I'AUA. 2.1 



yourself a bit, when, fiioUh, oivisfi, a hunch of Teal twist 

 and swoop at yon, climbing like lightning to your in- 

 effective first barrel so that you miss the second too. 

 That humbles your pride and you begin to notice that 

 you have oot tln'ough a surprising number of cartridges 

 already. Dcnrt worry too much about that. This sort 

 of thing, like Christmas, only comes once a year and 

 you would do better to select some other fiehl. vour 

 drink-bill, say, for economy. 



The behaviour of the different kinds of birds under 

 fire is very interesting. The big Duck. Mallard, Spot bill 

 etc., go steadily on, not altering elevation like the Teal, 

 when fixed at, though most will wheel away (a very 

 favourable opportunity for number two barrel) offering a 

 lot of under surface wlien surprised by number one It 

 is interesting too to see the kinds of Duck that go to- 

 gether. Often, for instance, you will see a Shoveller or 

 a Spotbill piloting a flock of Common Teal, — /atherinq 

 them, yon might almost suppose. 



That time you only got your first barrel l)ird, 

 tliough yon lioped to make it a right and left. Tn fact 

 you felt instinctively that you were "on" your second 

 biixl. Well, it sometimes happens. The experts tell you 

 of "cartwheel patterns'" i.e., bona fide cases where, at 

 40 yards, the centre of a .SO inch pattern is left bare of 

 pellets. The liigli class shot, therefore, who has got 

 his bird exactlv centred fails wheie the duffer wlio gets 

 him on tlie outer edge succeeds Take that flattering 

 unction to your soul. 



There is to be an interval for lunch and a "general 

 post" of positions after, and the time is drawing near. 

 You take an incomer as your last shot of the morning 

 and he falls, dramatically enough, right inside your butt 

 and vou have some work to avoid him. Now is the 

 time to take stock of your bag, some of which indeed 

 has already been gathered in. Why let shikaris spoil 

 game by careless handling? The fmlal custom of the 

 good Muhammadan works dreadful havoc with the 

 aspect of your bag, but some birds will have died 

 before the knife and some you will except expressly 

 from that ceremony Half the pleasure of s) looting to 

 some consists in an after-study of the colours and 

 plumage Your Mallard drake for example arrives in 

 the early winter, adult tliough he be, dull and sombre, 

 and changes gradually into brighter colours, till, by the 

 end of the season, he has assumed his splendid full- 

 dress. One by one you go over them Here is a male 

 Shoveller, glorious withal, with green head, bay belly 

 and blue shoulders, and a right good flyer he is even 



