326 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



ficent plumage, and spread their gorgeous trains, and waltz 

 round and round them in a most absurd fashion. The boat- 

 men are fond of trying to catch them when absorbed in this 

 dance of love ; and, though I have never seen one actually 

 secured, I have seen an active fellow get so near as to pluck 

 some feathers from the tail of the collapsed and retreating 

 swain. No riotous sounds offend the ear in this peaceful 

 valley. The Koel, bird of the morning, raises now and then 

 his staccato note from some overhanging tree, or the giant 

 Sarus crane floats his tremulous cry along the calm surface of 

 the lake-] ike river. 



But hark ! From a clump of tangled bamboos, overhang- 

 ing the mouth of a little burn that joins the river, rings the 

 loud bellow of a spotted buck. The boatman sticks his long 

 pole down to the bottom, and anchors the dug-out, while the 

 sportsman, with cocked rifle, watches in the bow. Presently 

 a rustle and a motion in the fringe of bright-green jdman 

 bushes that edge the river, and the head and shoulders of a 

 noble buck emerge, one fore foot advanced hesitatingly to the 

 strip of yellow sand beside the water. Another instant and 

 he stands, a statue of grace and beauty, on the open beach. 

 Now he has seen the boat, and his careless mien is changed 

 for an attitude of intense regard. Motionless, head thrown 

 up, and antlers sweeping his flanks, he might be photographed 

 for the second or two he stands at gaze. In an instant more 

 he will wheel round and plunge into the thicket, unless 

 stopped by the deadly bullet. The true sportsman will often 

 spare the beautiful creature, even when thus at the point of 

 his rifle, when a week or two of the easy sport has satiated 

 his ardour, and filled his camp with meat and trophies of 

 graceful antlers. It was impossible in those days to walk 

 half a mile along the river bank without seeing deer, and I 



