NATURAL HISTORY 37 



Next, do not confuse cover with food. The 

 latter comes first every time. As long as there are 

 crops in a country so long will pig be either in them, 

 if they are high enough, or near them. In a sugar- 

 cane country as long as the cane is up all the pig 

 will be in it : there may be beautiful jungles in the 

 vicinity, but they will not hold pig. When the cane 

 is down wheat and other crops are still standing. 

 At such times look for pig on the edges of the coverts 

 nearest to these crops. A pig will go many miles 

 for his food, but not a yard farther than he need. 



When all the crops are down, pig will be in the 

 j heels, in jhow, grass coverts, or in patches of jungle 

 and forest. The last named are always a sure find 

 unless disturbed. But you cannot expect to get 

 sport on a big or continued scale by beating baghs 

 and jungle. Your main resource must be jheel, 

 jhow, or grass. 



Of these three I put the grass as the least likely 

 to hold pig. You have to get your grass exactly 

 right to start with. If you hunt it too early in the 

 season the fluff of the long monj stalks fall as 

 you ride, blinding you for the time and making it 

 impossible to follow pig. A little later the raiyets 

 will be cutting these same stalks for thatching 

 purposes, and there will be no pig in them then. 

 A little later, again, the cattle will be grazing, and 

 the cover will become too scanty to hold much game. 

 You must watch your grass as a nurse does a baby. 

 Then, on a few days at the beginning of the hot 

 season when the sun is bright, but there is still a 

 nip in the air, and when the lying is soft and dry, 

 you will meet with your reward. 



If the grass is of your own leasing, conditions 

 are altered. 



