THE GREAT INDIAN RHINOCEROS. 65 



and some vultures wheeling over the thickest part of the jungle drew our attention to the 

 spot where we discovered the ' Rhino ' — a small female — lying dead. 



A little separated from the large covert was a belt of high reeds on the bank of a river, 

 and as it was a most likely looking place, we proceeded to beat it. S. went to the end of the 

 covert, while I skirted the edge, keeping just ahead of the line of beaters. It was not long 

 before I heard a ' Rhino,' which moved slowly along some two hundred yards in front of 

 the Elephants, occasionally approaching the edge of the covert and again plunging deeper 

 into it. At length he made up his mind to at least see whether the coast was clear or 

 not, but hardly had his head appeared, when he drew back, and grunting loudly, charged 

 through the beaters. I immediately called them out of the jungle, and taking them back 

 half a mile, re-formed the line, and recommenced the beat. On coming to the end, however, 

 I found that we had not gone back far enough, and that the ' Rhino ' was still behind us. 



S. therefore went to the other end, and we proceeded to beat in the reverse direction. 

 The ' Rhino ' was again roused, and after dodging about for some time he at length trotted 

 out close to me. My Elephant was unsteady and I missed the shot at the head, and as the 

 ' Rhino ' turned away, my second bullet struck him close to the root of the tail, a pretty 

 deadly place with the heavy charges that I was using. The ' Rhino ' now went straight to S., 

 who dropped him with a couple of shots. On examining him, we found that he had a very 

 perfect sharp horn, about a foot long. He was covered with scars from fighting, and had 

 lost one eye ! 



On subsequent days we shot with varied luck, bagging several more ' Rhino,' and losing 

 others which we ought to have got. The greatest difficulty was to get the beaters to keep 

 their places when a ' Rhino ' was on foot. As soon as the great beast began grunting and 

 rushing about, they would scream out that he was attacking their Elephants, and with few 

 exceptions they would do their best to get out of the way, and afford the ' Rhino ' a clear 

 line of retreat. 



At length, after a very enjoyable week, we came to our last beat, a long narrow belt of 

 reeds with a small marshy stream trickling through it. D. went to the extreme end ; I was 

 about a hundred and fifty yards from him, and S. came along with the beaters. As they 

 approached I heard a ' Rhino ' coming on ahead of them, and he passed me within a few 

 yards, but without showing himself. Directly afterwards, two shots from D., both of which hit 

 him hard, sent him back in my direction, and as he passed me at a swinging trot within 

 thirty yards, I got a clear shot at him. My bullet struck him fair in the very centre of the 

 shield, and the enormous brute rolled heels over head like a rabbit — stone dead. This was 

 the only instance we witnessed of a ' Rhino ' dying otherwise than in a recumbent position, 

 but none of the others were thus shot dead in full career. This was the largest ' Rhino ' 

 that we killed during the trip, and had the most massive horn. I regret that I did not 

 keep his measurements. 



