744 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLSTORY SOCLETY, Vol. XX 



On another occasion, I chanced upon two lions in much the 

 same way. On this occasion, my attention was attracted by the 

 belling of a sambur. Thinking that it must have seen a panther, 

 I was peering about the jungle, looking for the latter, when up 

 got a couple of young lions from under a large corunda bush, and 

 trotted away quite unconcernedly, stopping every now and again 

 t3 have a look at the intruders. It was with difficulty that I resist- 

 ed the temptation of shooting one or both, but I had shot my 

 share of lions for the season and besides these animals were hardly 

 more than half grown. 



During the year 1890, H. R. H. the late Duke of Clarence, 

 paid the Gir a short visit, at the invitation of H. H. the Nawab of 

 Junagadh, for the express purpose of shooting a lion. Every- 

 thing that was possible to ensure success was done by the Nawab, 

 but in the end the Prince had to leave without a lion having been 

 bagged either by him or one of his party. It was almost a case of 

 too much bandobast. 



The shooting camp was pitched, as usual, at Sasan. A party 

 of three lions had been tempted by nightly feeds of buffalo, to 

 'emain in the neighbourhood, and on the morning succeeding the 

 Prince's arrival, they had been safely marked down in a good 

 position for "driving." The tree on which His Royal Highness was 

 stationed had been selected after much deliberation ; and, if all had 

 gone well, the lion should have passed, within a few feet of it. 

 Of course, the unexpected happened ! Far too many beaters had 

 been provided by the Darbar. The men responsible for the 

 " drive"' were unable to control them properly, with the con- 

 sequence that they commenced to shout at the wrong end of the 

 line and far too soon. The result was what would be expected 

 under the circumstances : the lions, on being disturbed, bolted 

 in the wrong direction, nowhere near the Prince's tree. They 

 passed, it is true, close to the tree occupied by one of the officers 

 of his staff, but he failed to bag one, and the gun in the next tree 

 also failed in a long shot. The lions cleared out of the neighbour- 

 hood and unfortunately no others were marked down before the 

 Prince's visit came to a termination and every one except myself 

 left the Gir. 



