BULLET AND SHOT 



light, it claims many ardent devotees. I have 

 heard a story of an old colonel, who, on being 

 informed by his companion that the latter had 

 seen a fine sambur stag, exclaimed, " Damn the 

 stag! Where's that woodcock?" In woodcock 

 shooting, a number of coolies must be employed 

 to beat the sholahs unless, indeed, the sportsman 

 should possess a team of well-trained spaniels. 



The Indian bird is of smaller average size than 

 the English woodcock, and weighs only from 7 to 

 \2\ oz. 



WILD GEESE 



The grey lag goose (Anser cinereus\ a large bird 

 averaging 7, but sometimes reaching 9 Ibs. in 

 weight; and the barred-headed goose (Anser indicus), 

 a smaller bird than the former, and weighing 

 only from 4 to nearly 7 Ibs., are both cold- weather 

 visitors to India. 



Just as their congeners elsewhere, wild geese in 

 India are adepts in the noble art of self-preservation, 

 and are difficult of access. I have never shot the 

 grey lag, and but once 'a specimen of the smaller 

 species. Hume recommends the use of a boat, in 

 which the sportsman must lie flat, pushed from 

 behind by a man who keeps himself well concealed ; 

 and he also mentions another plan, viz. the sports- 

 man lying in ambush on their feeding grounds after 

 dusk, and waiting for the arrival of the birds as 

 one which is frequently very successful. 



Even such naturally wary and suspicious birds 

 as wild geese become wonderfully tolerant of the 



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