INDIAN SHOOTING 289 



one. The kakur has a peculiar resonant call, like the hoarse 

 bark of a dog, which can be heard for a long distance ; and as 

 the buck frequently keeps on barking for some time, it will 

 often betray its locality to the sportsman its locality certainly, 

 but not much else. The stalk is enlivened with song till just 

 the critical moment, when a glimpse of the performer would 

 be so desirable ; then usually comes a dead silence possibly 

 the buck is waiting for the applause you so ungraciously with- 

 hold no sign of the songster, look as you will there is nothing 

 to be seen but bushes and stems of trees ! Suddenly out of 

 emptiness appears a flash of red surmounted with a brilliant 

 white scut, and a derisive bark, in answer to your snap-shot, 

 proclaims your defeat. Moreover, it behoves one to be wary 

 when stalking a barking kakur ; he may very possibly be 

 barking at a panther, or even in some localities at a tiger, and 

 it is as well to be careful that you do not entertain not quite 

 an angel unawares. Jungle warnings, such as monkeys swear- 

 ing and the alarm notes of peafowl and deer, should never be 

 lightly disregarded. 



Occasionally kakur make a curious clicking noise, pro- 

 bably, as Kinloch suggests, with the tongue, which is very 

 long. The writer has watched a kakur walking quietly down a 

 sandy river-bed, clicking all the way at intervals ; here certainly 

 the hoofs could not have made the noise in sand. That buck 

 was shot, and as the writer saw another single kakur several 

 times afterwards not far from the same spot, it has struck him 

 that the clicking noise might possibly be a low call from one 

 of a pair to its mate. 



In Garwhal the natives occasionally call kakur, using a split 

 ringal cane, and making a call very similar to that used in 

 the Tyrol for roe deer ; but the writer's experience of this class 

 of sport is that one may sit and pipe for a long time before 

 anything comes. Having the covers driven is also poor fun if 

 there is only one gun, as the deer will rarely come right, almost 

 always breaking back ; and by far the pleasantest and best way 



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