340 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



Among my sporting books is a little one of 230 pages, 

 entitled " The Spear and the Rifle, or Recollections of Sport 

 in India, by an old Shikaree," who is identical, we may 

 presume, with the " Old Shekarry," the late Major Leveson. 

 The date of publication is omitted on the title-page and in 

 the preface of my copy, but from certain names mentioned 

 therein and other indications, it appears to relate events 

 which are supposed to have occurred between 1830 and 

 1840 or thereabouts, strung together in connected sequence ; 

 but there are grounds for the belief that it describes exploits 

 and experiences of various periods of a life of adventure, and 

 is not to be mistaken for an exact narrative of events in 

 close connection. However that may be, this little book is 

 written in a lively and entertaining style, and it is well 

 worth perusal if it can be procured. 



For authorities on natural history, the following authors 

 may be consulted, viz. : Jerdon, Sterndale (" Mammalia of 

 India"), and Hume and Marshall on the birds of India. 

 Messrs. Thaker, Spink, & Co., of Calcutta, have recently 

 (1885) published "Useful Hints to Young Shikaris on the 

 Gun and Rifle, by the Little Old Bear," a handbook which 

 can be recommended to those for whom it is designed. 



The next subject for consideration is the important one 

 of arms. Were I asked by a young sportsman coming out to 

 this country what kind of a gun he ought to buy, my reply 

 would be a double-barrel central fire 12-bore, made half 

 a pound heavier than ordinary, so as to be better adapted 

 to ball-shooting, and to charges of three and a quarter to 

 three and a half drams of powder for duck-shooting. If 

 my questioner added that he could afford a rifle too, I 

 would suggest to him a double-barrel central fire 12-bore, 

 capable of "eating," as native "shikarees" say, four and 

 a half drams of powder, and sighted up to three hundred 

 yards, though less by fifty or a hundred will suffice for 

 general purposes. With these two a man can meet on 

 favourable terms almost any animal in India, and will be 

 efficiently armed for stalking and howdah shooting anything 



