216 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
A lion is not likely to wait until the sportsman is quite close up, 
but will come on, if it comes on at all, from a greater distance, 
and the greater distance a beast comes from the better chance 
the sportsman has of pulling himself together and taking a 
steady shot. 
When hit, the difficulties of killing, stopping, or even 
turning a buffalo are greater than with an elephant or lion. A 
buffalo holds its head up, with its forehead almost horizontal, 
too high to enable one to get a shot at the brain, and there is a 
Bull buffalo 
great chance of the bullet ricochetting off the horns. A shot 
at the chest when at close-quarters is almost an impossibility, 
as the beast is so very low on its legs. In the open this is 
the best shot to take, as by kneeling down the sportsman is 
more on a level with the animal, and the head is not so much in 
the way. An elephant also holds its head up, and the chances 
of a shot at the head proving fatal as the beast charges are 
so remote as to be almost infinitesimal. An elephant’s head, 
however, is a large mark, and a bullet striking it in the centre 
Te ee 
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