MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 117 



herd but ttey were among tlie bushes, and only offered snap shots which 

 failed to do any execution. Coming home, or, more properly speaking, to the 

 boat, for We made it our camp, we Saw four magnificent ducks in one of the 

 lagoons about 80 yards from the shore. They were a verj- rare kind, called in 

 Tamil " chemboo-tara" (copper duck), as large as a Brent goose, and of a 

 golden colour ; hence the name. I tried to get near them, but they kept on 

 rising just Out of Shot and pitching a little further on, until at last I resolved 

 to try a shot with the rifle at them. The bullet appeared to pitch within an inch 

 of them, but clearly did no damage, for they got up and flew out of sight, to 

 my great disappointment. In the evening I again found deer, and bagged a 

 doe, and had good sport with golden ploVer and whiuibrel along the eshores 

 of the lagoons. 



Next day (Jan. 4) I persuaded a lot of the Singalese fishermen to come and 

 drive the juUgle for me, and they willingly complied, and proved capital 

 beaters. It Was not at all easy shooting, for the bushes were vei'y thick, and 

 the deef nearly always avoided Crossing what open spaces there AVere. The 

 first chance I had was at a grand buck, who galloped past me within 40 yards, 

 and I managed to miss him carefully with both barrels, but in the next two 

 " drives I was lucky, and bagged a buck and a doe. We were having the last 

 drive of the morning, and a magnificent buck, with a grand head, bfoke cover 

 some oO yards from me and presented a side shot. I distinctly heard the bullet 

 Btrike, and saw the deei" stagger, but he galloped on through a mangrove swamp, 

 and out on to the mud bordering the lagoon. He was going weakly, and I 

 ran after him a8 fast as I could, but it Was very bad going, first in the loose 

 Band and then in the mud, and he got a long way from me. He held on 

 through the mud, and then took to the water to swim across the lagoon, which 

 Was about 150 yards wide% He presented a fine picture, boldly striking out, 

 and every now and then turning his grand, antlered head, as if to look back 

 at his enemies. He Was evidently making for some thick covert on the 

 opposite shore. I could not get Very far out on the mud, but fired three shots 

 at him from where I was. It Was a long range, and I Was shaking from my 

 tun, and, of course, missed him. By good luck, however, there were two 

 or three fishermen on the opposite side, and they saw the buck swimming, 

 and one of them waded out into the shallows, and got up to the deer who was 

 nearly exhausted by his wound and long swim, and killed him with an oar. 

 He Was afterwards brought oVer to me, and I found that my bullet had 

 struck him behind the shoulder but too low do\Vn. It Was satisfactory that he 

 gliould be brought to bag, rather than die a lingering death in the jungle. 

 This made our third deer— two bucks and a doe — and we considered that we 

 had had a good morning's sport. 



In the afternoon we beat for partridges. I had no dogs — they w«uld not 

 have been of much use there, and would probably have been knocked up by 

 the sun, the heat being intense — but employed three of my boatmen to beat 



