tivation, where the females,
encumbered with young ones, hesitate to follow, or from a love of
solitude. Single elephants found wandering in the forests are
usually young males--animals debarred from much intimate
association with the herds by stronger rivals; but they usually keep
within a few miles of their companions. These wandering tuskers are
only biding their time until they are able to meet all comers in a
herd. The necessity for the females regulating the movements of a
herd is evident, as they must accommodate the length and time of their
marches, and the localities in which they rest and feed at different
hours, to the requirements of their young ones."

It is a curious fact that most of the male elephants in Ceylon are
what are called _mucknas_ in India, that is, tuskless males--not one
in a hundred, according to Sir Emerson Tennent, being found with
tusks; nearly all, however, are provided with tushes. These, he says,
he has observed them "to use in loosening earth, stripping off bark,
and snapping asunder small branches and climbing plants, and hence
tushes are seldom seen without a groove worn into them near their
extremities." Sir Samuel Baker says that the African elephant uses
his tusks in ploughing up ground in search of edible roots, and that
whole acres may be seen thus ploughed, but I have never seen any use
to which the Indian elephant puts his tusks in feeding. I have often
watched mine peeling the bark off succulent branches, and the trunk
and foot were alone used. Mr. Sanderson, in his 'Thirteen Years,'
remarks: "Tusks are not used to assist the elephant in procuring
food;" but he says they are formidable weapons of offence in the
tusker, the biggest of whom lords it over his inferiors.

The elephant usually brings forth, after a period of gestation of
from eighteen to twenty-two months, a single calf, though twins are
occasionally born. Mr. Sanderson says: "Elephant calves usually
stand exactly thirty-six inches at the shoulder when born, and weigh
about 200 lbs. They live entirely upon milk for five or six months,
when they begin to eat tender grass. Their chief support, however,
is still milk for some months. I have known three cases of elephants
having two calves at a birth. It cannot be said that the female
elephant evinces any special attachment to her offspring, whilst the
belief that all the females of a herd show affection for each other's
calves is certainly erroneous. During the ca