HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



rapidly exterminated in the low country that soon they 

 will be absolutely wiped out, unless very strong measures 

 are taken to prevent such a lamentable result. 



Unlike India and other Eastern countries, where they 

 are usually found in the hills, in Ceylon they are to be 

 met with in forest at all elevations from sea-level to the 

 top of Pidurutalagala, at 8300 feet above sea-level. They 

 are more or less nocturnal in their habits, though hinds 

 may be often seen in the open during daytime in remote 

 " parks," whilst during the wet north-east monsoon the 

 bucks may occasionally be seen out on the feed up to 

 late in the day. They are not gregarious, the bucks 

 being usually solitary, but sometimes four or five does 

 may be seen together. At the present time elk are fairly 

 numerous in the hill forests, but, as I said before, are 

 being rapidly exterminated in the low country, as their 

 size renders them an irresistible prize to the native, who, 

 sitting over a water -hole at night, for the small ex- 

 penditure of one charge of powder and ball may secure 

 several hundred pounds of meat, a pair of antlers, and 

 a comparatively valuable skin. When camping in the 

 low country years ago, the peculiar alarm call of the elk 

 could be heard in all directions ; now only a very occasional 

 one is heard, and the time is not far distant when they 

 will be as extinct as the dodo, more's the pity. By reason 

 of their scarcity in the low country I imagine few men 

 have stalked and shot them, as sportsmen do not often 

 go a jungle trip in the height of the wet season, the best 

 time for finding them in the open, and consequently I 

 am not able to give my readers much matter in the 

 "still-hunting" line. They lie up in any thick bit of 

 undergrowth in the forest during the day, and when 

 travelling through forest quietly you may occasionally 



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