2 INTRODUCTION. 



and the introduction of the system can only be attributed to a vulgar and childish desire to 

 show a long list of slain at the end of the day, and obtain the cheap (in one sense only) 

 notoriety of the heaviest bag of the season. 



It will be observed that although " the chase " was the theme with which this article 

 commenced, shooting is now particularly alluded to ; and it may, therefore, be well to explain 

 that the word ' chase ' is here used as comprising the pursuit of wild animals in any fair and 

 legitimate way ; with horse, hound or hawk ; rifle, gun, spear or rod. 



We have no word in English that properly embraces all these, but all are expressed by 

 the Persian word ' shikar! 



Although, as already alluded to, there has been a tendency of late years to debase sport 

 in England by rendering it too artificial, and making everything subservient to the one object 

 of obtaining the heaviest possible bag in the shortest time and with the least possible trouble, 

 'shikar' has not yet degenerated in the East, and game cannot be killed in any quantities 

 without considerable personal exertion. 



Even Deerstalking in India is very different from the same sport at home, compared with 

 which it has both advantages and disadvantages : the latter are obvious enough, but among 

 the former may be reckoned the facts that it is within the reach of all at very moderate 

 expense, and that you are shooting a really wild animal. Although I am perfectly aware 

 that a Scotch stag takes very good care of himself, and is not to be approached without the 

 exercise of perhaps as much skill as is required in the pursuit of most animals, still, I cannot 

 help fancying, that after all, the knowledge that the forester knows every stag on the ground, 

 must somewhat detract from the pleasure which is experienced in circumventing an animal 

 which owes nothing to human care ; whose wanderings are controlled by no fences or other 

 arrangements for keeping him within certain bounds. 



In fact with all preserved game, one is apt to be reminded of Punch's admirable sketch 

 some years ago, of a noble owner of coverts remarking to his keeper " Dear me ! that is a 

 very small pheasant" and receiving the reply " Yes vi 'Lord ; she alius zvur a weakly bird : I 

 never thought I should ha' reared her ! " 



In India not only is the game varied, but the scenes among which it may be hunted are 

 equally so. The sportsman may track the mighty Elephant and Gaur among the splendid 

 Sub-Himalayan forests ; rouse the Rhinoceros and Buffalo from their muddy lairs in the 

 dense reeds on the banks of the Brahmaputra ; gallop his Arab at speed over the rocky soil 

 of the Deccan in hot pursuit of the grey Boar ; stalk the Ibex and Markhoor among the 

 precipices of the pine-clad mountains surrounding the Happy Valley ; invade the solitudes 

 of Thibet in hopes of adding to his trophies the massive head of the shaggy Yak or the ever- 

 watchful Ovis Hodgsonii ; or content himself by riding quietly over the cultivated plains of 

 the North-West, express rifle in hand, and bringing to bag many a graceful Black Buck and 

 Gazelle. 



I have always been an enthusiastic lover of the rifle, and have devoted comparatively 

 little time to small game shooting ; but should the sportsman prefer the shot gun to the 

 grooved barrel, there are the gorgeous Moonal, the wary Argus, (so called,) the Cheer, 



