and better. In spite of 

 its long claws it climbs well, and as, like deer and natives, it 

 delights in the nasty-tasting flowers of the ' mhowa ' tree, a 



