NATURAL HISTORY 39 



I have said elsewhere that I think it is a mistake 

 to hunt a covert more than twice a season at most. 

 If you are compelled to hunt a ground twice, always 

 allow ten days to intervene between the two huntings. 

 Pig after being ridden and harried in a covert 

 invariably leave it at nightfall, and will not return 

 within at least that period, even under the most 

 favourable conditions. 



Preservation of Ground. In any country regularly 

 hunted, whether by individuals or a Tent Club, the 

 necessity for maintaining an undiminished stock 

 of pig is a vital consideration. There can be no 

 question of apres moi le deluge ; we have to think 

 of our successors, to hand them over prospects of 

 sport at least as good as those we enjoy. 



I have said twice, and, like the " Snark," I will 

 say it again, " you must preserve." This is the 

 root of the matter. If preservation is good, and 

 natural conditions are satisfactory, pig must 

 increase. 



After this, look to your sanctuaries. Every 

 ground that is much hunted must either have 

 communication with large game preserves, or it 

 must have sanctuaries of its own, artificial or other- 

 wise. Muttra and Delhi are examples of the former, 

 Meerut and Fyzabad of the latter. Meerut in the 

 old days used to connect through its Ganges Kadir 

 with the Terai jungles, getting thus an inexhaustible 

 supply of pig. Owing to the railway and cultivation 

 the Terai has now been cut off by a belt of many 

 miles wide. This is luckily not a matter of much 

 moment because in the Meerut Kadir there are huge 

 j heels many miles long, full of quicksands and quite 

 unworkable, which form perfect sanctuaries. 



