

VERTEBRATA. 



■ twenty individuals. The younger bulla remain for many years in the company of their 

 mothers, and these are me1 together in large herds of from twenty to a hundred individuals. The 

 the elephant consists of the branches, leaves, and roots of trees, and also of a variety of 

 s tuation of which be is advised by bis exquisite sense of smell. To obtain these he 

 ground with his tusks, and whole acres may be seen thus plowed up. Elephants 

 nnc an immense quantity of food, and pass the greater part of the day and night in feeding. 

 the whale in tin- ocean, the elephanl on land is acquainted with, and roams over, wide and 

 He is extremely particular in always frequenting the freshest and most verdant 

 the forest, and wh< n one districl is parched and barren, he will forsake it for years, 

 wander to great distances in quest of better pasture. 

 •■ i he elephant entertains an extraordinary horror of man, and a child can put a hundred of 

 them to flight bj passing at a quarter of a mile to windward, and when thus disturbed they go a 

 ; w.iv before they halt. It is surprising how soon these sagacious animals are aware of the 

 • of a hunter in their domains. When one troop has Keen attacked, all the other ele- 

 phants frequenting the districl are aware of the fact within two or three days, when they all for- 

 sake it, and migrate t<> distant parts, leaving the hunter no alternative but to inspan his wagons 

 and r. move t" fresh ground. This constitutes one of the greatest difficulties which a skillful ele- 

 phant-hunter encounters. Even in the most remote parts, which maybe reckoned the head- 

 quarters of the elephant, it is only :asionally, and with inconceivable toil and hardship, that 



of the hunter i- cheered by the sight of one. Owing to habits peculiar to himself, the 

 •hant is more inaccessible, and much more rarely seen, than any other game quadruped, ex- 

 cepting certain rare antilopes. They choose for their resort the most lonely and secluded depths' 

 of the i. . aerally at a very great distance from the rivers and fountains at which they drink. 

 In dry and warm weather they visit these waters nightly, but in cool and cloudy weather they 

 drink only once every third or fourth day. About sundown the elephant leaves his distant mid- 

 day haunt, and commences his march toward the fountain, which is probably from twelv< 

 twenty miles distant. This he generally reaches between the hours of nine and midnight, w] 

 ] i n \ i 1 1 -_T slaked his thirst ami cooled his body by spouting large volumes of water over his hack 

 with his trunk, he resumes the path to his forest solitudes. Having reached a secluded spot, I 

 have remarked that full-grown hulls lie down on their broadsides, about the hour of midnight, and 

 p for a few hours. The spot which they usually select is an ant-hill, and they lie around it 

 with their backs resting against it; these hills, formed by the white ants, are from thirty to forty 

 feet in diameter at their base. The mark of the under tusk is always deeply imprinted in the 

 .'round, proving that they lie upon their sides. I never remarked that females had thus lain down, 

 and it is only in the more secluded districts that the bulls adopt this practice; for I observed 

 in districts where the elephants were liablc'to frequent disturbance, they took repose stand- 

 on their legs beneath some shady tree. Having slept, they then proceed to feed extensivelv. 

 Spreading out from one another, and proceeding in a zigzag course, they smash and destroy all 

 the finest trees in the foresl which happen to lie in their course. The number of goodly trees 

 which a herd of bull elephants will thus destroy is utterly incredible. They are extremely capri- 

 nd on coming to a group of five or six trees they break down not unfrequently the whole 

 them, when, having perhaps only tasted one or two small branches, they pa>> on ami continue 

 their wanton work of destruction. I have repeatedly ridden through forests where the trees thus 

 broken lay BO thick across one another that it was almost impossible to ride through the district, 

 and it is in situations such a- tin-,, that attacking the elephant is attended with most danger. 

 During the ni._dit they will feed in open plains and thinly-wooded districts, but as day dawns they 

 retire to the densest covers within reach, which nine times in ten are composed of the impracti- 

 cable wait-a-bit thorns, and here they remain drawn up in a compact herd during the heat of the 

 day. In remote districts, however, and in cool weather, I have known herds to continue pastur- 

 ing throughout the w bole day. 



*' '"• appearai of the wild elephant is inconceivably majestic and imposing. His gigantic 



heighl and colossal bulk, so greatly surpassing all other quadrupeds, combined with his sagacious 

 disposition and peculiar habits, impart to him an interesl in the eyes of tlie hunter which no other 



