NATURAL HISTORY 33 



They then, with many stares and uneasy stampings 

 of their feet, disappeared. 



In this connection I can quote an interesting 

 experience of a brother officer. He was after 

 buffalo in the Central Provinces in a jungle not much 

 shot. A herd was grazing towards him. He stood 

 perfectly still in front of, not behind, a tree while 

 the herd with a few curious stares grazed up to and 

 past him. He eventually shot the bull. 



I do not think this argues short sight. Wild 

 animals have very little knowledge of what a man 

 looks like. They associate him with a blundering, 

 noise-raising, odoriferous animal : they have not 

 been taught the appearance of their adversary by 

 a Zoo and by pictures. That a pig, like any other 

 animal, can detect motion at once is a truism. It 

 is a common thing to see a boar take a good look 

 round before leaving a cover. He undoubtedly 

 sees well at night. 



Hearing. The hearing of a pig is certainly 

 wonderfully acute. When the weather is cool, 

 even with the most quiet of lines, if you ride a mile 

 ahead you will see pig jogging on, alarmed and 

 disturbed. People have no idea of the importance 

 of a silent line. Old Lutchman used to run the 

 Meerut line with the aid of a powerful voice, and an 

 unequalled vocabulary. I learnt much from the 

 latter, and flatter myself I can still bring a blush 

 to the face of even the most sinful Aryan brother. 

 Much to Lutchman's disgust I stopped all shouting 

 and substituted a silent line, an occasional whistle, 

 and signals. Our bag increased to a marked degree. 

 Now that pig have got to know the whistle, a new 

 device is needed : the call of some bird will probably 

 be the best. 



