DUCK AND TEAL SHOOTING 



until they should see my head appear above the 

 embankment, when they were to close in to the 

 edge of the tank, and so put up any teal which 

 might have settled upon the latter out of shot 

 from my post. 



The whole plan worked admirably, and I had 

 lots of shooting up till lunch time, after which my 

 chances were few, the birds having been driven 

 by the firing to more distant tanks, where they 

 could rest undisturbed. From my post by the 

 tamarind tree, I bagged that day forty-four teal 

 and one duck. The teal were all of the garganey 

 or blue-winged species, with the exception of a 

 single Q. crecca. 



I once had a day with the late Mr. U., of the 

 1 9th P.W.O. Hussars (recently, alas! killed in 

 action) on a very large tank in the Chitaldroog 

 district of Mysore, which, though the bag of duck 

 was small, dwells in my memory as a very enjoy- 

 able one. The tank was so extensive that a 

 number of guns would have been required in order 

 to do justice to it ; whereas U. and I, with the 

 assistance of Mrs. U., who remained on the 

 embankment and kept firing shots from a 28-bore, 

 had to do the best we could in the reeds by 

 the margin. Wild geese and flamingoes were on 

 the tank, but these, rising high in the air, departed 

 at the commencement of operations. We had no 

 boat, and when the duck and teal sought safety 

 in the centre of the huge sheet of water, I fired 

 bullets from my express rifle to stir them up. Up 

 to lunch time, we shot round the tank, and after- 



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