CHAPTER XII. 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT (Elephas Indicus) AND 



ELEPHANT SHOOTING, 

 WITH NOTES FOR BEGINNERS 



THE Indian elephant is too familiar an animal 

 to require any detailed description. It may 

 however be remarked that it is very seldom that 

 a wild elephant appears of any other colour than 

 a rusty-brown a very different hue from that of 

 the deep-black bun-eater of the Zoological Gardens, 

 the menagerie, and the circus. The reason for 

 this is that the wild animal loves to cover himself 

 with mud, as a protection against the attacks of 

 insects from which he suffers much irritation ; for, 

 although his skin is thick, the black epidermis 

 thereof is very thin, and immediately beneath the 

 latter lies a vascular net- work ; consequently, flies 

 of about the size of, and very like, the common 

 English horse-fly, can draw blood freely from the 

 animal, and they worry him exceedingly. 



Tame elephants are washed frequently, and hence 

 the remarkable difference in appearance between 

 the former and their wild congeners. 



Owing to his being protected by the Govern- 

 ment, which permits the destruction of only such 



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