INDIAN SHOOTING 259 



herd till there was light enough to pick his stag. Even in 

 broad daylight it is difficult to judge the size of a stag's horns 

 as he stands motionless in the deep gloom of the forest, and 

 what little can be seen of them makes them look three times 

 their real size the beam is so massive and the tines so long. 

 The stag, too, is such a big beast, standing nearly a hand taller 

 than a barasingh, that if seen in the open he looks as big as an 

 Irish elk. 



If the sportsman fails to intercept any stags on their return 

 from their feeding grounds by working along the base of the 

 hill, he should next ascend the hill and try the cup-like basins 

 which are so often found near the summits. Sambur are very 

 fond of these spots, but a first-rate local shikari is necessary to 

 show the way to them, as there is often no sign of the existence 

 of such places from the foot of the hill, the trees appearing to 

 grow taller in them on purpose to hide them from observation 

 from below. The approach to them is often up a heartbreaking 

 boulder-strewn slope, which apparently continues to the sum- 

 mit. Up this the sportsman toils, thinking his shikari must 

 have lost his way, when suddenly he comes upon a dark cool 

 glen, and in it there is pretty sure to be a herd. The above 

 applies chiefly to the isolated hills which rise out of the plains 

 in Central India ; in ranges like the Sewaliks the best plan is 

 to walk along the top of a ridge, examining the ravines below, 

 and in the grass on the crest of these ridges will often be found 

 places where sambur have been lying down under the trees, 

 the form being carefully chosen so that the shade of the tree 

 will be over it during the hottest part of the day. Many 

 pleasant little incidents may occur during an early morning 

 stroll in the Sewaliks ; kakur, gooral, and chital afford tempt- 

 ing shots if the sportsman likes to vary his bag, and an occa- 

 sional bear, leopard, or tiger may be met with. One sportsman 

 met a tiger almost face to face just as he gained the crest of a 

 ridge. The man only had a light single-barrel rifle, so he wisely 

 refrained from attack under the circumstances, and, the tiger 

 being a well-behaved deer-stalking beast, the two passed the 



