244 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL JSLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXL 



know quite where the herd was. I got a couple of smaller bulls belonging 

 to the same herd, when they were quite away from it. Much has been 

 written and said about the ' Solitary Bull ' and some people think that, 

 any bull found by itself deserves this title. My own impression is that 

 most of these solitary bulls are really members of a herd within a few 

 miles, and one is quite certain to meet them with the herd at certain 

 seasons of the year. What I understand by the Solitary Bull, is the aged 

 and morose old beast (with horns worn to a stump perhaps), that either 

 wUl not or cannot or is not permitted to join the herd. I have known 

 only one such and he was lame from a damaged hoof, and was shot by a 

 French Planter called DeFondclair, near Harehatch. There is always 

 one bull who not only thinks himself to be lord of the herd, but the herd 

 recognizes him as such and in certain circumstances he rushes up, to see the 

 cause of any mysterious alarm. 



When I first came to the country I accompanied a friend one evening to 

 have a look for tracks, and we blundered into a small herd of bison in some 

 " Cheppukad " at the foot of the Shola opposite the Kundale Bungalow, 

 (there was no such bungalow of course in those days) and we both ducked 

 down and hid as best as we could, on hearing the stampede around us ; in 

 a short time we became aware of a crashing sound and a snorting beast 

 approaching us, and my friend L. sbood up and shot at close quarters 

 what turned out to be the bull of the herd. 



The other time was even more exciting, for my wife and I were out after 

 ibex, and found a herd of bison on the grass ridge, which led up to the 

 ibex grounds on the Kvmdale Range. The direction of the wind favouring 

 us, we found an excellent observation place in a cleft between two rocks, 

 in which grew a small i-hododendron tree ; by using both the rocks and the 

 tree, we were able to shin up the cleft one at a time and get our heads 

 more or less on a level with the ground on which the bison were lying, 

 composedly chewing the cud, about 50 yards off. We never knew exactly 

 why, but we noticetl that one by one the bison stood up and took up a 

 more or less crescent shape formation facing us. I suppose our heads 

 slowly appearing and disappearing seemed very suspicious circumstance 

 to them, for after a good gaze in our direction the ball advanced with loud 

 snorts, pawing up the ground, and tossing up tussocks of grass with his 

 horns. He actually gave a loud challenge — a prolonged and alarming 

 'moo' — quite unlike the grunt of the domestic bull of this country. I had 

 no thought of firing at him, for I was armed with a "450 Express, and only 

 had with me soft hollow-fronted bullets quite unsuited to meet the frontal 

 attack this beast made on our position. I should have told you that 

 another rhododendron was growing with its roots on level with the top of 

 the rocks, in the cleft between which we were by this time hiding. We 

 heard the beast ' go for ' the lower branches of this tree and smash them 



