rdon's "Mammals of India" it is stated that in Nepaul the wild
dogs, whose urine is said to be peculiarly acrid, sprinkle it over bushes
through which an animal will probably move with the view of blinding their
victim. Jerdon certainly disbelieves the native story of their capturing
their prey through the acridity of their urine. It seems to me not
improbable that the wild dogs may have become aware of the offensive
character of their urine, and in passing near a tiger might discharge some
of it with the view of annoying the tiger and driving him away, and also
perhaps as a mark of contempt, and that this probably was the origin of
the widely spread story I have alluded to in the text.

CHAPTER VI.

THE INDIAN BISON.

Though at the risk of being thought sentimental, I cannot say that I
approach the subject of bison shooting with much satisfaction, except,
perhaps, in the thought that what I am about to write may be the means of
prolonging in some degree, however infinitesimal, the existence of the
race of these splendid animals, for I am afraid that nothing that anyone
could write would prevent their numbers from being steadily diminished,
and diminished, too, in some cases even by people who call themselves
sportsmen; for one rather well-known writer has not only killed cow
bisons, but actually published the fact--a thing that he certainly would
not have done had the custom of shooting them not been common in some
parts of India. I am happy to say that I never saw a dead cow bison, and
in my part of Mysore, in the course of upwards of thirty-seven years'
experience, I have never heard of more than two or three cows having been
killed. Anything more foolish and barbarous than the killing of cow bisons
cannot be conceived, for there is not a more harmless and inoffensive
animal in the jungle than the bison--harmless because it seldom
attacks[24] crops (I have never known of more than one instance of their
doing so), and inoffensive because, if not molested, it never attacks man;
and Mr. Sanderson, in his admirable work entitled "Thirteen Years amongst
the Wild Beasts of India," declares that even solitary bulls, which are
supposed to be dangerous, even if not molested, are not really so, though
in the event of a native coming suddenly on a bull in the long grass, he
admits the bison may spring suddenly up and dash at the intruder to clear
him from his path. He has a most sympathetic chapter on these noble
anim