WILD-FOWL, SNIPE, ETC. 119 



puff of dust some ten yards ahead of me caught 

 my eye, then the slight movement of a wing ; so, 

 stepping back some twenty yards, I fired at the 

 spot, and on walking up to it found my shot had 

 accounted for eleven of the little bush quail, and 

 excellent eating they proved, placed for a few 

 minutes in boiling water, and eaten with melted 

 butter and green chilis. 



I once shot five snipe at a shot under much the 

 same circumstances. I was marching down 

 country with some invalids and time-expired 

 men, and was encamped half-way between Roor- 

 kee and Meerut. I was very hard-up for a dinner, 

 and had had a fruitless search for game, when a 

 native who accompanied me said he knew of a 

 pond where doubtless I would find some 'moor- 

 ghabi,' the generic native term for wild-fowl, in 

 which they include paddy birds,* etc., in fact, 

 every species of aquatic bird. The country for 

 miles round was nothing but bare sandy plains 

 with scant patches of cultivation, and I had not 

 much faith in my black friend's assertions, but, 

 nevertheless, went with him. We soon came to 

 the spot, and looking over the bank cautiously I 

 saw a small pool of muddy water about the size 

 of an ordinary dining-table, not a patch of cover 

 near it, not a rush or blade of grass, only round 



*0r pond-heron (Ardeola leucoptera). 



