/^v. 



CHAPTER IV 



Bear — Habits — An amusing incident — Bear tracks — Size and weight — 

 Where to find bear — His food — Behaviour when roused — How 

 to shoot bear — Beating — Machan work — My first beat for bear — 

 Kols and Santals — Blank beats — Go out after bear again — The 

 Raja and his subjects — See and miss my first bear — Points to be 

 remembered — Other ways of getting bear. 



BEAR 



PERHAPS some of the most amusing 

 experiences and incidents one meets with 

 whilst shikaring in India occur during 

 encounters with bear. The appearance 

 of the animal himself has something grotesque 

 and bizarre about it. His small head, pointed 

 muzzle, little eyes, and long, shaggy-haired, bulky 

 body give him a comic appearance. Also, when 

 frightened or intensely savage, he has a habit of 

 rising on his hind-legs as he nears his foe, which 

 is apt to exert a quite unwished-for influence 

 on one's risible faculties, shaking the aim which 



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