THE INDIAN BISON 



event, the bison usually contents himself with one 

 rush and then goes on, though he may charge again 

 and again if further followed up, but far more fre- 

 quently he does not charge at all. The usual 

 reason for a bison charging is that the animal, very 

 probably struck through the lungs, or with a leg 

 broken, betakes itself to the densest cover which it 

 can find, and, when it feels itself unable to travel 

 further, turns round and stands motionless, watching 

 for its enemies. The sportsman and his gun-bearers 

 following the blood trail are apparent to the bison's 

 keen sense of hearing, and if the wind be from them 

 to him, they are also obvious to his very acute sense 

 of smell ; while, since the animal is standing silently 

 in thick cover, they can neither hear nor see him, 

 till, with a premonitory snort, and "like an express 

 train," he is upon, or past them. 



Usually he goes on, either having upset one or 

 more of the party, or having missed them, as the 

 case may be, but there have been instances in which 

 a bull bison has stuck to his man with great per- 

 tinacity. One of these occurred in my own dis- 

 trict to Mr. (now Colonel) N. C., who was at the 

 time a member of Sir F. (now Lord) Roberts' staff. 

 Mr. N. C., having read in Sanderson's book that 

 one should always rapidly pursue bison immediately 

 after firing at them on account of a habit which 

 they have when suddenly alarmed, or being fired 

 at, of pulling up and facing round after they have 

 run a short distance ran forward after firing at a 

 bull, trying as he went to reload his 8-bore which 

 had rather a stiff action. He had only just reached 

 c 17 



