MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 153 



work for a time, whereas the losa to a timber firm of keeping a good drao'- 

 ging female idle for a considerable period is a serious one. 



For some time I had five females and a tuskless male attached to my 

 division as transport animals. Four of -the females in one year gave birth 

 to young ; three of the calves were born at various times during one rainy 

 season, while one was born in the middle of the following hot weather, 

 the morning after the mother had made a long march with a heavy load 

 of baggage. Two of the calves were males and both tuskless, corroborating 

 the assertion of the mahouts that the tuskless male was the father. I felt 

 quite convinced that this tame male was the father, as the females were 

 always under my personal supervision, and I know that no wild elephant 

 had any access to them ; moreover, my experience is that tame females, 

 as well as males, show great terror for even the propinquity of wild elephants. 

 Of course there are exceptions to this. All these calves when I left Burma in 

 1900 were still alive, and on the books of the Forest Department, being then 

 rising five years old, strong and healthy. The elephants of the Forest Depart- 

 ment in Burma have calves continually being born, and numerous ones are on 

 its books ; some, indeed, are now at work as baggage animals. One particu- 

 larly fine little tusker, twelve years old, was a special favourite of the 

 Conservator of the Southern Circle, Upper Burma. My experience is that 

 elephants are affectionate and careful mothers, though male full-grown 

 animals seem to object to youngsters near them. In the Salween district 

 of Tenasserin almost every Karen village has a few female elephants, which 

 are kept for breeding purposes. There are no wild elephants about, and 

 elephant breeding from tame males is a well-known and lucrative source 

 of income to the villagers, the elephant being used as pack animals, and 

 often in the rains for ploughing the paddy fields. Mr. Roberts, Manager 

 of the Bombay-Burma Trading Company, Limited, Pyinmana, kindly collected 

 statistics of ;births among elephants under his charge (some 600, male 

 and female). I regret to say that I have mislaid his most interesting 

 statement, but it may be summarised as follows : — It is so common an 

 occurrence as to give rise to no comment, beyond a little strong language. 

 The calves are invariably strong and healthy, and only 3 per cent. die. 

 The cause of death can always be traced to the mother being put on to 

 heavy work too soon after the calf is born, which tends to stop the flow 

 of milk. 



The Bombay-Burma Timber Company have many elephants now in work 

 which were born from dragging or transport females, and their mahouts 

 all assert the fathers are nearly always also domestic elephants. The mother 

 cannot be worked while the calf is small, as she is frightened of damaging 

 her child, the latter's favourite position for walking being just underneath 

 tlie mother, almost between the front legs. Elephants in Burma are not 

 kept in stables, but are hobbled (either the two front legs or the two hind 

 20 



