SMALL GAME SHOOTING. 129 



into a small bush, a number of which were 

 scattered about. There were no trees within a 

 couple of miles, so I determined to see if he could 

 keep up his flight for any distance, and with this 

 object mounted my pony, and taking a spear 

 cantered off. On approaching him, he ran out, 

 and flew some three hundred yards before he again 

 pitched, and ran into another small bush. On 

 reaching the spot, I looked for him in vain ; he 

 seemed to have vanished into the air, or sunk into 

 the ground, for there was not an atom of cover 

 into which he could have run, and he could not 

 have flown without my seeing him. Sorely 

 puzzled, I was on the point of giving him up when 

 I caught the glitter of a bright eye almost under 

 my stirrup, and there was the beautiful bird, 

 stretched beside me, his body partly concealed by 

 a few sparse blades of dry grass that grew under 

 the thorny bush, his long snakelike neck laid flat 

 on the ground and stretched to its full extent, 

 and his grand tail, closed, and pressed tight to the 

 ground. 



Here, I thought, was an opportunity of spearing 

 a peacock, a feat I had never heard of ! I accord- 

 ingly leant over and ran my spear through his 

 back, but alas, I was soon on my own ! for the 

 poor bird jumped up in a great fluster with a 

 tremendous fluttering, and my usually sedate pony, 



