BUSTAED-SHOOTING SINGLE-HANDED. 43 



wing at this hot time. It is needless to add that the 

 intense heat is also a severe test of endurance to the 

 bustard-shooter. By keeping one's own figure and the 

 pony's head as much averted as possible — advancing side- 

 long, crab-fashion, so to speak, and gradually circling 

 inwards, one may, with patience, at length attain a deadly 

 range, — seldom near, but still near enough to use the 

 heavy AAA mould-shot with fatal effect, for the bustard, 

 despite his bulk, is not a very hard or close-feathered bird, 

 and falls to a blow that the grey goose would laugh at. 

 When the nearest point is reached — and one learns by 

 exj^erience to judge by the demeanour of the game when 

 they will permit no nearer approach — the opportune 

 moment must be seized ; the first barrel put in smartly on 

 the ground, and more deliberate aim taken with the second 

 as they rise. 



The hotter the day, the nearer one can get. Much depends 

 on the horse : if he does not stop dead the chance is lost, 

 as the bustards rise directly on detecting a change in the 

 movements of horse and man. With practice my pony 

 became very clever, and came to know as well as his rider 

 what was going on, so that after a time, we could rely on 

 getting three or four shots a day and seldom returned with- 

 out one bustard, frequently two or three. During one year 

 (his best) the writer bagged sixty-two bustards to his own 

 gun. 



We make it a rule to accept no shot at any very risky 

 distance, finding that, if not scared, the birds do not fly so 

 far, and are more accessible on a second approach. Some- 

 times there occur lucky spots where, as one is slowly draw- 

 ing round on them, the bustards walk over the crest of a 

 ridge, and disappear. This is a chance not to be lost — 

 slip from the saddle, run straight to the ridge, and 

 surprise them, as they descend the reverse slope, with a 

 couple of barrels ere they have time to realize the danger. 

 Dips and hills, as before remarked, are not frequent on the 

 haunts of bustards, but we have chanced on such localities 

 more than once. Upon one occasion we bagged a brace of 

 the largest harlnmes we ever saw by such a piece of good luck. 



