194, 
BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 
has been successfully dodged. Ihave shot bucks, at five, ten and fifteen yards 
distances, and a sportsmaa has informed me that oa one occasion he could have 
touched the animals with the muzzle of his rifle. 
CHASING THE MARKHOR, 
Mr. Liscomb describes very minutely his experiences in search of markhor, and 
he shows that the sportman must make up his mind to be frequently disap- 
pointed before meeting with his reward. Here is an account of a successful 
chase :— 
18th May.—Started after these blessed buck goats, again at 6 a.m. Went up to 
top of ridge and then along it till we came to their tracks ; and followed them down 
steadily for four hours. Going down this ridge was terrible work indeed. I 
am sure, we did not get over a milein that time. The whole distance was one 
mass of crumpled rocks with great gaps between—the rocks were knife-edges, the 
edges to the sky, the slope below at a frightful angle, for a short distance, ending 
in blank precipices further down. Mirza Khan led over this dangerous ground at a 
good pace, always some distance ahead, going over double the ground I traversed, 
carefully peeping over the precipices on cither side, and searching the hill sides 
below with the binoculars. Sharofa looked serious and did not relish the work at 
all, for Mirza Khan beat him at it out and out ; and he had to play second fiddle 
throughout. I gave in after 9 a. m., and sat down on a rock, blessing the goats 
with all my heart. I. kept my eyes on Mirza Khan all the time a good distance 
below, quartering the ground like the best of trained dogs. At last came his faint 
whistle, and it galvanized the whole of us like the shock from a battery. The 
real excitement of the chase now began. I went as best I could and reached 
Mirza Khan in no time ; he said he had sighted the flock far down the precipices ! 
He led for half a mile more and then we had the markhor under us! They were 
feeding at the foot of the cliff on a patch of young tender grass. It was impossible 
to geta shot from this point : we had to go along the ridge some distance further 
and take them in flank, though the range would be greater; came to a good place, 
a projecting rock with a stunted fir-tree growing by; it served for some covey 
though cover was not necessary. We were above the animals, and they were 
so intent on the young grass that there was no danger of detection. Got into 
position and picked out the largest pair of horns I could see; waited for some 
time, till I got a broadside shot, fired and—missed! Fired the second barrel and 
missed again! ‘Took the second rifle, and at the third shot broke a foreleg. An- 
other large markhor came into view, fired the fourth shot at him and missed! 
Took first rifle (re-loaded by Sharofa) and fired again at the wounded one, who was 
now making off, and missed again! The agony of that moment was hard to 
bear. The brute was limping off and would be round a projection and out of 
sight in ten paces more! Luckily, just at the turn, he stopped for a second to 
look back. My last shot and my last chance. Desperation made me steady, 
I put up the second sight, and with deliberate aim placed the bullet at last in the 
proper spot, behind the right shoulder, andthe markhor rolled down the slope 
some distance and lay dead. ‘The range of this shot could not have been less 
than 300 yards, Firing downwards at an angle of 30 degrees is very difficult 
a 
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