232 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



Misses were very few and far between, however, for, as 

 before stated, my companions shot brilhantly, and to tell 

 the honest truth I was not altogether sorry at having 

 left my old 12-bore behind. Good enough fellows though 

 my friends were, they had an unhappy knack of " chip- 

 ping " a man whenever he "muffed" a shot, and more 

 especially was this the case if that man happened to 

 be a rooinek. Between eighteen and twenty brace of 

 francolin, together with several hares and a couple of 

 thick-knees, were shot before a halt was called for tiffin. 

 Later in the day the kite was flown over several small 

 and shallow pans of water, and although the wildfowl 

 did not appear to pay quite so much heed to the kite 

 as did the greywings, they sat sufficiently close in the 

 reed-covert to allow a very fair bag of duck, pink-billed 

 teal and coot to be made by the guns who waded in 

 line through the shallow water. 



The foregoing brief description of shooting under a 

 hawk-kite is chiefly given to illustrate the fact that an 

 artificial falcon may be occasionally flown on the veld 

 with good effect over birds that have become wild and 

 difficult to approach from being constantly shot at or 

 otherwise disturbed. We emphasise the word " occasion- 

 ally " advisedl}^ for the constant flj'ing use of a hawk- 

 kite over the same ground will very soon drive the game 

 therein to seek a fresh habitat. In any case shooting 

 under a kite cannot by any stretch of imagination be 

 termed a high form of sport, and where it is possible to 

 obtain sport by the more orthodox methods of shooting 

 over dogs, walking up, or driving, the hawk-kite should 

 not be brought into use. 



