THE LESSER FLORICAN OR LIKH. 35 



impossible to shoot them in any other way than by lying down 

 behind some bush, and having them driven over me. There is 

 some little sport in shooting them thus, but as for the common 

 practice of butchering breeding birds, it is a disgrace to our 

 country, which all true sportsmen should band together to sup- 

 press. Captain Butler writes : — " For my part, I have always 

 protested against the wholesale destruction of these fine birds in 

 the breeding season, and tried very hard, when I was in Deesa, to 

 persuade sportsmen (!) to spare the hens. But it was of no use ; 

 they argued that, ' if they didn't shoot them, some one else 

 would/ and consequently the Florican were shown no mercy. 



" The usual method of shooting them is to walk them up in 

 line, when they rise usually within easy shot. They are easily 

 killed, and I have seen longer shots made at Florican than any 

 other bird 1 know. In fact they drop if you fire at them 

 at almost any possible distance (provided, of course, you 

 hold the gun straight). At times, however, after being marked 

 down, they are very difficult to find, as they commence running 

 the moment they alight, and often get 200 or 300 yards away 

 before you reach the spot where you have marked them down. 

 But for this, scarcely a bird would escape. 



" In the breeding season the cock birds, for some conjugal 

 reason, indulge in an amusement called ' jumping,' and it is 

 in this way that their whereabouts are usually discovered. 



" Shikaris go out and watch the grass preserves in the 

 early mornings from some elevated spot, and can tell almost 

 to a single bird how many Florican there are on the ground. 



"The operation of 'jumping' is as follows: About every 

 quarter of an hour, sometimes oftener, the cock birds suddenly 

 rise up out of the grass to a height of six or seven feet, utter a 

 peculiar croak, and descend into the grass again with out- 

 spread wings, making a drumming sound as they descend. 

 Unless disturbed, they always remain about the same spot, so 

 that, by sending a ' shikari' to mark them down in the early 

 morning when they are 'jumping/ you know exactly where to 

 find them in the day time. 



" About Deesa eight to nine brace in a day was, I think, the 

 largest bag that was made during the three years I was there, 

 but in Kathiawar, about Rajkot, bags of as many as eighteen 

 and twenty brace are occasionally still made in a day." 



Mr. James says : — " The ordinary way in which a single gun 

 pursues Florican is to walk through the grass, with a few beaters,, 

 listening for the cry of the bird and following it ; in this, 

 way the bird can be tracked for a considerable distance. 

 Before very long the bird will be seen jumping up above the 

 long grass, as some think to pick grasshoppers off the stems. The 

 best way then is to run as hard as possible up to the place 

 when the bird will rise. They drop very easily to shot, but when 

 once flushed are difficult to flush again. 



