2560 The Zoologist— April, 1871. 



Mr. Sclater, the learned Secretary of the Zoological Society, 

 records, at p. 176 of the 'Ibis' for 1861, the previous occurrence 

 of two specimens of this bird ; one at Brandeston, in Suffolk, the 

 other at Walsham, in Norfolk. 



Edward Newman. 



Elephants ; Letter from Calcutta. — I heard the other day of an elephant 

 charging a ti'ain, throwing it off the line, and being injured so much itself 

 that I fancy it must have died, though I did not hear so. Elephants live to 

 a good old age, but, as they are expensive animals to buy and to keep, the 

 loss when one dies is a large one from more than one point of view. Many 

 die within six months of their capture, the younger ones being most liable 

 to succumb to restraint : after that period a tamed but vmtrained elephant 

 will fetch, according to its size and disposition, from £80 to £150: a 

 powerful and experienced draught elephant costs as much as £'250, while a 

 howdah elephant, trained for tiger shooting, costs as much as £350. These 

 animals have a naturally strong aversion to each other, and elephants 

 require a careful education before they will even cross the track of a tiger 

 without a fuss. In Cachar, where tigers were numerous and harmless, my 

 elephant has often refused to pass over the track of a tiger, and whether 

 marks were visible or not, according to the nature of the ground, it was 

 easy to perceive, from the creature's uneasiness, the reason for stopping : 

 his sense of smell is very keen, and through its means he will, like a dog, 

 recognise people. Their intelligence is as well known in the world as day- 

 light, but a residence among them is necessary to form a proper estimate 

 of their wonderful sagacity. To their own drivers they will render perfect 

 obedience to the extent of their power ; but when they find that to move an 

 object unaided is beyond their strength, they will refuse to make a second 

 attempt without assistance. One elephantine friend of mine would curl up 

 the end of his trunk for his mahout to stand on, and then raise him care- 

 fully on to his head, and I am sure the beast was well aware that this 

 arrangement saved him the trouble of kneeling; he would pick up and 

 hand to the man anything that was pointed out to him, and at feeding time 

 they all used to bring their own baskets from the stable to my bungalow, 

 opposite which I saw them fed, after the rice had been weighed out from 

 the store-room. One year, on the occasion of an elephant drive, one 

 hundred and fifty were captured or rather confined in the stockade, which 

 had been formed by cutting down trees about twenty miles from my 

 plantation : they broke bounds three times, however, and eventually but 

 thirteen were tied up, of which number two died soon after — one, with 

 a want of courtesy, taking up his last quarters on the track from my house 

 to the river. It was at the commencement of the rainy season, when 



