66 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



to the screen of leaves behind which I concealed 

 myself. However, this work was always done on the 

 ground, and if the sportsman sits up in a tree, as I 

 think he certainly should do in the Sudan, the peg 

 may be ten paces or so from his platform. Further 

 than this I believe it to be impossible to shoot with 

 any accuracy by night, and I always thought that 

 Indian hunters were prone to offer much too difficult a 

 shot to their employers. African sportsmen who are 

 in the habit of shooting out of a pit, tie up their baits 

 so near, I believe, that the muzzle of the rifle almost 

 touches the object. I never cared for shooting out of 

 pits, but the policy of shortening the distance is 

 undoubtedly the correct one. On the other hand, a 

 downward shot is always difficult, and the vital spots 

 afford a smaller target, so that ten paces out of a 

 tree seemed to me a good average range. The gar- 

 ments worn when sitting up at night, should be of 

 neutral-tinted flannel, and boots or gaiters should be 

 discarded. The object of this is to prevent rustling 

 or creaking; and it is surprising how even a goat 

 can detect the least sound made by the sportsman. 



In India leopards are ordinarily shot by sportsmen 

 sitting on the ground behind screens of branches. 

 The sport is less dangerous than it seems, partly 

 because one rarely sits up for more than an hour or 

 so in the evening, and the shot is generally in broad 

 daylight, but mainly, I think, because an unwounded 



