SHOOTING SEASON 1 IN BENGAL. 15 



The shooting season in Bengal may be said to commence 

 about the 1st of September, by which date snipe have 

 arrived in considerable numbers from their northern breed- 

 ing grounds among the endless marshes of Siberia and the 

 highlands of Central Asia. These birds will be found in fair 

 numbers then, in wet patches of low grass and weeds, as well 

 as in the fields in which the transplanted rice is a foot or a 

 foot and a half high, and water lies an inch or two deep on 

 the soft mud. A few plover also arrive about the end of 

 September, and partridges of all kinds may be shot, though 

 poorer than they will be two months later. The heat, of 

 course, is very great, and the strength of the sun's rays 

 between showers, and when the south breeze dies away, is 

 almost overpowering. 



By the middle of October snipe are as numerous in Lower 

 Bengal as they ever will be, and lie well in the hot sun; 

 plover have come in, and may be seen in small flocks upon 

 uncultivated fields and ploughed lands ; teal appear in flights 

 working southwards, or settling here and there, but not yet 

 in considerable numbers. By the 20th of the month, the 

 .delicious cool north breeze will set in, and breathing life and 

 energy into the heat-worn, frame, will raise visions of camp- 

 life, good fellowship and fine sport. A little later, vast 

 flocks of wild geese, ducks, teal, and cranes, will wend their 

 way in wedge-like flights to the sea-coast, the green uncut 

 rice offering them no inducement to remain in the interior. 

 The weather is still hot, sometimes oppressively so, till near 

 the end of October, but after the 10th of that month the air 

 of the mornings and evenings is perceptibly cooler, while the 

 nights are cool enough to give refreshing sleep without the 

 aid of the " punkah," and the bracing north breeze induces 

 one now to seek out-door exercise on foot or horseback. 



By the middle of November, what is called the nor'-east 

 monsoon has established itself, in a Hibernian sort of way, 

 by blowing steadily from the nor '-west at least on land, 

 whatever it may do at sea or off* the sand-heads. The rains 

 have ceased, the sky is a clear blue, and the weather is settled 



