22 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX 



Contrasting well with Major Wilson's account of* shooting in the 

 Khasi Hills and with ordinary cock shooting at home is the account 

 given by Tickell of cock shooting in Nepal which is quoted by 

 Hume. " Woodcock-shooting in Nepal is laborious work from the 

 steepness of the hills and the spongy nature of the ground which the 

 bird frequents. We found them on light rich mould, thickly matted 

 with grasses, ferns, and other weeds, and everywhere furrowed by 

 little rills of water trickling through the tangle, or here and there 

 stagnating in little pools or 'bog-holes' concealed under a layer of 

 vegetation, which formed tolerable pitfalls to the unwary intruder, 

 receiving him sometimes up to the hip. The jungle on these hills 

 is pretty thick, but not lofty, consisting mostly of briars and thicket ; 

 and it would have been impossible to get a fair shot within it, were 

 it not that some of the largest rills (perhaps a yard broad) bordered 

 with mossy turf, formed narrow vistas through the tangle, up and 

 down which the birds when flushed would fly, giving some chance to 

 a snap shot. We had no dogs, a luxury known to very few Indian 

 sportsman, but employed beaters to find the game. I had never 

 even seen cock-shooting in England, and my first day's experience of 

 it in Nepal surprised me not a little. I was a good snipe shot in those 

 days, and, imagining from the general resemblance of the two birds 

 that a Woodcock must fly like a Snipe, I was much taken aback, 

 when hailed to ' look out,' at perceiving what appeared like a large 

 bat coming with a wavering, flagging flight along the little lane-like 

 opening in the wood where I was posted ; but in an instant, ere I had 

 made up my mind to fire^ the apparition made a dart to one side, 

 topped the bordering thicket, and seemed to fall like a stone into the 

 covert beyond. These sudden jerks and zigzags, in the midst 

 of its otherwise dilatory flight, are terribly puzzling to a novice. 

 The bird alights also in the same fashion, dropping at once down as if 

 it had flown against a wall. They were not numerous in Nepal, and 

 two couple bagged to one gun during the afternoon was considered 

 very fair sport. We found them only on the low spurs bordering the 

 open valley of Kathmandu, on its northern side — on such slopes as 

 were of the description above given, looking more like the copses and 

 hazel woods of England than the forests of India." 



Tickell's remarks on the birds flight are very good and to the 

 point. At home the bird is a strong, good flier and the curious inde- 



