Peacock Catching. 275 



•of him. Captain and Mrs. Cook so dearly love a spin 

 across country, that they are never happy, if they have 

 a horse in their stable, until they have tried if he can 

 '" throw a lep." Before I sold Reformation, I went with 

 .them, Captain Hickson, of my regiment, and Captain 

 'Charsley Thomas, on a week's leave into the Kadur 

 •country, which is the great pig-sticking ground near 

 Meerut, to ride and shoot. We saw no pig, as the 

 :season was too late ; we shot only about a black 

 ibuck each and a few partridges ; but we had rare good 

 fun schooling the horses over every difficult bit of 

 ■country we met in our morning and evening rides, 

 while we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves In the evening 

 ■" talking horse " and spinning yarns. As Captain 

 Thomas had charge of the commissariat and transport 

 departments, we fared luxuriousl}-. I generally lent 

 Vesper to Mrs. Cook to ride, and am certain that they 

 would never have bought Reformation had not I been, 

 on nearly every occasion, ignominiously " pounded " on 

 him by my own mare. While we were out, we caught, 

 for their plumage, several peacocks, by the simple and 

 very easy method of riding them down. These birds, 

 when fresh, are not able to fly more than 500 or 600 

 yards ; so their capture furnishes no sport. 



