1 66 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



was hot enough, and we were quite willing to lie and 

 smoke for an hour after our meal. This also gave 

 the birds time to regain confidence a bit. 



After a good long rest we started off again, worked 

 up to the top, changed sides, and worked back again. 

 Just as I reached the embankment a wisp of teal got 

 up wild and swept over into some rice-fields in the 

 swampy valley beneath. I followed and bagged one. 

 To my delight, at the sound of the shot I heard the 

 familiar "scape! scape!" and turning round saw a 

 snipe go down the valley. Owing probably to the 

 want of rain, snipe were very scarce in Central India 

 that year, and I had not had a shot at one yet. I 

 plunged into the mud, and in a quarter of ah hour 

 I returned, dirty but delighted, with a couple of 

 long-bills. 



At last the fun came to a close. Many of the 

 duck had left the tank, and those that remained were 

 huddled in the middle and not to be moved even by a 

 bullet being dropped among them. There were also 

 (alas !) a good many wounded birds whose strength 

 was still fully equal to keeping away from the shore. 

 These we could only regret, so we totalled up our bag 

 as follows : fifteen duck, five teal, two snipe ; total 

 twenty-two head, a satisfactory result that year for 

 two guns. 



It must not be supposed that this was an out of- 

 the-way day's duck-shooting in India quite the 

 contrary. I have described it principally because it 

 was one of those days which remain in one's memory, 

 whilst an old diary enables me to give the exact bag. 



