8 3 l^«^'"- -^V. 



PAnA.s. ")! iSc. ,52.] 



oil witlioat much reducing his view over the sides of liis 

 shelter, saves fatigue on a long day, ajid, if it is hollow, 

 of the ordinary Indian mora type, it comes in useful for 

 holding surplus birds at the end ff the day. But most 

 sportsmen like to bring in their birds looking presentable 

 and clean so far as possible, and, to ensure this end, the 

 writer has found nothing better tiian a simple type 

 of game-carrier in which the birds are secured one by 

 one by the Legs-, and not by the //enrfs, to nooses of strono- 

 twine attached to a stick with a handle to hold it by. 

 On such sticks twenty to thirty birds can be carried clear 

 of the ground, or iiung up on the walls of one's butt or 

 fastened to any vehicle by which the " bag " is sent 

 home. These sticks are labelled with the name of tlie 

 Ctuu to whom they belong and greatly facilitate identifi- 

 cation and rapid counting later. If it is necessary for 

 the guns to have clothes of '-'protective" colours, much 

 more necessary is it suitably to equip the boatmen wiio 

 pick up the birds hit. One boatman in a white turban 

 is enough to scare birds away from any butt. 



52. If all goes well and the hints in this Chapter have Coiiclu.«ion. 

 succeeded in their object, the results of a big shoot may 

 well be surprising. " I had often heard of such shoots 

 in India," wrote a grateful guest and competent shot 

 after two days in which seventeen guns had accounted 

 for two thousand three hundred Duck. " I little thought 

 that I should ever be lucky enough to take part in one." 



