Antlers 



To return to the stag. I stalked up to my cus- 

 tomary position, and arrived just as the first does 

 were issuing from the edge of the sal forest. This 

 first lot of hinds came out more or less together, and 

 then gradually separated as they commenced to 

 graze over the grassy plain. Nearer and nearer to 

 my position came the outposts and vedettes, and 

 I sat as silent and still as death, keeping one eye 

 on them and the other on the point in the forest 

 from which I expected the stag to emerge. 



It is little short of astonishing how close chitul 

 does will come to one if one makes no movement. 

 One morning I noticed a few chitul cross, some 

 distance ahead of me, a kutcha road running 

 through the forest. I ran lightly up the road and 

 arrived almost up to the point where the does 

 had crossed. At the side of the road, to my right, 

 was a large stone roughly marking the mile. I 

 sat down on this, laid my rifle across my knees, and 

 waited. I heard rustling in the scrub jungle, 

 which was fairly thick, in front of me and also 

 across the road. Soon a doe and a youngster 

 came out on to the road, looked round — they were 

 within fifteen yards of me — and slowly crossed 

 into the jungle. Two others followed, and then 

 came the stag. To my disappointment he was a 

 small one. I sat on, and presently the rustling in 

 front came nearer, and three does and a youngster 

 pushed their way slowly through the bushes, and 

 stood and looked at me within five yards. I kept 



E 49 



