Caccabis Chakor 101 



tant on the opposite bank. Then a bird comes 

 stealing like a shadow round the rocks on a 

 level with his head. He misjudges the pace. 

 The chakor is past like a flash, is missed with 

 the right barrel, but knocked over behind the 

 line with the left. Each bird that is put up 

 is signalled by the beaters by loud cries of 

 " Hai-e-e-e ! " which are taken up by the stops 

 and mingle with the roar of dislodged stones. 

 And when this cry comes down wind even the 

 spaniel, already shivering with excitement, can 

 scarce restrain a whimper, for he knows its mean- 

 ing as well as anybody. As the birds cross below 

 the stops, the latter wave their garments round 

 their heads as well as shout, as no one but hillmen 

 can, in order to keep the birds down ; and run- 

 ning this gauntlet of fearful sights and sounds, 

 what wonder that the driven birds waste no time 

 on the road towards supposed safety among the 

 cliffs ! And now for a minute he can scarcely 

 load and fire fast enough. Some birds shoot 

 across the sky at all heights ; some straight at 

 his head with motionless wings outstretched, only 

 balancing from side to side. Some glide close 

 to the ground along the hillside below him, but 

 all are travelling at the pace which makes a driven 

 chakor perhaps the hardest bird to kill that flies. 

 And in saying this I am not merely doing so 



