GOD WITS AND OTHER BIRDS 33 



tains, or a twenty-mile trudge, is but child's play? Pick out 

 men who show bodily activity and endurance. Pluck, all 

 Britons and Irish possess : but more is wanted. Put all men 

 useless for such work on half-pay ; they are no use as leaders 

 of men, and the only use of officers is to lead the way, and 

 how can they do that if they are not physically fit by constant 

 exercise ? and where can that be obtained so well as in follow- 

 ing wild field sports ? Moreover, a man accustomed to meet 

 the denizens of the forest has his wits about him, or he is 

 snuffed out. He will exercise all the cunning he has learned 

 in wood-craft to outwit not only the beasts of the field, but 

 the enemies of his country. 1 All the cramming he has learned 

 under the present system is not worth a year's experience of 

 sport, followed up by a six months' campaign. Our officers 

 and men have shown pluck, but the enemy opposed to us are 

 just as plucky and have out-fought and outwitted us, solely 

 because they were physically more fit than ourselves. 



Godwits are seldom seen. Only one of the Curlews is fit 

 for the table, in my opinion ; but some people like the Raj 

 Curlew, a large black bird. Of the Cranes, the Coolin or 

 Kurruk, though plentiful in India, is very rare in Lower 

 Burma; there are two or three kinds of Bittern, one very 

 small, but they are seldom shot. As for the Waders, Storks, 

 etc., their name is legion. 



Of all the small game shooting in the lower province, Duck- 

 shooting is the poorest. Notwithstanding that the country is 

 greatly inundated during the monsoon and from the flooding 

 of the rivers, it dries up about the time the annual migration 

 of the duck tribe takes place. There are no large bheels or 

 tanks during the cold season, so the ducks pass over to India 

 where there are suitable places for them, and where they 

 swarm ; but a very few only remain in Pegu. During Sep- 

 tember I have seen a good many of the Comb Duck, which 

 often, like the Whistling Teal and also the small Blue-winged 

 Teal (commonly called Cotton Teal), perch on trees, but they 

 are not thought much of for the table. There are also a few 



1 Vide the Boers, who are born sportsmen, and they have outwitted us 

 as they have been in the habit of doing the_/m? nature of their country. 



