

VERTEBRATA. 



BUNTING ELEPHANT8 IN AFRICA. 



i animals expanded their cars and listened, then left their hath as the crowd rushed toward 



them. The little one ran forward toward the end of the valley, but seeing the men there re- 



tarned to bis dam. She placed herself on the danger side of her calf, and passed her proboscis 



'i and again, as if to assure it of safety. She frequently looked back to the men, who 



kept up an incessant shouting, singing, and piping; then looked at her young one and ran after 



•metimes sideways, as if her feelings were divided between anxiety to protect her offspring and 



. t'> revenge the temerity of her persecutors. The men kept about a hundred yards in her 



. and Borne that distance from her flanks, and continued thus until she was obliged to cross a 



rivulet. The time spent in descending and getting up the opposite bank allowed of their coming 



up to the edge, and discharging their spears at about twenty yards' distance. After the first dis- 



charge she appeared with her sides red with blood, and, beginning to flee for her own life, seemed 



think n«> more of her young. It ran very fast, but neither young nor old entered into a gal- 



: their quickest pace was only a sharp walk. The calf took refuge in the water and was killed. 



The pace of the dam gradually became slower. She turned with a shriek of rage and made a 



furious charge back among the men. They vanished at right angles to her course, or sideways, 



and. as Bhe ran straight on, she wont through the whole party, but came near no one except a 



man who wore a piece of cloth on his shoulders. Bright clothing is always dangerous in these 



charged three or four times, and, except in the first instance, never went farther than 



a hundred yards. She often stood after she had crossed a rivulet, and faced the men, though she 



i fresh Bpears. It was by this process of spearing and loss of blood that she was killed; 



last, making a Bhort charge, she staggered round and sank down dead in a kneeling pos- 



tun-. 



following extract from Pringle's " Wanderings in South Africa" furnishes a (dear idea of 

 the babits of these animals in a wild state: "After mid-day, we came upon the recent traces of a 

 troop ot elephants. Their huge foot-prints were everywhere visible, and in the swampy spots, on 

 the hank- of the river, it was e\ idenl that Borne of them had been luxuriously enjoying themselves, 



by rolling their unwieldy bulks in tl ze and mud. But it was in the groves and jungles thai 



they had left the most Btriking proofs of their recent presence and peculiar .habits. In many 

 places paths had been trodden through the midst of dense thorny forests, otherwise impenetrable. 



