HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



rather high, but soon my friends' guns begin to speak 

 merrily, and I push on, getting a shot here and there at 

 a teal but only bagging one very occasionally, as they 

 don't give me any easy chances. I am waist deep in 

 sedge and water, but here and there have to make for 

 dry land as I come upon a channel too deep to wade. 

 Along the water's edge I pick up a few snipe, with an 

 occasional shot at an odd teal though the " circlers " don't 

 often come my way, but hearing all the time my friends 

 banging away in great style. Gradually I work my way 

 round and the shooting gets less and less, and I see no 

 more teal, only picking up a few more snipe along the 

 edge of the water, until finally we meet on the bund and 

 count the bag. Nothing very great, as we are none of us 

 really expert shots, but we total up 23 teal and 14^ couple 

 of snipe for not much more than two hours' work. A 

 pleasant little shoot of this sort can be had at many places 

 any day of the season from October to as late as April, 

 unless there has been an exceptionally dry year, leaving 

 the tanks short of water. 



On another occasion H. D. Garrick and I, shooting at 

 Haburane, had some fair sport in a small tank of not more 

 than 15 or 20 acres in extent. There were a few teal in 

 it, so, posting Garrick at one side, he being new to the 

 game, I waded round. There was no such " life " here as 

 in the preceding account, and only a few teal, but of these 

 we accounted for nearly all, very few getting away. Our 

 total bag at the finish came to 10 whistling-teal, 10 goose- 

 teal, and 2 smaller cormorants. I could give many other 

 instances of these pleasant little experiences, but there 

 is more or less of a sameness about them which would 

 become monotonous to the reader though certainly not to 

 the sportsman when in the enjoyment of them. To find 



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