132 THE THREE LEGGED BUCK. 



declared that the buck I killed was after all not the black 

 buck of Kodakarnal ; that he had seen the Simon Pure on 

 the rocks below, whilst they were skinning the dead ibex, 

 and that he has a white patch on his back " same like cloth 

 put there," and my cook corroborates this. The one I killed 

 has a fine dark brown almost black skin with a grey saddle, 

 horns thirteen inches long, and eight and a half round the 

 base — not a bad buck. 



On the 19th of June, 1862, when shooting on the Pulnies, 

 I killed the finest old saddle back that ever fell to my 

 rifle. I was out after Sambur when I saw a fine old buck 

 ibex lying on a rock under a tree, so I set to work to stalk 

 him. To avoid making any noise I took off my shoes, but 1 

 found he had moved from where I had last seen him, and as 

 I crept slowly and cautiously along the edge of the slope, I 

 caught sight of him about fifty or sixty yards below me. I 

 could not see his legs, and I was not certain whether he was 

 standing up or lying down. He was broadside on ; aiming 

 low with the left barrel of my Laing I fired and heard the tell, 

 saw him stagger and try to recover himself and then fall over ; 

 in his death struggles he rolled fifty or sixty yards further 

 down, but his horns catching in a strong tuft of grass, stopped 

 him from going right down into the low country. He was 

 a magnificent old fellow. I could not make him more than 

 forty inches at the shoulder, fair measurement. Shakespear 

 in his book says that some have reached fifty inches, but I 

 think he must have been misinformed. 



I will finish my ibex sport with the stalk after the three- 

 legged buck at Naadgany. I will just notice that the crows 

 here seem very fond of settling upon animals. An old crow 

 flew on an ibex I was stalking, and perching on its back 



