THE COLONEL KILLS THREE ELEPHANTS 145 
the group of animals and finally decided which ones 
were the best for the group. 
Two of the largest cows and the calf of one of 
them were selected. It is always the desire of col¬ 
lectors who kill groups of animals for museums to 
kill the calf and the mother at the same time when¬ 
ever practicable, so that neither one is left to mourn 
the loss of the other. It is one of the unpleasant 
features of group collecting that calves must be 
killed, but the collector justifies himself in the 
thought that many thousands of people will be 
instructed and interested in the group when it is 
finished. 
Elephant hunting is considered by many Afri¬ 
can hunters as being the most dangerous of all 
hunting. When a man is wounded by an elephant 
he is pretty likely to die, whereas the wounds in¬ 
flicted by lions are often not necessarily mortal 
ones. Also, in fighting a wounded lion one may 
sometimes take refuge in the low branches of a tree, 
but with a wounded elephant there is rarely time to 
climb high enough and quick enough to escape the 
frenzied animal. In elephant shooting, also, the 
hunter endeavors to approach within twenty or 
thirty yards, so that the bullets may be placed ex¬ 
actly where their penetration will be the most 
instantaneously deadly. Consequently, a badly 
placed bullet may merely infuriate the elephant 
without giving the hunter time to gain a place of 
safety, and thus be much worse than if the hunter 
had entirely missed his mark. 
