SMALL GAME HUNTING WITH DOGS 



Joe had three quills in his head, luckily no damage done ; 

 Driver had one in his nose, another along the top of the 

 skull, under the skin, just missing the eye, with two more 

 in his chest; cunning old Warrior was unscathed catch 

 him making a fool of himself; the others had, here and 

 there, a quill in head or chest, but luckily no harm done. 

 Some Singhalese villagers turned up, and I gave the meat 

 to them, sending a " haunch " to the bungalow as it is 

 really good eating, something like young pork with a 

 chicken flavour, and grand " crackling." The Indian 

 porcupine (Hystrix leucura) does, I think, more damage to 

 gardens, or to any particular plants or trees you may value, 

 than any other animal in existence, and must be looked 

 upon, most decidedly, as vermin, to be destroyed accord- 

 ingly. Not very long ago I purchased an estate in Madul- 

 kele District for some of my relatives, which has, in the 

 lower division, a field known as the " rocky field," a chaotic 

 and picturesquely beautiful mass of rocks tumbled from 

 a huge cliff" above, extending over many acres of ground. 

 This " field " had been beautified still more by the former 

 owner, a well-known veteran planter, by carefully planted 

 trees of many varieties, and, as the soil was very fine, I 

 planted cardamoms all over it, retaining the beauty, but 

 with an eye to profit. When the cardamoms began to 

 put out shoots, no less than 900 were destroyed by por- 

 cupines in one month ! This was before the appoint- 

 ment of a resident superintendent, but when my old friend 

 and " valley " neighbour Fred Brockman took charge, 

 he declared war and engaged a Tamil, cunning in the art 

 of hunting the beast, at so much per capita. Within two 

 months he had paid for twenty-seven of the marauders and 

 the nuisance ceased. They are very ubiquitous, for this 

 damaged field is at an elevation of 3400 feet above sea- 



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