BUCK-SHOOTING IN CENTRAL INDIA. 311 



standard for what constitutes a really good pair of 

 horns, and they vary greatly according to the district 

 in which the buck is shot. The neighbourhood of 

 Ferozepore has long been noted for producing the 

 longest horns. The younger bucks are brown in 

 colour, the shade being lighter as the beast is younger, 

 till at last the youngest bucks can only be distinguished 

 from the does, which have no horns, by the presence 

 of those appendages. 



The Indian gazelle, or chikara, is a more humble- 

 looking little beast, mouse-brown in colour, with a 

 white belly. Both sexes have horns, which curve 

 slightly backwards. The chikara is far less difficult to 

 stalk than the black-buck, but affords a very small 

 mark. The vital parts are practically contained in a 

 space not much bigger than this book, which, though 

 it may seem a fair mark, is pretty hard to hit at a 

 distance of one hundred and fifty yards, when the 

 whole atmosphere is quivering with heat and 

 " mirage," under the rays of an Indian summer sun. 



The best season for buck-shooting is of course the 

 hot weather. Grass and crops being equally absent, 

 buck and chikara can be readily seen and approached 

 that is, within a couple of hundred yards, after which 

 stalking is necessary. I am speaking now of English 

 territory, for in the Native States all game is much 

 less shy and more easily approached. Terrific as is 

 the power of the Indian sun, I always spent one or two 

 days every week in shooting, and never had cause to 

 regret it, but of course proper precautions must be 

 taken. A sola* hat of Brobdignagian proportions, 

 * Sola is a kind of pith impervious to the sun's rays. 



