BEST MONTHS AND LOCALITIES FOR GAME. 35 



Bengal ; Champarun, Durbhunga and Sarun, in Behar ; and 

 in some parts of Pooree and Cuttack; but hares become 

 scarcer year by year, and coursing is now often restricted 

 to foxes and jackals, thanks to the absence of any close 

 season for game. 



Tiger-shooting : The regular season may be said to com- 

 mence early in March, and to end with the setting in of the 

 rains in June, the best districts being Maldah, Purneah, Bogra, 

 Dinagepoor, Mymensingh, and Julpigoree. A few tigers are 

 still to be found in Kayshye, Dana, Backergunge, Balasore, 

 Bhagulpoor, Monghyr, in the Kymon hills, in Shahabad, in the 

 jungles of the southern portion of Gya, about the foot of 

 Pareesnath, in Hazaribagh, and lastly, in great numbers in 

 the Soonderbuns ; but tiger-shooting as a sport can be fol- 

 lowed systematically with a line of elephants only in the 

 half-dozen districts first named ; in the others much will 

 depend upon chance, and good sport cannot be relied upon 

 with any certainty. 



Bear-shooting commences and ends with the will of the 

 sportsman ; bears frequenting high lands and rugged hills may 

 be sought and shot all the year round, but the best season is 

 between February and July, and the best districts are Mid- 

 napoor, Bankoora, Manbhooin, Hazaribagh, Singbhoom, and 

 Darjeeling ; there are a few bears still in Gya, Shahabad, 

 Lohaduggah, and Santhalia ; in Julpigoree too they are to be 

 met with frequently. I think they have disappeared altogether 

 from Dana, where they were common many years ago ; and 

 if any remain still in Mymensingh, they will be found only 

 in the Muddoopoor forest and its immediate vicinity. Bears 

 are fast disappearing, and can be met with in any numbers 

 only in the first five districts above named. 



Bison-shooting : The " gaur," may be found in April and 

 May in the southern parts of Lohaduggah, in Singbhoom, and 

 in the tributary mehals of Cuttack, but never in considerable 

 numbers ; they penetrate eastward as far as Manbhoom, and 

 have been shot within the memory of the present generation 

 in the western parts of Midnapoor and Bankoorah. 



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