322 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



fatigue, having been enticed into the quagmire by a number 

 of snipe which rose from the floating weeds. We bagged 

 only a few and lost many more which we failed" to retrieve 

 from where they fell; however after extricating ourselves 

 with no little labour we separated, C. and E. taking one direc- 

 tion and I the other, to meet again at our starting point, and 

 on coming together again after a couple of hours plodding 

 over the soft mud of the fields of green rice, we counted our 

 combined bags, and found on our sticks twenty-six couple of 

 snipe and a few golden plover. 



By this time the sun had set, and as we trudged camp- 

 wards, we heard overhead the swish, swish, of great flights of 

 pochards, pintails, and blue-winged teal, which leaving the 

 great " jheels " were making their way westward to the river. 

 Changing snipe shot for No. 2 or 3 wire cartridges, we ob- 

 tained, standing close to our tents, a few long shots each, and 

 picked up three or four ducks, others fell into the river 

 and cultivation on shore, and were lost in the increasing dusk 

 of the evening. Our success was indifferent considering the 

 great numbers of birds passing overhead, but the 12-bores 

 (not choke) were unequal to the range, and the loud rush of 

 the great flights through the air made them appear nearer 

 to us than they really were, the increasing gloom of the 

 moonless evening adding to the uncertainty of the distance. 

 Thus tens of thousands continued to pass over our camp till 

 past eight o'clock, but after six we failed to see them. 



Day broke cold and misty next morning, and I rather 

 opine that we should have liked an hour or two more under 

 the blankets than could be allowed with such a day as that 

 chalked out for us. Accordingly we had taken our coffee and 

 toast by sunrise, and shortly afterwards were Seated each in 

 his " dinghee," with guns and ammunition and a servant be- 

 hind. Two other canoes followed us, one with a " khid- 

 matgar," or table attendant, in charge of a substantial break- 

 fast and sundry other creature comforts, the other as a tender 

 to look for and pick up crippled birds. The tide being 

 favourable, we paddled rapidly up the creek for three miles ; 



