THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 



in British India. In some of the native states, 

 however, as also in zemindaries, leave to shoot 

 a tusker may occasionally be obtained, but such 

 opportunities are very exceptional. 



Wild elephants shirk the sun as soon as it has 

 got high say at about 10 a.m. from which time 

 till 2 p.m. or so (unless, indeed, the day should 

 be cloudy, or wet and cool) they retire to rest in 

 dense shade. 



Grass, leaves, wild fruits, and bamboo shoots 

 form the staple diet of this animal, and the amount 

 of fodder which he gets through in twenty -four 

 hours is prodigious. He is very particular as to 

 what he eats ; and when grazing upon grass which 

 comes up by the roots as he gathers it with his 

 trunk, he carefully bites off and throws away the 

 lower portions of the stems with their attached 

 rootlets. 



Wild elephants feed and lie down alternately 

 during the night, and they also graze in the 

 early morning, and again in the afternoon and 

 evening. 



It may, I think, be taken as proved that the 

 height of ten feet at the shoulder is never attained 

 by the Indian male elephant (which is, of course, 

 much larger than the female), though large animals 

 grow to very little short of that height. Out of 

 many hundreds measured by the late Mr. Sander- 

 son who probably knew more about elephants, 

 their capture and their training, than any European 

 who has ever had to deal with them the three 

 largest males were 9 feet 10 inches (one) and 

 P 209 



