SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 59 



believe it is considered very unlucky to shoot an 

 owl ! 



Jail. 14. — This night we were very comfortable, 

 sleeping in a sort of divan that Kirkham had put up, 

 round the inner room of his house. It was a great 

 relief to know before turning into it that the sleeper 

 would not be the unwilling victim of a leaky roof. 



We had settled, H. and I, and Fisk, to go at 

 dawn of day to try and get some duck in a pool 

 just at the foot of the high rock on which the house 

 stood, so next morning off we started. It was bitterly 

 cold and a white frost on the ground. We crept down 

 to the pot)l and let fly all six barrels into the middle 

 of the flock. Sad to relate, only three fell, which were 

 not picked up ; one of Kirkham's Galla boys was sent 

 down later in the day and discovered two. 



We then proceeded up the pools ; I flushed a 

 snipe and knocked him down, he was rather a lean 

 specimen of his kind. On our way home I saw those 

 large cranes again coming towards me, so I squatted 

 down as close to the ground as I could and waited ; 

 the flock kept coming on, making a great noise and 

 screeching, but they saw me and wheeled away. 

 One old gentleman, rather in advance of the others, 

 wheeled rather close to me ; I let fly my i6-bore 

 No. I shot : it did not seem to affect him in the least, 

 when after going a little way, all of a sudden he fell 



