SPOTTED DEER 



south of Batticaloa, in 1903, being out for a look round 

 one day, armed with a double-barrelled .450 cordite express, 

 saw a good buck standing among some rocks in broken 

 ground about 100 yards away. He fired and it disappeared, 

 so he walked towards the spot to have a look, but before he 

 reached the place he saw, as he thought, the same buck 

 some little way off looking at him from behind a rock head, 

 neck, and top of back only being visible. He fired and it dis- 

 appeared again, when, going to the spot, what was his aston- 

 ishment and delight to find two bucks lying dead within 

 quite a short distance of each other, and, more pleasing still, 

 they carried exceptionally fine heads, one being 30^ inches 

 and the other 32 inches. This I can vouch for, as I put 

 the steel tape over them myself at Napier's bungalow not 

 long after his return. The extraordinary thing about the 

 occurrence was that both were shot in the head ! 



A general shooting trip to Ceylon low country, in spite 

 of its discomforts and drawbacks, will appeal very strongly 

 to all lovers of nature. Can anything be more interesting 

 I might even say impressive than an early morning walk 

 through jungle country in the tropics ? 



In Ceylon vegetation is rampant, though curiously 

 enough there is hardly any really big forest in the low 

 country, the biggest tree growth being found among the 

 foot-hills, where the mountains tail out into the low country. 

 Feasting your eyes on the tropical luxuriance, your ears will 

 be assailed by all kinds of novel sounds. In the open 

 country and on the outskirts of the forest you will hear the 

 pipe and twitter of birds innumerable, the " coo " of pigeons 

 and doves, the melodious whistle of the Pompadour pigeon, 

 or the shrill alarm call of the spotted deer. 



From the forest come the insistent calls of many jungle 

 cock, the curious cadenced whistle of the spur fowl, the 



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