154 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



legs being tied together), and are then turned out to graze. Hence it is 

 not a matter for surprise that they do breed. I regret I have no data of 

 my own absolutely reliable to quote as to the period of gestation, but I give 

 the following extract from an interesting letter on the subject which appear- 

 ed in the Indian Forester, April, 1899 : — 



" In June, 1897, one of the mahouts reported that his elephant had been 

 covered by the tusker attached to the division whilst the animals were 

 turned out to feed. The act was observed every evening for about a week, 

 from about May 18 to May 25, 1897. Neither of the animals showed signs 

 of sexual excitement previously, though the d ale paid assiduous court to 

 the female for a few days before coition was permitted. They were both 

 at work at this period, dragging logs, and gave no trouble to their 

 attendants. The report was noted, but, I am sorry to say, forgotten, 

 till Nov. 3, 1898, when, in the evening, the elephant gave birth to a 

 female calf. 



Fortunately that day she had only carried a light load for a short march. 

 The baby, though so weak that it had to keep itself upright by holding on 

 to a bamboo with its mouth, was perfectly healthy and well formed, and 

 after a day could stand and suckle. The period of gestation, therefore, 

 had been a little over seventeen calendar months, or almost exactly eighteen 

 lunar months. — C. B. S," 



I have carefully noted the habits of tame elephants, and find that healthy 

 animals sleep twice in the night, from about twelve o'clock to two o'clock 

 and again about four o'clock till dawn ; some, however, only sleep once, 

 i.e., from four o'clock till dawn. If an animal sleeps oftener it is not well. 

 They lie down full length on their sides to sleep. This early morning time 

 for sleeping explains why it is so injurious to the health of elephants to 

 march for days together before dawn, as is frequently done in the hot wea- 

 ther by officers wishing to spare these animals the torture of marching in 

 the sun. My experience also is that if a tame elephant lies down during 

 the day the animal is going to die. As regards "must," I am of an opinion 

 it is of a sexual nature, as I have noticed that it is rarer and not so intense 

 among males if allowed free access to females as when they are excluded 

 from all female society. 



Now for another matter — the finding of remains of wild animals in the 

 forest. This subject has given rise to many very pretty fables, and sportsmen 

 have, because they personally have not found dead animals themselves, 

 believed all sorts of fairy tales, I would ask sportsmen to try and remember 

 how many times they have found the remains of any of the larger species 

 of mammalia, such as gaur, rhino, or tsaing, in the forests ; very, very 

 seldom I venture to think; tropical rains, birds, animal, and -white ants 

 will soon destroy all traces of any organic matter. However, the finding 

 of dead wild elephants is not quite unknown. In 1893 I was camped some 



