BEARS AT CLOSE QUARTERS. 147 



Luckily I had with me a couple of ball cartridges, 

 so I told the Purdhan, or headman of Dalki, who 

 was out with me shooting green pigeon, to lead 

 the way. A few hundred yards up the steep slope 

 of the hill and under the shade of lofty forest- 

 trees, a strange scene presented itself. Crows, 

 minas, jays, the great and little hornbill, swallows, 

 finches, and birds of all kinds were darting hither 

 and thither amid great chattering and cawing, after 

 white-ants which were taking the wing in thousands. 

 At the foot of a decayed tree, near to which was an 

 ant-hill, a female bear and two well-grown cubs 

 were literally licking up the flying-ants as they 

 issued from their holes. Slobbering their forepaws 

 over with saliva, they brought them down on the 

 ants, whose thin gauze-like wings adhered to the 

 wet paws, and were thus easily licked off by the 

 bears. So busy were they at this evidently delect- 

 able occupation, and so intent on securing as much 

 as possible of this dainty, that we were able to 

 approach unobserved to within fifty yards. The 

 wary crows alone spotted us and flew off a little 

 way, but soon returned to the feast. A perfect 

 cloud of ants went up like a haze from the foot of 

 the tree, and into this flying mass the birds darted 

 open-mouthed, greedily gobbling up the tooth- 

 some morsels. The shrill notes of the smaller 

 birds, the hoarse caw of the crows, and the harsh 

 scream of the hornbills made such a noise that it 

 was possible to approach much nearer without 

 being heard. I stood gazing at this strange scene 

 for fully five minutes, when suddenly I heard a 



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