MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 315 



rolled over on his side, and lying at full length, commenced to snore gently. 



On being informed in a whisper that he was asleep, I was able to turn round 



without disturbing him and so secure him. Two circumstances on this 



occasion excited my wonder : first, that the crows appeared to know when we 



were ready, and started at once to fetch the panther, which they might have 



done at any previous time ; and, second, that this experienced beast, who was 



for 10 minutes or more within 30 feet of the machan, was not able by scent to 



detect our presence. Both panthers and tigers will hunt by scent, especially 



in the case of a drag or of a wounded animal ; and I have frequently seen 



them smelling carefully and with deep inhalations the tracks of men or 



elephants, yet their noses seem powerless to warn them of an enemy who is 



raised a few feet only from the ground. A somewhat remarkable instance 



of this occurred later on, when in very open forest a tiger was in the vicinity 



of a machan, and ultimately laid down under it without, during the 25 



minutes of his visit, detecting anything wrong. He also departed without 



being fired at, but this I hardly regretted at the time in the interest of 



observing a tiger so near and for so long. He was a full-grown male, an old 



beast to judge by his colour and appearance, and during the time he was under 



observation he was never still for half a minute at a time. It was a warm 



evening in April, and the tiger felt the heat badly ; the flies annoyed him 



intensely, and he was incessantly driving them off his face. with his paws and 



off his body with his tail ; he tried every conceivable attitude to attain some 



comfort, but apparently without avail ; whilst his heavings, pantings, 



gruntings and eructations convinced me that tigers, when not on company 



manners, are decidely vulgar and disagreeable. Ultimately, he lay down 



within 15 feet of the machan, wtere lie remained until, attracted by some 



distant sounds, he sat up to listen and then retired as quietly as he had come, 



thus flying from an imaginary danger after courting real peril for so long. I 



would add that the times mentioned in this narrative were taken from a 



watch which I always on these occasions hang on a convenient twig to permit 



of accurate observation ; and I must, in all honesty, state that I would have 



killed the tiger if I could have done so, but that I never got a chance to fire 



from the right shoulder, whilst I am unable to shoot from the left. 



Can anyone say how it is that "the tainted gale" due to man's presence 



a mile off can be a source of alarm to animals that take no notice of it 



when the origin is at a vertical distance of a few feet? Why, the most 



careful of the deer tribe will without concern graze all round a tree 



concealing the most odoriferous of native shilcaries. If scent rises so rapidly 



as to prevent it from reaching animals directly under its source, what must 



be its elevation at long distances ? 



S. EARDLEY WILMOT, 



Conservator, Oudh, 

 Naini Tal, June, 1897, 



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