238 



BIG GAME SHOOTING 



peccary and attacking intruders in the same fearless way. In 

 shape it only differs from the common wild pig in that its snout 

 is comparatively shorter, and the eye consequently set midway 

 between snout and ear. Its tail, too, is short and is hidden 

 among the bristles on the rump. It has long bristles all over 

 its back and sides, but no well-defined mane like an ordinary 

 boar, whilst its ears are quite hairless and the under parts of 

 the body and limbs almost so. Some stuffed specimens in the 

 British Museum of apparently half-grown beasts are deep chest- 

 nut, a full-grown one being nearly black. 



Measurements 



XVII. CROCODILES 



Native names: 

 ^ Muggur^'' the snub-nosed variety ; ' Ghayal,^ the long-nosed variety 



The crocodile is a kind of vermin, of which there are 

 two varieties in India — the flat-nosed and the long-nosed. 

 Though not perhaps objects of the highest form of sport, still 

 a good deal of fun may be had with them ; and as they 

 are awful brutes for robbing the sportsman of any birds that 

 may be dropped on the water — will take down his dog if he 

 sends it in to retrieve, and in many places will take human 

 beings — their destruction should invariably be attempted. 



A few may be shot with a rifle, but they are uncommonly 

 wary, and nineteen out of twenty that are hit will get back into 

 the water and be lost. The most satisfactory way of dealing 

 with them, besides being far the most sporting, is to bait a 

 good large hook with a bird or small animal, and fasten it by 



