32 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



clump behind which you are crouching, and at 

 the slightest sound she will be on top of you. 

 More than once the writer has been held up in this 

 uncomfortable predicament, hardly daring to 

 breathe, with a huge brute standing stiff with 

 suspicion almost over him. Fortunately, on 

 these occasions the wind has held, and the 

 elephant, after what has seemed hours but was 

 really only a few seconds, has come to the 

 conclusion that there was something uncanny 

 about that bush, though what it was she didn't 

 quite know, and has sheered off, with her calf 

 at her heels. This constitutes the chief danger 

 of elephant shooting, and it is one which must 

 be expected, if a point is made of thoroughly 

 searching a herd for a big tusker. It is curious, 

 by the way, to note how readily elephants inter- 

 pret the various sounds and movements made 

 by individual members of a herd. There is no 

 mistaking their attitude when one of their number 

 signals ' man.' There is absolute stillness for a 

 few moments, then a rush as the herd closes up, 

 and off they go with many a shrill scream and 

 trumpet, as they crash through the dense 

 undergrowth as if it were tissue paper. A 

 short, sharp trumpet proclaims that one is 

 discovered. But if the sportsman happens to 

 be very close to an elephant in a herd, and the 

 beast is alarmed, it will quietly move off with 

 hardly a sound, and, in spite of this, the whole 

 herd will know as if by magic what is taking 



