I ("HAP. .\A', 

 I'AKA.S. 4>, 4J>. "jO i*^ 51. 



82 



Climatic 

 conditions. 



When to 

 fire 



the first 

 shot. 



."ome minor 

 lioints. 



On a big water. Teal and Shoveller can afford lo lie out 

 in tlie open to some extent, probaldy heeanse falcons and 

 oMier liirds of prey cannot swoop at cpiarry wliicli is on 

 the mud or in very shiillow water. Amiss or even a hit 

 on mother earth would mean their strikinc something 

 solid m their attack, resulting in damage to the attacker. 

 The big Duck, including the Mallard, which is the 

 s[)ecial game of the Peregrine, lurk among the trees in 

 the deep water, while the various birds of prey, like the 

 liosts of Midian, prowl and prowl around, sitting in various 

 attitudes of expectancy on commanding tree tops. Woe 

 betide the unwary Duck that gives away odds, by a 

 leisurely flight over the open water, to the Peregrine 

 or the Laggar. The moral is to site all butts not too 

 far from continuous cover of the kind above mention- 

 ed. Butts right out in the open water give poor sport ; 

 butts in the middle of close cover, on the other hand, 

 demand quick and clever shooting, since the birds cannot 

 be seen from a great distance. It is also difficult to 

 retrieve the wounded birds which fall in thick cover. 



49. It is little use to attempt a big, organised shoot 

 of the kind described in this book on a cold windy day. The 

 brighter and warmer the weather, the more satisfactory 

 will be the behaviour of the birds. After a calm night 

 and a good feed, they will be reluctant to leave the water 

 they have chosen for the day. On most Indian Game 

 birds, those indigenous to the Country not excepted, 

 the Indian sun seems to have a very sedative effect, 

 whether they be Duck, Snipe, Bustard, Sandgrouse or 

 Partridge. They feed when it is cool, but want to lie up 

 when it is hot. In cold windy weather all are restless 

 and disturbed, and the Duck will start flying liigh almost 

 as soon as they hear the guns, eventually leaving alto- 

 gether a jfieei to which they would have stuck under more 

 favourable climatic conditions. 



50. The cream of the shooting comes in tlie first 

 great rush immediately after the guns open, andnotliing is 

 more disappointing than to be left out of it owing to 

 late arrival at a distant place. Calculations for " zero 

 iiour" should therefore be very carefully made and 

 Watclies synchronised before starting out. The man who 

 has the greatest distance to go to reach his butt should 

 fire the first sliot. 



.31. The chapter may suitai)ly close with a few 

 remaiks on points small in themselves, but all conducive, 

 if attended to, to comfort or success. Boats, should he 

 carefully overhauled at the beginning of the season to 

 discover if they are seaworthy ; anyone, let alone a lady, 

 is apt to feel uneasy in a leaky boat in deep water. 

 A wicker stoul. hii'h enough for the average man to sit 



