FEEbtNG-^NAtURAL I^ODElER. 
17 
wants can lead to no rivalry, and fodder in the places they resort to 
is obtained in luxuriant profusion and without effort. They wander 
about a good deal according to the season of the year ; at times 
they keep to the hills, at others they are to be found in the low 
country ; generally speaking they spend the greater part of the day 
in dense shady jungle, where they rest and browse on the leaves 
and branches of young trees. They traverse the bamboo tracts, but 
except when the young shoots are sprouting at the beginning of the 
rains, or where regeneration of the' bamboos has recently taken 
place, they do not remain very long in these localities. They visit the 
water morning and evening, and my experience is, that when possible, 
in coming to drink and bathe, they select those places where there 
are patches of so-called kaing grass (c^6so6. Hind, kussullut) and 
(o^j[ kyu, Hind. null). 
' It may justly be concluded that the succulent stems of the kaing 
form the most important item of the elephant's daily food ; so much 
so, that we may accept it as the staple for animals in captivity when 
this grass is procurable, as it is at nearly all times of the year 
(the. months perhaps in which the fires rage being excepted, 
mid-February to April). So fond are wild elephants of this grass, 
that I have on several occasions during the rains, when the sky 
is dull and overcast, known a herd to remain for days in large 
stretches of it. If wild animals be watched when grazing, it will be 
observed that after tearing off a bunch of grass close to the roots, 
they remove the dirt adhering to the stems by beating it against 
their legs or sides, after which they simply bite off the lower third, 
which is fresh, sweet and succulent; tame ones naturally do the 
same if allowed sufficient fodder to permit of such waste — a rare 
occurrence. A large margin should always be allowed, as elephants 
are given to trampling and soiling a certain amount of their ration ; 
this they refuse to touch. If the residue be weighed after an animal 
has finished his meal, it will be found to be a good slice off the ration ; 
hence, if only the bare allowance be given, an animal may gradually 
lose flesh owing to his being half-starved. With regard to grass 
then, he should not be stinted. I may state that at least from three 
hundred and fifty to four hundred pounds of katng, where procurable, 
freshly cut morning and evening, should be a necessary portion of 
the daily fodder. The quantity mentioned is a preliminary index to 
what the average animal will consume. The true criterion as to 
quantity is, however, not to be sought in any fixed standard such as 
height, but in the animal's ability to dispose of it during twenty-four 
hours, presupposing always that the fodder is to his taste, fresh, 
sweet, clean and succulent. Some kinds of grass, such as kyu (oc^H^ 
Hind, null) {ov 'mst3.ncG, my ef-fhin-dong (Qo5oo6o:j?§), and rushes 
2 
