166 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



for several seconds. The wounded bear had by 

 this time swung round, and the mother joined it 

 and retreated. As she moved off I fired and 

 wounded her badly, but both of them got away 

 though we followed them for some distance. 



The third bear, as the natives subsequently 

 informed me, bolted in the opposite direction at 

 the first shot. 



My tactics on this occasion were faulty. There 

 was a bush near us ; and, if I had sat down 

 behind this and allowed the bears to come close 

 up, I might have shot the lot. I was, however, 

 taken aback by their unexpected appearance 

 in bright sunlight ; and, as they were coming 

 fast towards us, I had not much time either to 

 think what to do or to get my cartridges ready. 



On the 3rd of February I was hunting with the 

 Gond forest guard in the morning, and we saw 

 a bear in thick cover. He was partly hidden 

 by rocks and brushwood, but I had the "350 

 magazine-rifle with me, and thought that I could 

 kill him with the aid of the telescope sight. I 

 accordingly took a shot at him. The shot was 

 a difficult one, and I either missed or only slightly 

 wounded the bear, which immediately disappeared 

 in the bushes. While I was trying to get another 

 shot at him a second bear, which I had not seen, 

 descended from a tree close by the spot. He 

 descended rapidly, but, as he reached the ground, 

 I had a shot at him with the -450, but the bullet 

 struck a sapling, and he also disappeared. 



I then crossed into the Chanda district to try 

 and shoot a tiger. Shortly after my arrival in 

 the district I went out in the afternoon with a 



