. The diary of a sportsman naturalist in India. Hunting; Game protection. BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN 179. cared nothing. With kick the fishing should be good and the great grass jungles alive with game ; though it was doubtful whether we should be able to see anything to shoot owing to the great height and density of the grass ; unless we had the good fortune to stumble across a tiger or leopard. Have 3^ou ever been out in the great grass jungles, the tiger-grass jungles, at the close of the rains ? They are a stupendous sight as seen from the back of an elephant. A sea of green spreads all aro
. The diary of a sportsman naturalist in India. Hunting; Game protection. BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN 179. cared nothing. With kick the fishing should be good and the great grass jungles alive with game ; though it was doubtful whether we should be able to see anything to shoot owing to the great height and density of the grass ; unless we had the good fortune to stumble across a tiger or leopard. Have 3^ou ever been out in the great grass jungles, the tiger-grass jungles, at the close of the rains ? They are a stupendous sight as seen from the back of an elephant. A sea of green spreads all around one with, rising above it, the tall, graceful, nodding stems of the flower- heads, each ending in a long, elegant, white, feathery spike. They bend and dip as the wind whispers through them in a most delightful fashion. As far as the eye can reach stretches the giant grass with here and there a great tree rearing its lofty crown far above it. Down below, fifteen feet below, who can tell of the innumerable life which finds its home in the grass jungles at the end of the rains ? As the elephant slowly forges its way through the dense mass you hear sudden rushes, but can perceive nothing. Only by the intensity of the sound can you make a shrewd guess as to the identity of the fugitive. Sambhar, spotted deer, hogdeer {Cervus porcimis), swamp deer or barasingha [Cervus duvauceli), it may be any of these. As for pig ! You will know him right enough by the noise of his indignant protests at being thus disturbed, and by the disgust of the elephant at his near presence. But neither tiger nor leopard are likely to advertise their departure. They will recognize the presence of an elephant long before he is near them and will silently get out of his path ; since they know it is both useless and unwise to provoke him. Of the smaller mammals—jackals, foxes, civets, wild cats, hyenas, wild dogs—numbers must be at present roaming the grass jungles, for it is here that the greater bulk
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1920
