158 JOURNA L, BOMB A Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



views appear to prevail on the subject, it may not be uninteresting to 

 adduce some evidence drawn from personal experience. 



That most animals in torrid climates are generally very impatient of thirst 

 is a fact well known to all observers. In fact the tirst undertaking of the 

 sportsman in search of game is usually the examination of the vicinity of 

 water for the footprints of animals that have been to drink, so that their 

 presence may be discovered. The great felidce nightly visit the water ; tigers 

 are seldom found far from it, and are fond of lying immersed in it during 

 the heat of the day. The panther appears to find water less necessary, but 

 my observation tends to show that he drinks nightly, although he frequently 

 lies up at a considerable distance from water. The black bear of the Indian 

 plains {Ursus labiatus) visits the forest pool by night, and 1 have seen him 

 before sunset scratching for water in the side of a hill where a thin spring 

 was oozing and trickling down the slope. The gaur drinks frequently' — at 

 least once a day — and wanders far in search of liquid in the secluded forests 

 where he loves to roam. The spotted deer lives on the shady banks of 

 jungle rivers, drinking often from the pools in which its graceful form is 

 reflected. 



The naturalists above referred to do not apparently dispute these facts with 

 regard to the foregoing beasts, so 1 will turn to those of which they make 

 special mention in this connection. With reference to the sambur, my obser- 

 vation does not agree with that of Mr, Sterndale. It is many years since 

 I have seen much of this deer, but to the best of my recollection, the 

 evidence of footmarks and the movements of the animal all pointed to its 

 habit of visiting the water once every twenty-four hours, usually by night. I 

 can speak with more certainty of the nilgai, having closely observed this 

 animal for many years, and having been frequently encamped amid its haunts, 

 and within my observation it is a fact admitting of no doubt that it drinks 

 daily— sometimes in the evening and sometimes after nightfall, according to 

 locality. That it does so also during the cold weather I have unmistakeable 

 evidence. During the season of 1899-1900, I was several times encamped 

 at a place where a few of these animals, whose numbers were known to me, 

 existed. The season at the commencement of the great famine was one of 

 drought and all the water-courses were dried up. The only water was 

 containe;^ in the wells and irrigation channels in the vicinity of villages. 

 At these wells the patient, laborious cattle toiled all day to draw the water 

 that ran down the channels to irrigate the fields. At night, when all was quiet 

 and the watchmen slumbered on their platforms amid the crops, the nilgai 

 always came down and drank where the water was collected, and especially 

 at the shallow wooden troughs, hollowed out of th'=' trunks of trees, which 

 were placed for the cattle near the wells. The marks of their feet were plain 

 in the soft mud, and might be seen every morning. At night, too, the 

 prowling panther visited such a spot where he might find a victim among the 



