114 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. III. 



instances are not wanting in Ceylon, in which, when 

 pursued by the hunters, the herd has abandoned the 

 young ones in their flight, notwithstanding the cries of 

 the latter for help. 



In an interesting paper on the habits of the Indian 

 elephant, published in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions for 1793, Mr. Corse says: "If a wild elephant 

 happens to be separated from its young for only two 

 days, though giving suck, she never after recognises or 

 acknowledges it," although the young one evidently 

 knows its dam, and by its plaintive cries and submissive 

 approaches solicits her assistance. 



If by any accident an elephant becomes hopelessly 

 separated from his own herd, he is not permitted to 

 attach himself to any other. He may browse in the 

 vicinity, or frequent the same place to drink and to 

 bathe ; but the intercourse is only on a distant and con- 

 ventional footing, and no familiarity or intimate asso- 

 ciation is under any circumstances permitted. To such 

 a height is this exclusiveness carried, that even amidst 

 the terror and stupefaction of an elephant corral, when 

 an individual, detached from his own party in the melee 

 and confusion, has been driven into the enclosure with 

 an unbroken herd, I have seen him repulsed in every 

 attempt to take refuge among them, and driven off by 

 heavy blows with their trunks as often as he attempted 

 to insinuate himself within the circle which they had 

 formed for common security. There can be no rea- 

 sonable doubt that this jealous and exclusive policy not 

 only contributes to produce, but mainly serves to 

 perpetuate, the class of solitary elephants which are 

 known by the term goondahs, in India, and which from 



