More about Wildfowl 83 



which the dry reedy grass floating on the surface 

 is scattered, to make the hole less conspicuous. 

 The shikari takes up his position at dark, after 

 having picketed in the water near his kula either 

 a domestic goose or a captured grey-lag that is 

 intended to act as a decoy, 1 and gets a shot or 

 two during the course of the night. 



My plan was to have two or three of these 

 " duck-holes " made in line, and have the geese 

 driven over by mounted levies. The ponies' feet 

 did not sink deep enough in the freshly flooded 

 ground to prevent their moving about fairly 

 quickly, they could at any rate move much more 

 quickly than a man on foot. Seistanis, moreover, 

 like Persians generally, are not at all fond of hard 

 walking, though they do not mind being in the 

 saddle all day, and are firm believers in their 

 animals earning their keep. 



Let me try to describe one of our goose drives. 

 The sun, as the Persians say, is the "height of 

 a spear " by the time we leave the Consulate 

 and clatter down the bazar, my wife, whom 

 no weather dismays, D., myself, and five levies. 

 The night before, the wind had got up with 

 ominous blasts and howls, and was now blowing 



1 It is curious that though one would have expected to find the 

 domestic goose of Seistan bearing distinct traces of descent from 

 the grey-lag, he appears to be a different bird altogether. 



