534 UNGULATES. 



that are permanently solitary are, however, comparatively rare, the majority of 

 the so-called rogues really belonging to herds. These leave their companions, 

 as a rule, merely for a time, in order to visit the cultivated lands, where the less 

 venturesome females hesitate to follow, and where they inflict enormous damage 

 on the growing crops. 



The food of the Indian elephant is mainly composed of grass, leaves, and 

 young shoots of the bamboo, stems, leaves, and fruits of the wild plantain, and the 

 leaves, twigs, and bark of certain trees, more especially figs. The generally 

 succulent nature of its food is in harmony with the structure of the molar 

 teeth, which present a relation to those of the African species almost exactly 

 analogous to that which exists between the molars of Burchell's and the common 

 African rhinoceros. In plucking tussocks of grass or branches of trees, the 

 elephant coils the end of its trunk around them and then tears them off; and the 

 same method is employed in stripping leaves from a bough, or bark from a stem. 

 Small objects such as fruit are, however, picked up by the small finger-like process 

 forming the termination of the trunk above the aperture of the nostrils. When 

 drinking, elephants immerse the end of the trunk in water, which is sucked up to 

 a distance estimated at from 15 to 18 inches in its tubes, and then emptied into the 

 mouth. As a rule, the times of drinking are soon after sunset and shortly before 

 sunrise. Grain is drawn up into the trunk, and then blown out into the mouth. 



Wild elephants are in the habit of roaming about and feeding both during 

 the day and night, although they usually rest from nine or ten o'clock in the 

 morning till three in the afternoon, and again from eleven at night till three in 

 the morning. When sleeping, they lie down in the usual manner, and although 

 the members of a herd at once scatter in all directions on any sudden alarm while 

 feeding, they quickly reassemble. 



When the season of the year is not too cold, elephants are fond of bathing, 

 or rolling themselves in wet mud, but unless the weather be unusually warm they 

 seldom indulge in such pastimes after sundown. When heated, they squirt water 

 over their backs from their trunks, and when unable to obtain water externally, 

 they have the power of drawing fluid from their mouths or throats by the aid of 

 the trunk. At times, when exposed to a scorching sun, they protect themselves by 

 throwing dust, leaves, or straw on their backs. 



. In common with its African cousin, the Indian elephant is an 



Swimming 1 . 



excellent swimmer, and is perhaps more thoroughly at home in the 



water than any mammal whose habits are not essentially amphibious or aquatic. 

 Mr. Sanderson states that a herd of seventy -nine elephants under his charge once 

 had a swim of six hours' duration, and after a short rest on a sandbank accom- 

 plished their journey by water in three hours more. An elephant swims very 

 deep in the water, sometimes only showing the end of its trunk, but at others 

 allowing the greater part of its head to appear above the surface. In the case of 

 tame individuals the mahout, or driver, generally stands on the neck of his animal. 

 The pace that an elephant swims is estimated at about a mile an hour ; but this, 

 of course, depends largely on whether the animal is swimming with or against 

 the stream. Unlike that of a hippopotamus, the body of a freshly-killed elephant 

 floats in water. 



