CHAP. ix. GAME BIRDS. 409 



a cock bird. He would not rise at first, but kept running 

 before me about twenty-five yards off, till by quickening 

 my pace I forced him to use his wings, and as he cleared 

 the ground I gave him the whole charge in the back at 

 certainly not more than twenty yards. The effect was 

 merely to stagger him a little, and to knock out a cloud 

 of feathers, and to my astonishment he flew away quite 

 strongly." The charge used was buckshot (S.S.G.), with 

 four drachms of powder, fired out of a close-shooting gun of 

 10 -bore. The only way in which I have succeeded in kill- 

 ing these birds with shot has been by getting very close, 

 and then aiming at their heads, and under those circum- 

 stances only can I understand No. 7 shot proving fatal. 



K caffra, the common upland pauw, is much smaller, 

 rarely reaching to twenty-five pounds, and averaging 

 eighteen to twenty-three pounds. It is found all over the 

 larger table-lands in small flocks of from three to six, 

 though more generally seen in pairs, and is considerably 

 shyer than the former, seldom allowing you to walk within 

 a hundred yards of it, and when much shot at not within 

 three times that distance, though, being more common, it 

 affords the most sport of any of the three kinds. Fre- 

 quenting the opens, and from its height and length of 

 neck being able to see over the grass, it is difficult to 

 stalk on foot, and the most usual method is to shoot it 

 from horseback. Like others of the bustard tribe, it often 

 resorts to squatting, under the impression that it has not 

 been noticed, especially when resort is had to the artifice 

 of riding one's horse round it in a convergent circle, and 

 in this way shots are often obtained within thirty or forty 

 yards. It is often able, however, to carry off the charge, 



