TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO. 117 



marked effect. Charun then let slip his cloth, 

 and waved it up and down. Catching sight of 

 the cloth the bull charged it furiously, and came 

 with such a thud against the trunk of the tree on 

 which we were seated that he made it quiver again, 

 while he himself was thrown quite off his legs by the 

 impact. Charun had now an opportunity, and with 

 my permission, fired. The bull regained his feet and 

 looked about, apparently dazed with the shock of his 

 mad rush against the tree. Charun again waved 

 his cloth, and the bull looking up caught sight of 

 me. Down went his head, up went his tail, and he 

 careered wildly in a circle round the tree, tossing 

 an imaginary enemy at times. He did this several 

 times, stopping at each turn to look up at us, stamp 

 with his feet, emit a bellowing grunt, and then 

 circle round again. The grunt of the wild buffalo 

 is exactly like that of the tiger, and it would re- 

 quire a trained ear to tell the difference at a dis- 

 tance. I feel sure, from the accounts one often 

 hears of tigers roaring at nights, that the noise 

 is frequently only the bellowing of the buffalo or 

 bison. Experienced native shikarees tell me that 

 the male tiger seldom roars ; while the tigress is 

 noisy only when she is in season. 



Covered with mud from head to foot, with masses 

 of soft clay adhering to the long hair on his fore- 

 head, the bull looked a strange sight, peering at 

 us with his small eyes, stamping his forelegs im- 

 patiently, and bellowing his challenge to us to come 

 down and try conclusions with him. There was 

 no use firing at his head with a smooth-bore, so I 



