470 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY Vol XXII. 



the famine many thousand head of cattle were turned into the Gir and 

 grass-cutting was organised on a large scale, by this means the whole 

 Forest tract was cleared of cover ; and it is probable that much game was 

 accounted for by the hungry workers. A frequent and very careful 

 inspection of paths and the sandy river-bed revealed remarkably few 

 footprints of any large animals, other than lions, panthers and pigs, and 

 as the two former take fair toll of the domestic cattle there is no difficulty 

 in accounting for how they obtain food. I hear that the shooting in the 

 Gir is very good, so in all probability, as I have pointed out, this is not a 

 normal j'ear. In the small cultivation around and in the village, signs 

 of rats and mice were plainly discernable and trapping yielded fair results. 



Bauadia. — The country here is the usual type of fertile black cotton 

 soil, the principal produce being cotton, other crops here being irrigated by 

 water drawn from wells. The country is flat but intersected by deep 

 waterways, now dry. Hares were abvindant and a good series was obtained. 



KuDiA, GiRNA Range. — This, my last camp in the State, yielded some 

 fine series of rodents and shrews, the former probably being peculiar to 

 the Girna Eange above, say 1,000 feet. On my labels I have recorded 

 the altitude as 2,500 feet, but have since come to the conclusion that I 

 was working principally at 2,000 feet. Up to 1,500 the jungle is all teak, 

 above this the teak thins out and gives place to small and large leaf 

 bushes, many having the appearance of a laurel ; the leaf of one species, I 

 understand, is used for the outer wrap of Native cigarettes. A scanty 

 growth of babul is also found here. 



Wherever the mountain side is steep there are great masses of trap 

 rock and piles of large boulders in the crevices of which sufficient soil lodges 

 to give sustenance to bushes and long flowering grass, the seeds of which 

 form an important item in the diet of Cremnomys cutcMcus, for it is among 

 these rocks that this interesting rat is to be found. A good stream rises 

 much higher up the valley and finds its way to the plains below in a series 

 of cascades and pools." — C. A. C. 



" Simia rhesus does not occur in the State. 



Lyroderma lyra. I cannot trace this bat here ; have searched disused 

 wells, which are favoured by this species, also caves, without avail. 



Felis leo (Vernacular name : — Sawach Hawach.) 



The lion is found only in the Gir Forest in this State, I understand he 

 wanders into Baroda territory. I made many inquiries as to the numbers 

 now living in the Gir, but the estimates given by the local people varied so 

 vastly as to be quite unreliable, but by a good authority, 1 was told that 

 there might be fifty or sixty lions now in the Gir. Lions are exceedingly 

 noisy late in the evening, at night and in the early morning before day- 

 break. They kill a large number of domestic cattle and goats, but are invari- 

 ably driven ofl' the kill by the villagers, who hope by this method to prevent 

 the lion stopping in their neighbourhood. I was informed that a lion will not 

 attack a bulfalo from the front, but springs upon it from behind ; when two 

 or three are hunting together, one lion is said to draw the buA'alo on, while 

 the remaining one nr two attack from behind. Several cases were brought 

 to my notice of lions having Lately killed men, but I think in each case the 

 man was asleep or alone in the jungle at night which is putting temptation 

 in the lion's way. I subsequently received information that one lion turned 

 man-eater and was shot by Mr. Brook-Fox. The lion is very bold, I heard 

 one making a great noise in the village one night. The local people say 

 that three lions together are often met with, they are fond of sleeping 

 during the day in the shade of big trees, and may then, according to 

 report, be approached without difficulty. A tame lion in Junagadh has a 

 fair mane. 



