298 BIG GAME 



books as that best of Indian sporting novels, ' The 

 Old Forest Ranger,' or the diaries of General Douglas 

 Hamilton and his brother ' Hawkeye,' is now added 

 the mountain -shooting of thur, ibex, and all the 

 varieties of wild goats and wild sheep. But the ' old- 

 fashioned ' animals still abound. A writer in Country 

 Life, describing big-game shooting in Berar, states that 

 in one district there were such numbers of cheetul 

 deer, wild hog, and other game, that the tigers, which 

 also abounded, would scarcely condescend to kill a 

 bullock when tied up for their especial benefit. Bears 

 are also numerous wherever there are hills ; so are the 

 great bison in half a dozen of the great forest districts, 

 and sambur, swamp-deer, leopards, buffalo, ibex, and 

 nilgai in suitable country. 



The ambition of the modern big-game hunter is to 

 return with a mixed set of trophies, not a series of the 

 same kind. Consequently he is not content with a 

 whole season's * still hunting ' in the Canadian forest, 

 when the first light snow has fallen, and moose and 

 cariboo can be followed with surroundings and equip- 

 ment unchanged since the days of Montcalm, because 

 he can only get moose and cariboo, or black -tailed deer 

 or mule-deer. The climate and surroundings are almost 

 perfect ; and he can have this sport mixed with canoe- 

 ing, rough fishing, and plenty of small-game shooting 

 when he likes. But what he desires is, if in North 



