ABOUT SOME DEER. 227 



bright frosty day when c Scolopax ' is more than 

 usually on the alert. 



And I must warn my readers that they will 

 find no records here of wonderful long shots 

 of deer knocked over at three hundred yards, 

 etc. In the first place, I do not believe in long 

 shots at any kind of game, and secondly, I think 

 it is unsportsmanlike ; for, if a man does hit his 

 game, the poor brute will probably go off to die a 

 lingering and painful death, and secondly if he 

 misses, as he probably will, he only frightens the 

 game unnecessarily. No shot 1 think ought to be 

 fired with a rifle at a distance beyond one hundred 

 and fifty yards, for preference say from eighty to 

 one hundred yards. 



However, as both methods are pursued, 1 1 will 

 endeavour to give a slight sketch of each, as well 

 as of the varieties of deer that a sportsman may 

 expect to meet with, viz., the sambur, twelve- 

 tined deer, spotted deer, hog deer, munt-jak, and 

 four-horned antelope. All these I have shot my- 

 self, with the exception of the twelve-tined or 

 swamp deer, in the valley of the Doon, or in the 

 jungles of the Central Provinces. 



To commence with beating. A stag sambur is a 

 grand-looking beast. Larger and more massive than 

 the British red-deer, he stands some four feet eight 

 inches at the shoulder his colour is a dark brown, 



Q2 



