88 THE SHIKARI 



This helps to pass away the tedium of long days of 

 travel and makes welcome additions to the daily 

 menu. 



Cultivated lands yield many species, and in these is 

 the best place to find some of the varieties of francolin 

 and tinamou, the innumerable doves and pigeons, and 

 last but not least, the toothsome guinea-fowl. This last 

 has a bad habit of recovering after being shot, and one 

 native made a practice of always chopping off their 

 heads however dead they appeared ; and the many 

 occasions on which birds have suddenly flown clean 

 away seemed certainly to demand some drastic 

 remedy. 



Sand-grouse can be found in the day many miles 

 from water, but are usually much scattered. The time 

 to get them is when they come to drink in the afternoon 

 and evening ; then they come in their thousands, and can 

 either be taken on the wing or, if cartridges are scarce, 

 they can be taken on the ground and as many as a 

 dozen or more killed at one shot. 



Two of us at a small waterhole in the Karoo shot 

 sixty-four brace in less than an hour, and this was 

 taking them on the wing, though more than one was 

 sometimes killed at a barrel. 



To make a bag of partridges, francolins, or tinamou 

 successfully a good dog is necessary, and any old 

 mongrel with a good nose and that can be kept in 

 check will do. 



The author's best dog was a very cross-bred collie. 



