INDIAN SHOOTING 279 



a grand sight. The writer once came across a battle-field, but 

 too late to witness the fight, and the way the turf was ploughed 

 up bore testimony to the severity of the struggle. The 

 rutting season appears to be initiated by the hinds ; at least 

 I have observed that the short bark of the hinds is usually 

 heard some days before the roar of the stags, and have seen a stag 

 come best pace out of the forest in answer to a hind's call in 

 the early morning, before a stag's challenge had been heard on 

 the ground. It is most amusing to watch a young stag calling, 

 the way he swaggers before his lady-love, tearing up the turf 

 with feet and horns as if nothing could drive him from her, 

 till his challenge is answered by a deeper note, when the 

 youngster curls up at once, flees for his life to the thickest scrub 

 he can find half a mile away and cowers among the bushes, 

 while his mate in the most matter-of-fact way at once attaches 

 herself to his lordly rival, who comes swaggering easily along 

 the hillside with the sunbeams glancing from the burnished 

 points of his glorious antlers. A small caUing stag should 

 never be disturbed, as he almost invariably draws out a better 

 beast. Great care, too, should be taken not to frighten away 

 unattached hinds anywhere near a calling ground. If left alone 

 •hey will sooner or later be joined by stags, though occasion- 

 ally hinds will run from a stag just as if they had scented a man. 

 i'he writer on one occasion was watching a hind and calf feeding, 

 • hen they suddenly galloped off, and presently an old stag came 

 trotting down the hill grunting his displeasure and following 

 their scent like a hound, till, coming within range, he paid the 

 penalty. Probably owing to the scarcity of hinds, even the 

 best stags appear never to be able to collect more than two or 

 three, not counting calves, which seem always to run with their 

 lams for a year. 



Old writers talk of stags calling all day long. This may 

 have been so years ago ; now-a-days they rarely call after 9 

 A.M., and do not begin again before 3 p.m. at the earliest. 

 I once heard a grand chorus in the early morning. Five 

 iifferent stags were calling at the same time, but as they 



