HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



being shot at, if not previously disturbed. Their call is 

 a two-note one, not loud, which they give voice to when 

 put up. Captain Legge represents it by the coined words 



Referring again to teal, a curious thing about them, at 

 any rate in the North Central Province, is that they do 

 not all spend the night in the tanks they frequent. Just 

 at dusk you may hear their peculiar whistle and soon see 

 flocks streaming overhead, all going in one direction, and, 

 if you have ascertained the line of flight, some very pretty 

 shooting may be obtained, but you will want a good gun 

 and largish shot as they then fly rather high. Again, if you 

 are up just at faintest dawn, they may be seen returning to 

 their haunt. I do not know quite where they make for 

 when they leave the tanks, except that many go at dusk 

 to newly sown paddy fields, in the season, to eat the 

 freshly scattered grain. In Tamankaduwa district of the 

 North Central Province they may go to the vast swamps, 

 known as wilas, which are to be found near the Mahaweli- 

 ganga (our biggest river), extending, on both sides of it, 

 for a distance of 30 or 40 miles. If you are shooting 

 in Tamankaduwa you are more than likely to visit one 

 or two wilas, and you will then find these great swamps 

 are not concurrent, but separated from each other by 

 higher lands, usually forest, and there are villages to be 

 found near most of them as they form fine grazing ground 

 for cattle. They have been mistaken for tanks by many 

 people but are entirely natural swamps, with, in some 

 cases, thousands of acres of open water in them about 

 4 to 6 feet deep, all over, and hardish bottom. They are 

 filled by the overflow of the river every wet season through 

 tortuous channels called " kotaliyas," like canals, meander- 

 ing through the forest. Being surrounded by lotus, weed, 



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