SMALL GAME HUNTING WITH DOGS 



March 30 I hare 



3 1 l 



April 9 i 



ii i >, 



,,I5 .... . 2 



16 2 



24 I 



,,25 I 



,,3 i 



In 1903 I find sport almost as good as ever, as the 

 following entry will testify : 



7/^ October 1903. "Had good sport near Irulanthie's 

 land in abandoned ' chenas.' I got a quail by a neat shot, 

 and the dogs ran a hare which I did not get sight of. 

 Went on to the grass field blank. Tried a ' chena ' 

 adjoining it and a hare was turned out into a narrow strip 

 of tea, where I knocked it over by a good snap-shot. 

 Went on to Dehipitya field and put the dogs into a 

 * chena,' separated by a path from the tea field, out of 

 which they soon dislodged a hare which broke before any 

 warning tongue was heard, and darted across the path into 

 the tea. I made a very quick snap-shot at it, and was 

 properly pleased when I saw it double up. Home at 

 dusk well satisfied, and getting to like the new 2O-bore 

 very much." 



Even after all these years of hunting in and around 

 this estate I find I am still recording five or six hares bagged 

 per month during the wet months when scent is good, but 

 I get very little sport in the dry months. 



Here is another extract of a recent date from my diary : 

 " Had a melancholy experience yesterday evening, when I fired 

 two double-barrelled shots and one single shot at a hare and 

 missed it every time. I must plead that they were all long 



31 



