32 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
successful in this form of shooting, it is essential that 
neither the goat nor the panther should see the 
ambushed sportsman, and that there should not be 
the slightest sound or movement during the vigil; for 
if the goat is aware of the presence of man it will 
not bleat for help, and if the panther, himself semi- 
arboreal, detects any movement in the foliage above 
him, he too will not approach. The sportsman there- 
fore first settles himself in his leafy perch with 
loaded rifle, and then the goat is tethered to a 
wooden peg a few yards to his front, and the 
“shikaris” retire. 
To be absolutely alone in an Indian forest produces 
an indefinable impression, due perhaps to a remnant 
of the instincts of primeval man when he went daily 
in danger of his life. There is a charm in the know- 
ledge that wild life is all around, though unseen by 
the intruder; for the animals are always watching, day 
and night they are on the alert to evade danger by 
timely knowledge. To them all noises of the jungle 
are signals; they detect the difference between the 
sound of the dry twig breaking in the breeze or acci- 
dentally under the careful foot of the intruder, and 
the alarm note of the largest beast or of the smallest 
bird uttered for the benefit of its kind conveys its 
warning ; while in addition to these safeguards there 
are the senses of sight and scent, which rouse sus- 
picion at any unusual shape, such as an unnatural 
disposition of the foliage, or recognize friend or foe 
in the eddying currents. So that the human being, 
even when trained by long years of experience, must 
remain heavily handicapped by his sluggish senses, 
and even his weapons could never save him from the 
