344 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



too much smoking, avoidance of hurry, all are too well 

 known to bear repetition. If practice with the big rifle 

 cannot be had, it is useful to expend some ammunition 

 with a miniature weapon, which often has a steadying 

 effect. 



To enlarge on the various arrangements of a "drive" or 

 beat, the " stops," the " back-stops," the formation of the 

 beaters, etc., would be out of place where so many far 

 more experienced writers have expatiated before, besides 

 which there is the great danger of applying purely local 

 requirements in quite different and unsuitable ground or 

 country. Indian shooting-grounds vary so enormously 

 that the habits of the game inhabiting them cannot always 

 partake of the same nature. Herein lies the misleading 

 nature of the theories set forth in many of our best books 

 on shikar. Most of the present writer's experience has 

 been gained in the jungles of the central parts of the 

 continent, where hilly ground predominates ; and he has 

 found by sad experience that to depend too much on the 

 opinions of even a Forsyth or a Sterndale is often pro- 

 ductive of failure. 



Few of us nowadays have the opportunity of working 

 out our own rules regarding shikar, but it is better to 

 endeavour to do this than to place too much reliance on 

 what one reads, thereby filling the mind with "sealed- 

 pattern" ideas which are bound to prove misleading, 

 especially if applied to portions of the country where they 

 are unsuitable. For instance, in the more or less hilly 

 country in which the writer has shikdr*d y the nullah 

 theory about tigers is all fudge. At night, when searching 

 for prey, tigers hang about the river-beds, because the 

 pools in them attract the deer and other tribes of the 

 ungulata; but during the heat of day, although the beds of 

 the streams may offer unusual attractions in the direction 

 of shade and water, they prefer a little shade sometimes 

 very little of that on the higher portions of breezy hill- 



