190 INDIAN BIG GAME 



sides and bottom, are invisible to the closest 

 inspection. 



Remember, you must screen below as well as 

 at the sides. I have seen machans bare under- 

 neath, looking perhaps like the grid on which you 

 cook a chop but like nothing a tiger ever saw. 



The higher you can get in a tree the more invis- 

 ible you will be. One of the most deadly machans 

 I have known was one occupied by my friend 

 W. on the occasion above referred to. The kill 

 lay between two close-growing clumps of bamboo. 

 The machan was in a very high tree, and the 

 only view of the kill was obtained by parting and 

 tying aside the thick foliage of an intervening 

 bamboo clump. The shot was taken through the 

 V so formed. 



Do not for a moment think you can chance 

 detection because " a tiger does not look up." 

 This is a sheer fallacy. I have often seen tiger, 

 both in beats and sitting up, examine trees care- 

 fully. Moreover, even if they should not look up, 

 why should we arbitrarily limit the angle of their 

 vision to only a few feet from the ground ? 



Never have sky for a background to your head. 

 Always get a screen of leaves behind. If your 

 head must show, put leaves in your hat. A 

 human head looks like nothing else in the jungle. 



(b) Absence of Movement. — This largely belongs 

 to the preceding heading. Motion means visi- 

 bility. The more slowly you move the less you are 

 seen, whether you " still hunt " or whether you sit 

 up. The second-hand of a watch shows up, not 

 the minute-hand. If you must move when sitting 

 up, move by inches and seconds. Some people 



