24 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



pair of horns, and they vary greatly according to 

 the district in which the buck is shot. The neigh- 

 bourhood of Ferozepore has long been noted for 

 producing the longest horns. The younger bucks 

 are brown in colour, the shade being lighter as 

 the beast is younger, till at last the youngest 

 bucks can only be distinguished from the does, 

 which have no horns, by the presence of those 

 appendages. 



The Indian gazelle, or chikara, is a more humble- 

 looking little beast, mouse-brown in colour, with a 

 white belly. Both sexes have horns, which curve 

 slightly backwards. The chikara is far less diffi- 

 cult to stalk than the black buck, but affords a very 

 small mark. The vital parts are practically contained 

 in a space not much bigger than this book, which, 

 though it may seem a fair mark, is pretty hard to 

 hit at a distance of one hundred and fifty yards, when 

 the whole atmosphere is quivering with heat and 

 *' mirage," under the rays of an Indian summer sun. 



The best season for buck - shooting is the hot 

 weather. Grass and crops being equally absent, 

 buck and chikara can be readily seen and approached 

 — that is, within a couple of hundred yards, after 

 which stalking is necessary. I am speaking now of 

 English territory, for in the Native States all game 

 is much less shy and more easily approached. Ter- 

 rific as is the power of the Indian sun, I always 

 spent one or two days every week in shooting, and 

 never had cause to regret it ; but, of course, proper 

 precautions must be taken. A "sola"^ hat of Brob- 

 dingnagian proportions, covering the shoulders as well 

 as the head, blue -tinted spectacles, and a strip of 



^ " Sola " is a kind of pith impervious to the sun's rays. 



