SG INDIAN DUCKS. 



on a sand chiir, al)Out fifty yards from the bank of the river, ^vhich was 

 about 200 yards wide. I dropped down the river ah)n_ii- the bank furthest 

 from the <ieese, and then, when below them, worked across the river and 

 got out the same side as the geese. Hiding at once in the rank grass on 

 the bank, I sent the boat back to within a couple of hundred yards of the 

 geese, and when I saw that their attention was fully taken u[» Avitli it, 

 managed to stalk to the edge of the water nearest where they were. 

 Armed with wire cartridges (No. 2 shot), I thought I could do some 

 execution on the flock as they sat on the bank, but after I fired at them 

 only two remained as the rest flew off. The flock, however, seemed to 

 consider that the boat was the aggressor, and sweeping round flew within 

 twenty yards of me, and I knocked over three with my second Ijarrel. 

 Of these three, one was snapped up as soon as it touched the water by a 

 crocodile, and the same fate ha})pened to the second before we got to it, 

 whilst the third flew away again without offering another chance. 



In the daytime, according to Hume, Tickell, and nearly all other 

 observers, as w^ell as my own observations, geese, of all kinds nearly, rest 

 during the day on land near the edge of the water ; they seem to prefer 

 bare sandy churs, especially wdien these are surrounded by water, but 

 failing such they rest on the banks. A few birds always seem to be 

 posted as sentries, and they keep a Avonderfully keen look-out and are 

 very hard to approach wdthin reasonable distance. Mr. Theo})ald says 

 that in Ooimbatore, during the daytime, " they keep floating idly in the 

 centre of some tank or river." 



In Bengal, at all events, where the rivers are deep and " mugg(n"s " 

 plentiful, I fancy that flighting at night offers the best chances of a bag. 

 Where they are to be found in weedy lagoons, they can, of course, often be 

 approached by dug-outs, with a small screen in the fi'ont of the boat 

 composed of green Ijranches or reeds, but when the water is o})en, and 

 there is no natural cover, the birds are much too wily to be imposed on by 

 the -screen. Of course, if one goes in for shooting them as they fly 

 overhead to and from their feeding-grounds, one cannot expect to obtain 

 large bags, except with unusual luck. Mr. Reid, in ' Game-Birds,' 

 narrates how he has got as many as thirty birds between sunset and 

 7.30 P.M., but, as a rule, less than half of this would be considered a good 

 bag. Of course, the charm of variety is added to the enjoyment of the 

 shoot, for in flighting almost any kind of duck may turn up and join the 

 pame-bao". 



Hume^s apjx'al to Indian sportsmen to try Prjevalski's plan of lying 



