NOTES ON SAMBAR AND SAMBAR SHOOTING. 393 
of the nullah, as he often stops just as he gets to the top for a moment, 
and in any case the running shot is an easy one. This is the usual 
way of settling them by disturbing them from their seats in some 
thicket in a nullah, or you may find one in his form in the long grass 
under the shed of a tree on more open ground ; here again you won’t 
see him till he rises to fly. Sometimes you are aware of a stag stand- 
ing looking at you perhaps not 50 yards off. He has either just jumped 
up, or suddenly come on you as he was walking through the jungle. 
As you raise your rifle he sometimes whips round and flies, but as often 
as not he will stand to be shot. 
Early in the morning and late in the afternoon you may come across 
sambar on the move and have a kind of short stalk to get in on them. 
If there are deer in the jungle, there will be many trees with the outer 
bark rubbed off. Sambar are very fond of rubbing their horns against 
trees long after the horns are hard and all the velvet has disappeared ; 
they get the tree between the brow antler and beamand rub up and down 
leaving along blaze on the tree. They seem to prefer the smoother 
light-coloured trees for the purpose, such as the “‘saler”; the dark red 
of the inner bark shows very conspicuously where the stag has been 
rubbing. At the foot of the tree will be found quite a heap of bark 
in shreds. If you look at a samber’s horns you will find in many cases 
the beam for some inches above the brow antler polished quite smooth 
from this habit. You will also not fail to observe in their forms small 
heaps of fruit stones. The fruit is swallowed whole. The sambar drops 
the stones out when he chews the cud ; they are chiefly the stones of the 
Ber. If you disturb a sambar from his form you will find a fresh 
heap of stones quite wet, which have just before been in his interior. 
An old stag generally slips away quietly, a hind and young stag often 
give a loud bark as they start off. If you see either stag or hind and its 
ears are flapping, it has not seen you. As soon as they see you, their 
large ears are brought forward at right angles to the head and remain 
fixed so as to catch every sound. If you remain motionless they will 
stare a long time. Directly you move they are away. Sambar do 
not go in large herds. I think the most I have seen together are 
8 or 9. 
The stags, both old and young, are often found alone and also in 
company of the hinds, In the hot weather the stags are generally 
