8 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



in the grass, unseen by the sambur, and then a 

 peacock, from the top of a sal-tree in the vicinity, 

 began calling. It was a most unmistakable 

 warning ; and the little sambur at once began 

 looking in every direction for danger. They 

 failed, however, to detect us, and after a time 

 they moved on; but the playfulness was gone, 

 and they were evidently serious and frightened. 

 We also got up and went on, and almost imme- 

 diately saw a red dog. I sat down in the grass ; 

 and, as I did so, a fine dog joined the other, 

 which appeared to be a bitch. They soon caught 

 sight of me, and, while the bitch walked to the 

 rear, the dog came towards me, bounding over 

 the grass. When he was about 40 yards from me 

 he saw his mistake, and with a startled growl 

 he turned and bolted. The bitch was standing, 

 and I fired at her through the grass, but missed. 

 I have, on two or three occasions, tried to shoot 

 an animal through grass, but invariably without 

 success. Either the stems of the grass deflect 

 the bullet, or they obscure the aim. It was 

 apparently against the dogs that the peacock was 

 warning the sambur. Peafowl and the barking 

 deer are the watchdogs of the jungle. 



The only additions which I made in China to 

 my collection of Asiatic trophies are a good 

 Siberian roe-deer and the two Ovis Ammon 

 heads shown in the illustrations, which were 

 shot in the hills fringing the Mongolian Plateau. 

 I shot the Ovis Ammon by fair walking and 

 stalking at the age of sixty-three, after two 

 unsuccessful expeditions, and was not a little 

 proud of the achievement. 



