SHOOTING THE FELID^E OVER BAITS 65 



calcitrant goat to bleat by piercing its ear and 

 attaching a cord. However, the result is unnatural 

 and not sustained; and having tried the plan I 

 gave it up as being more likely to scare away than 

 to attract the quarry. An experienced tiger-shikari 

 will always picket his buffalo by the forefoot, and 

 not by the neck, alleging that the tiger will be 

 scared by the sight of the rope. I doubt whether 

 this objection applies to the more unsophisticated 

 lions and leopards of the Sudan, and believe in a 

 small but stout chain, so arranged as to hook round 

 the animal's neck, the last link to be bound to the 

 picketing peg by a stout rope. In calculating the 

 resisting power of peg, rope, and chain, one should 

 allow for the hauling power of a lion, and not for that 

 of the goat, or the sport is likely to be brief and 

 unsatisfactory. Also it is a mistake to allow more 

 than a foot of slack, or the goat may easily strangle 

 itself. A white goat is to be preferred as it shows up 

 quite well, even by starlight. I prefer not to shoot 

 until the goat has been actually seized, when any 

 slight movement on the part of the hunter is unlikely 

 to attract attention. The rifle having been previously 

 aligned, a quick but sure aim for the heart should 

 then be taken, and unless it is broad daylight further 

 developments had better be left until next morning. 

 When I used to sit up for leopards in India, I in- 

 variably measured six paces from the picketing peg 



