CHAPTER XL 



Shooting Ripa at the Lek-stiille To the Pointer. Migrations to the 

 Coast How Caused. Enormous Packs. Tracking. Shot 

 when "Treed." By Bloss at Night. Traps and Snares. The 

 Rip-Hag. Anecdote. Large Captures. The Siiar-gSng. 



T 7" AST numbers of Ripa are annually killed in Scan- 

 dinavia, especially during the winter, when their 

 transit is easy to the distant towns, which constitute the 

 chief and almost only market. Not a few of both species 

 fall to the gun at the " Lek-stiille," in the manner that I 

 am about to describe. 



" About one o'clock in the morning," says Nilsson, 

 when speaking of the Dal-Ripa, " the male begins to 

 raxa> or give utterance to its loud prrr, pack prrr, 

 and its deeper kavau, kavau. The female responds with 

 a subdued njau, njau, which she often repeats, and in 

 the while the sexes approach each other. Should the 

 fowler at such times imitate the call-note of the fe- 

 male, a reply is soon received from the male, and if 

 he then conceals himself behind a bush or a stone, and 



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