213 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— THE CALL OF THE SLOTH-BEAR. 



Mr. Roscoe Allen's interesting Note on the Call of the Sloth-Bear in the last 

 Journal (p. 745) reminds me of an incident which may be of interest to him 

 and to other readers of the Journal. In February 1904 I was in camp among 

 the foot-hills of the Bara Pahar range in Sambalpur district, which was then 

 part of the Central Provinces, but is now a district of the Orissa Division of 

 Bengal. I had 16 kills out for a pair of man-eaters which were known as the 

 Ambabhona Tigers. 



My tent was open as the weather was warm, and one night about 1 a.m.I 

 heard a call which was quite unfamiliar. It was, as Mr. Allen describes it, a 

 long-drawn and rather melodious note. Near my tent were sleeping my 

 Shikari and Khalasi, both of whom had been out all day inspecting the 

 buffaloes tied up. I found both asleep and did not wake them. The same 

 call was repeated, and I located it in a steep hill north of my camp, I heard 

 no answering call, and went to sleep. 



In the morning an old Binjhal from the village came over to tell me about 

 it. He had been awake too. He described it as the sex-call of the she-bear 

 and said that she evidently was calling up her mate from a great distance, 

 three " Jcos " at least. 



I wished to go out at once, but the sun was already well up and the old 

 Binjhal said that we could safely wait till evening. His argument was 

 " She would not have called him up from a distance, if she had not found very 

 good feeding. They will be on this hill for two days." 



In the evening I found both bears feeding on the reverse of the hill in thick 

 jungle. The male got away wounded, but the she-bear got my second- 

 barrel in the neck and died, after throwing herself savagely on her mate and 

 biting him. He, when wounded, did not attack her. 



F. DEWAR, I.C.S. 

 Camp : Balaghat, C.P. 

 7 th January 1910. 



No. II.-DISTRIBUTION OF THE SLOTH-BEAR OR INDIAN BEAR 

 (MELURSUS URSINUS). 



It is stated in the Fauna of British. India — Mammalia — by Blanford, that the 

 Sloth-bear is found to the West of India, in Kathiawar, and has occasionally been 

 met with in Cutch. As regards Cutch, I am unable to advance anything ; but 

 I can safely say that it is not to be met with, nor as far as I am aware has it 

 ever been so, in the Province of Kathiawar. It is difficult to conjecture what 

 reason there can be for its absence, as many parts of the Gir forest are just 

 the places, one would suppose, for holding bears. The same remark applies to 



