CHAPTER VI 



GUINEA-FOWL SHOOTING 



Welcome birds — Excellent eating — Sport in British Becliuana- 

 land — A covey at rest — Shooting with the pointer — Swain- 

 son's Francolin — Abundance of Guinea-fowl in the interior 

 — A troop of a thousand — Favourite food — A sight at sun- 

 rise — How to get among a covey — Methodical method of 

 drinking — Kunning habits— Treeing Guinea-fowl— Shoot- 

 ing the roosters — Ambulatory powers — A prolific species 

 — Domesticating wild chicks — Other species of Guinea-fowl 

 — Plumage used for feathering arrows — Tendencies of 

 tame birds. 



There is no more welcome game bird in the veldt 

 of Southern Africa than the guinea-fowl, and the 

 sharp, metallic voices of a flock calling to one another 

 at sundown, as they are gathering their bands for 

 the nightly roost in some tree at hand, is an intima- 

 tion that no hungry gunner can possibly resist. The 

 young of the common South African species {Numida 

 cornuta) are by far the tenderest and best-tasted of 

 African game birds, and a stew even of old birds is 

 by no means to be despised. When men are sharp- 

 set and short of food, it matters little to them 



whether their flesh-pots are supplied with a due 

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