HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



rolling down into the water, and I ran along the side of 

 the pool to intercept it if it got out again ; but it never 

 got out, for on reaching the place where it had fallen 

 in I saw it swimming strongly up the centre of the pool, 

 until it entered a dark shadow under the trees where I 

 lost sight of it and all sound ceased. 



I ran round to the end of the pool and waited, but 

 saw and heard nothing, so finally retired to my "hide" 

 again until morning. At daybreak I and my men soon 

 made it out, a good buck elk dead and drowned in the 

 middle of the pool, caught in some branches lying in 

 the water whence we soon dragged it, securing the meat, 

 hide, and antlers, the latter being an ordinary Ceylon pair 

 measuring only 22f inches along the curve and 22 inches 

 spread from tip to tip. 



I lost a fine buck, to my sorrow, only last year, a 

 chance in a hundred ! 



I was returning towards camp in company with two 

 trackers, after an exploring tramp in very remote parks, 

 when, just about to turn out of a park into a forest track, we 

 heard a buck elk "making love" the most weird sounds 

 you can imagine. A deep grunt, a snort, a shrill cough, 

 a wheeze, a deep cough, more grunts not continuously, 

 but at longish intervals the " sound effect," coming out 

 of dense jungle, being most extraordinary. 



In I went with care and caution, replying now and 

 then to the grunts to hide any noise of my approach, and 

 to make the buck think another buck was at hand. By 

 dint of crawling under the undergrowth I finally came 

 in sight of the buck's hind quarters, broadside to me, the 

 rest of him being behind a big tree, and so, having taken 

 the " Paradox " with me in preference to my rifle, I fired 

 with the object of smashing the pelvis, but very evidently 



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