ICii.vp. XIV, 

 Gy 'pAii.v. a4.1 



he is placed, do not believe people wlio say lie is lucky 

 in having all the birds coming his way, nor should 

 you worry about the number of cartridges he lets off 

 (unless it is very abnormal). You will almost certainly 

 find that the real reason of his supposed ' luck ' is that 

 he is a better shot, who takes more chances, and kilts his 

 h^'ds clean." Wait till the very end of the season be- 

 fore you condemn yourself as incompetent. Then will be 

 the time when the Quail are in at the ripening of tlie 

 corn. G-et hold of a man who keeps call-birds (there are 

 always one or two in every large village) ; get him to put 

 them out for you overniglit in a nice bit of wheat country 

 large enough to keep you' and a pal busy for a couple of 

 hours. Gro out at daybreak with the aforesaid pal and a 

 dozen smart village youngsters and take a line not more 

 than fifty yards wide, quartering the fields so that you 

 will keep the wild Quail which the call-birds will have 

 collected for you on, and do not drive them off, the 

 ground. Then, if you can't hit enougli to make vou 

 happy, you may go home and sell your gun. You have 

 everything in your favour now — the sun behind you at 

 your choice, the knowledge that the birds are there, no 

 wfary wailing between shots, sufficient shooting — mostly 

 straightaway shots — to keep your eye in and, above all 

 a dark little bird that shows up against the yellow corn 

 like a cricket-ball against a screen. A bad background is 

 often lialf the difficulty in shooting. Who does not 

 realise this that has shot that engaging little ruffian the 

 Sisi, a tiny Partridge that haunts the rocky low hills of 

 that Salt Range and Trans Indus country ? He is the 

 very colour of the rocks he lives on, so that, whether he 

 runs or flies, he is extremely difficult to pick up with the 

 eye. With him too you are presented with a neat 

 dilemma. Either you advance at the same pace at which 

 he saw you to the little rise from which he last took 

 skilled stock of your movements and intentions, or you 

 run to that spot (it may be sixty yards) like a staoe. In 

 the former case you will find that lie has moved on a lililc 

 faster than he thought you were going, when of course you 

 will lie out of range by the time you see him ; in the 

 latter, you will find your bird within range but yourself 

 out of breath. It is however oily the dilemma of butt shoot- 

 ing in the Duck-drive over again. Either you stand up so 

 that you can shoot properly, in whicli case the birds see 

 you and sheer off; or you take careful cover so as to let 

 the birds come as near you as possible, in which case vou 

 are too cramped to shoot. Still, that is what happens 

 in sport as in other things. You can't always have it both 

 ways. Quail shooting is one of the few matters in which 

 if you only manage things reasonably well, the odds are 



