TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



of a peacock. These birds rise very gracefully, towering 

 to about fifteen yards before soaring away, and are very 

 easy to shoot. The cock bird has a peculiar habit of 

 jumping up high in the air, three or four times in rapid 

 succession, and at intervals of six or seven yards. The 

 natives declare this is done to attract the attention of the 

 hen birds. The latter are of a light brown colour, prettily 

 marked with dark brown bars. They have not the crest 

 feathers of the cock bird. Another peculiarity of the 

 floriken is the rose-pink tint at the roots of the short 

 feathers, or down on the breast and under the wings ; but 

 which can only be seen by parting this down with the 

 fingers or by blowing it aside. 



I remember on one occasion, when suffering from a 

 sprained ankle, shooting a number of these fine birds from 

 my pony, a quiet steady beast, my men slowly beating 

 the grass on either side as I rode quietly along. 



In parts of Khandesh and Guzerat, floriken are very 

 plentiful, but their numbers depend much on the season. 

 Their flesh is excellent, but as they feed entirely on beetles, 

 grasshoppers and blister fly, it is sometimes tainted. On 

 the whole, however, the floriken is considered the best bird 

 for the table in India. 



The Indian greater bustard is also a splendid game bird, 

 standing about three and a half feet high, and weighing 

 nearly three stone. It has a flat black crest on the head, 

 the neck is white, while the plumage on the back is a dark- 

 mottled brown colour. The feathers of the Indian bustard 

 are invaluable for salmon flies. 



The birds afford capital sport with a rook rifle. In 

 Khandesh, where they are very common, I have shot five 

 bustards in a morning with a Holland and Holland '250 

 rifle, at an average distance of one hundred yards each. 

 The flesh is of a brown colour. 



The only other land game birds are (1) the peafowl, 

 which, being held in reverence by natives, are seldom shot ; 

 (2) the golden plover, much like the English bird ; and 

 lastly, the ortolan, which are too small to shoot, but are 

 snared in hundreds by the natives, and sold in the market 

 in many parts of India, and are excellent eating. 



We now come to wild-fowl of which there are many 

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