136 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



heard my own heart beat while creeping up to a deer. 

 He is an animal of wonderful acuteness, and possess- 

 ing the keenest scent ; he is always on the alert, watch- 

 ing for danger from his stealthy foe the leopard, who is 

 a perfect deer-stalker. 



To kill spotted deer well, if they are tolerably wild, 

 a person must be a really good rifle shot, otherwise he 

 will wound many, but seldom bag one. They are won- 

 derfully fast, and their bounding pace makes them ex- 

 tremely difficult to hit while running. Even when 

 standing, they must be struck either through the head, 

 neck, or shoulder, or they will rarely be killed on the 

 spot ; in any other part, if wounded, they will escape 

 as though untouched, and die a miserable death in soli- 

 tude. 



In narrating long shots that I have made, I recount 

 them as bright moments in the hours of sport ; they are 

 the exceptions and not the rule. I consider a man a 

 first-rate shot who can always bag his deer standing at 

 eighty yards, or running at fifty. Hitting and bagging 

 are widely different. If a man can always bag at the 

 distance that I have named, he will constantly hit, and 

 frequently bag, at extraordinary ranges, as there is no 

 doubt of his shooting, and, when he misses, the ball 

 has whizzed somewhere very close to the object ; the 

 chances are, therefore, in favor of the rifle. 



The deer differ in character in various parts of Cey- 

 lon. In some places where they are rarely disturbed 

 they can be approached to within thirty or forty paces, 

 in which case a very moderate shot can easily kill them ; 

 but it is better sport when they are moderately wild. 

 The greatest number of deer that I ever saw was in the 

 south-eastern part of Ceylon, in the neighborhood of 



