Wildfowl in Seistan 7 7 



During the night the breeze brought with it 

 the low murmur of geese from the open water 

 to the south, and the expedition we made after 

 them the next morning, before riding back, resulted 

 in a bag of seven fat grey lags. A herd of swan 

 was also seen, but we failed to get a shot at them. 



Whooper, and I think Bewick's swans also, are 

 found (and perhaps breed) in the northern, which 

 is the deepest, part of the Hamun. An ancient 

 city called Sabari is supposed to lie submerged 

 here. I never made a trip after the swans while 

 in Seistan, and never had the glory of shoot- 

 ing one of these splendid birds. I did how- 

 ever chance to see one shot, and that in rather a 

 curious way. Kiding along one day by the side 

 of a big stretch of flooded land, there came the 

 sound of a distant shot, and almost immediately 

 I saw three swans come swinging along. I slipped 

 off my horse and took my gun from the levy on 

 the chance of a shot, but they went down in the 

 water about eighty yards short of me. I was 

 debating what. to do when two of the swans got 

 up and flew back ; the third was swimming in 

 circles in the water, evidently in difficulties; 

 then his head dropped and he died. The next 

 thing was the appearance from some hidden kula 

 (duck-hole) in the water of a naked shikari, who 

 waded and swam in to retrieve his prize. 



