The Maral Stag 2 1 9 



silent. As a matter of fact, we had arrived 

 rather late on the stag ground for the best of 

 the roaring. The shikaris were a little vague 

 on the subject themselves, but the consensus of 

 opinion seemed to be that roaring begins about 

 the 1st of September and lasts for no less than 

 forty days. We found by practical experience, 

 however, that it was all over before the 5th of 

 October. Indeed stags had stopped roaring in 

 the daytime long before that. Often, after our 

 arrival on the ground on the 21st September, 

 as we sat at dinner in the evening we heard 

 challenges resounding from several quarters at 

 the same time, and sometimes were awoke at 

 night by hearing them close to the camp; but 

 in the morning, by the time it was light enough 

 to use glasses it had come to an end : or if by 

 chance one did hear a stag roaring as late as 

 ten o'clock, it was only an occasional and fitful 

 challenge, and according to the perverse nature 

 of things always seemed to be in some distant 

 glen beyond the river that it would have taken 

 half the day to reach. No doubt much depends 

 on the wind. Till nearly the end of our stay 

 in the forest the wind was from the east, and 

 that is the least favourable quarter. A west 

 wind was the one the shikaris prayed for, bring- 

 ing rain from the Caspian, making tracking 



