BISON AND BUTTERFLIES 



instead of being perched on the top of an elephant, 

 where the bison could not get at me. 



Finally, I came to the conclusion that we must 

 simply be working round and round in circles, other- 

 wise the animals would not always be scenting us ; 

 so I had some little bags made and filled these with 

 the finest dust I could get. By shaking these it was 

 possible to detect the direction of the faintest breath 

 of wind. The result was most gratifying. We laid 

 our course up-wind, and had not gone more than a 

 couple of hundred yards before we spied a bison. 

 Instantly the trackers fled, but our elephant was well 

 trained, and whilst we lay almost flat on his back the 

 driver got him to shuffle up to within twenty yards 

 of the animals, of which I managed to secure a most 

 interesting series of moving pictures. 



The Indian bison are exceedingly dangerous 

 animals ; in fact, I am told that they have killed more 

 hunters than even the tigers. Moreover, as I had 

 proved for myself, they are extremely shy. But for 

 the fact that they are accustomed to grazing on the 

 same ground as the wild elephants, I should have had 

 no hope of getting a picture. 



My next attempt furnished a vivid contrast. 

 Having succeeded in adding thirty feet of film of 

 bison to my collection, I turned my attention to some 

 butterflies feeding on a soHtary flower by the side of 

 the water-hole. 



263 



