210 MK. ALFRED EZRA ON BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN INDIA. 



Mr. C Davies Sherborn, F.Z.S., exhibited an j^utograph of 

 Captain Bligh of ' The Bounty.' 



Mr. C. Tate Regan, M.A., F.Z.S., exhibited a Piraya {Serra- 

 sahno piraya) from the Amazon, and gave a short account of 

 the habits of this ferocious fish. 



Big-Game shooting in Cooch Behar^ Assam, and the Bhutan 

 Duars, India. 



Mr. Alfred Ezra, F.Z.S., gave a lantern exhibition illustrating- 

 Big-Game Shooting in Cooch Behar, Assam, and the Bhutan 

 Duars, India, and made the following remarks : — 



On account of the heavy grass- and reed-jungle, sometimes well 

 over 20 feet high, so common in these districts, it is impossible 

 to do any shooting on foot. All big-game shooting is done here 

 with the aid of elephants, which are thoroughly trained for the 

 purpose. During the shooting-season the country is generally 

 burnt in patches, and here one follows the method adopted in 

 covert-shooting in England. Two or more guns are sent in with 

 the line of elephants, while some guns are posted forward as 

 " stops," and the patches are beaten up to them. The elephants 

 used for the "stops" are generally very steady and well-trained 

 aaiimals and are most valuable. The shooting arrangements at 

 Cooch Behar are reduced to a science, and the men in charge of 

 the line are so well trained that a tiger can invariably be beaten 

 out to any particular "stop," should the Maharaja wish a special 

 guest to have the first shot. My favourite way of shooting in 

 this covintry is to go alone on a pad-elephant with an intelligent 

 mahout (driver) who is a good tracker. In this way you go 

 through the thickest parts of the jungle without disturbing the 

 game, and you see the animals in their natural haunts, sleeping, 

 grazing, or wallowing in the muddy streams. Being accustomed 

 to always seeing wild elephants, the animals do not take the 

 slightest notice of your mount, and you are able to get within a, 

 few yards of them. At such close quai'ters the sportsman can 

 pick and choose his head, only shooting something that is worth 

 having as a trophy. The game found in this country consists of 

 tiger, leopard, bear, rhino, buffalo, bison (gaur), sambur, swamp- 

 deer, wild pig, and hog deer. 



