WANDERING HABITS OF ELEPHANTS 285 



eventually in shooting this animal, which turned out to be 

 a huge " muckna " or " hine." The circumstances connected 

 with his death will be related in another page. 



No forest can contain a herd of elephants for more than 

 three or four days, as, destroying more than they eat, they 

 consume all fodder in a very short time. They are therefore 

 continually moving about from one locality to another. The 

 denser and more luxuriant the vegetation the better is the 

 chance of falling in with them. Elephants are found at 

 almost any elevation. I have shot them at a height of quite 

 3200 feet; they do not as a rule, however, remain at such a 

 high elevation for any length of time. During the end of 

 April, May, and June elephants, gaur, and tsine resort to hilly, 

 open places where there is a breeze, and where they can escape 

 from the tormenting gad and other predatory flies which 

 infest the low-lying country. An elephant's skin, although 

 very thick, is just as sensitive as that of many other animals 

 to the proboscis of the various insects which prey upon 

 mammalia. Solitary elephants are always worth following 

 and shooting, as they are usually large and have the best 

 tusks. Should the tracks of an elephant with a diameter of 

 1 8 to 20 inches be found, and it prove to be a tusker, 

 it will invariably be noticed that he has one if not two 

 good tusks. Burman hunters say that they can always 

 tell by examining the toe impressions whether the animal 

 possesses good tusks or not, or whether the right tusk is 

 heavier than the left, simply by the deep and distinct im- 

 pression or otherwise of the two front toes of the fore-feet 

 in the soil. This depends a good deal upon whether the 

 earth is hard or soft at the time. My hunter has often 

 remarked to me of a track, " Sir, look at the deep toe 

 impressions of this elephant's right fore-foot compared with 

 his left, which is very indistinct ; he has only one tusk." 

 Again, of another fresh track, which shows only the huge 

 circle-like impression of the foot without the toe impression, 

 he would say, " We need not take on these tracks, sir, it is 

 only a ' hine,' ah-swe-ma-she-bu," or in other words a tuskless 

 male. I am convinced, from my own experience of tracking 

 up elephants, that large tuskers invariably leave a very 



