120 BISON. 



Carder Shikari Atlay, and others whose names I cannot 

 just now recall ; on all these occasions the bison had been 

 wounded first. A case certainly occurred some years ago 

 of an officer being attacked without provocation, and, 

 to the best of my recollection, killed by a solitary bull, 

 on the Western Ghauts, in the Bombay Presidency ; but 

 this must be considered exceptional, although on some 

 occasions, I am bound to admit, that if the initiative had 

 not been taken by me, the bison would probably have 

 done so. These solitary bulls have always an evil 

 reputation, resembling rogue elephants and buffaloes in 

 this respect, but so far as my small experience goes, of 

 something over forty skirmishes, with the herd and some 

 solitary bison I have never been charged by an unwounded 

 one, except on a certain occasion, when a herd led by a 

 wounded bull came at me en masse, of which particulars 

 will be given later on. 



The first bison ever seen by me were in the Baba 

 Booden Hills in 1870. This range is in Western Mysore, 

 nearly semi-circular in shape, and up to 6000 feet high. It 

 is isolated, and surrounded by heavy jungles containing all 

 the varieties of Southern Indian big game, but, like all 

 forests in these latitudes, very unhealthy. Higher up 

 the slopes the climate is salubrious and delightful. On the 

 above occasion we were going to drive a large sholah (wood) 

 for Sambur ; but before the guns were posted, a herd of 

 about a dozen bison broke away on the far side and made off 

 down the hill towards the low country forests. On this 

 day, too, I saw a flying squirrel and a woodcock, a 

 decidedly rare bird in India, although they are to be found 

 on the Neilgherry Hills, and I remember three being shot 

 in Burmah, near the Royal Lake at Rangoon, by a soldier 

 in my regiment in the year 1876. A friend of mine Mr. 



