CHAPTER XVII. 



Wild-fowl shooting Wild-fowl very abundant in certain Localities 

 The Chilka Lake in Pooree Boats and Canoes suitable for Duck- 

 shooting Shooting by Moonlight Shooting on Foot A fine 

 Forest Country without Game Crocodiles The " Garial "The 

 great "Jheels" of the Fareedpoor District A miserable Com- 

 munity Good Sport. 



THIRTY years ago wild fowl of all kinds were as plentiful in 

 Bengal during the cold season as snipe are still, but they are 

 now found in considerable numbers only at the mouths of 

 great rivers, and in remote lagoons and backwaters, where 

 they feed in comparative peace, rarely disturbed by European 

 sportsmen or native pot-hunters. 



During the day, between nine or ten in the morning and 

 four in the afternoon, ducks and teal may be seen drifting 

 calmly with the current of the great inland streams, just 

 keeping clear of the course of passing boats and steamers ; 

 while enormous flocks of geese and ruddy sheldrakes cover 

 the lowest sand-banks, and, in company with pelicans, in 

 hundreds pass in security the hottest hours of the day, 

 uttering now and then a low quack of warning on the 

 approach of a fisherman's canoe or other river-craft ; but, as- 

 four in the afternoon draws near, they rouse up with a lazy 

 flap or two of their strong wings, and with much noise and 

 outcry, wend their way in great companies to their feeding- 

 grounds ; the geese and sheldrakes to fields from which the 

 rice-crops have been recently removed, and the rest to inland 

 lakes and lagoons, or to shallow backwaters of great rivers. 



There are still places in the country where wild-fowl 



x2 



