4 o 4 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



and Panoot, leave for Bawni and Zamini in the rains, where 

 they may be shot. 



17. Excellent duck, snipe, partridge, deer, bear, and leopard 

 shooting may be had between Wuntho and Tigyaing. 



1 8. Splendid snipe shooting may be had at Dabein and 

 Ledaung-gan between Rangoon and Pegu ; the latter is in 

 itself one of the best snipe grounds in Burma. 



There is hardly a village in Upper Burma near which game 

 of some kind may not be put up during a drive. Burmans, as 

 a rule, are very good at making a " bundobust " for a drive, 

 and can tell to within a yard or two where an animal will 

 break. Should a sportsman wish to arrange a beat near a 

 village, he should notify the thugyi the night before, and also 

 call up the local shikaries and hold a friendly confab with 

 them as to the patches of jungle to be beaten up on the 

 morrow, and the kind of animals that are most likely to turn 

 up in them. 



The services of at least twenty or thirty villagers should be 

 requisitioned for driving. It depends very much on the 

 extent of jungle that has to be driven. 



I have seen as many as fifty or sixty beaters at work. It 

 is not advisable, however, to have too many men, as they are 

 harder to keep in hand and often go off the line. They 

 should always be cautioned to move along quietly, tapping 

 the trees on either side as they proceed. It is much 

 easier to keep a few beaters in hand than a large number, 

 unless, of course, they are skilled at this sort of work, and 

 each man knows every foot of the ground he is beating, and 

 the point which he has to make for. They often go off the 

 line, and beat up some jungle in an entirely opposite direction 

 to that in which the guns have been placed. 



When too much noise is made animals, such as sambur, pig, 

 and barking deer, very often break through the beaters. On 

 the other hand, when the men are moving along quietly, the 

 driven beasts have time to consider from what quarter to 

 expect danger, and after stopping to listen once or twice they 

 invariably move straight ahead towards the guns. The 

 sportsman is posted at some likely spot, a cart-track, for 

 instance, or an open glade ; in fact, the most likely spots for 



