144 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. S3, 1896. 
The climate of Central India is rather hotter than [that 
of Northern India, but still there is a very fine pleaBant 
winter seaaon from November to March. Owing to the 
rocky nature of the land the forests dry up after the rainy 
seaaon more quickly than the denser northern forest under 
the Himalayas, and they can be entered by December 
without any fear of jungle fever. 
Southern India resembles the central portion in its gen- 
eral character, and the same kinds of game are found 
there. It has a milder and more equable ch'mate, owing 
to the proximity of the sea on either hand as the penin- 
sula tapers off. The best sporting regions in Southern 
India are the hill ranges of the Neilgherries and the 
wooded hills above the west coast. These enjoy a perfect 
climate and contain abundance of game in their slopes. 
Indian Fishing. 
A word naay be said about Indian fishing. The cele- 
brated mahseer is a species of carp running up to SOlbs, or 
more in weight, a very handsome large-scaled fish. He 
inhabits rushing rivers, and the fishing in all respects re- 
sembles salmon fishing, "but more so." The mahseer has 
great power in the water and makes a tremendous fight 
for it. In the greater rivers, where he attains his full 
size, and his struggles are aided by a deep, swift and 
wide current, it is necessary to use a very powerful sal- 
mon rod with SOOyds. of the strongest line, and it is often 
a hard job to check his rush before he runs out all the 
line. Then comes a long and severe piece of playing; 
inch by inch and foot by foot he has to be reeled in, and 
then off he goes with another rush, taking nearly as 
much line out as at first. This work is enough to tire the 
arms. Two or three hours are sometimes taken up before 
a big mahseer succumbs, and I know of one case where 
the angler's interview with his fish was prolonged for 
over eight hours, and he had to send to camp for his sup- 
per and a lantern before he could come to conclusions. 
Every Indian river, except the sluggish sandy ones 
flowing through the great northern plains, holds mahseer 
in abundance, so that fishing can nearly always be had as 
well as shooting. 
An Expedition to India. 
A sporting expedition to India for one winter season or 
for a whole year, including a summer in the Himalayan 
Mountains, could be arranged and carried out without 
much difficulty, even without being led by some one ex- 
perienced in Indian field sports and in the languages and 
manners and customs of the country. There must be 
many who would like to see something of the sport as well 
as of the people and the ancient cities and temples and 
other wonders of India, which the regular winter tourist 
goes to see, I inquired from Forest and Stream some 
years ago and was informed that several sporting expedi- 
tions to India had been projected, but had fallen through. 
I was then thinking of organizing and leading a party, 
but I think I can show how a small party of four or six 
could get along very weU by themselves. 
The first thing to do on landing in Bombay or Calcutta 
would be to hire the services of a respectable English- 
speaking native, who would accompany the party through- 
out, act as interpreter and boss the servants. A suitable 
man ought to be obtained easily enough (perhaps through 
Cook & Co.'s agency). Also some servants' would be en- 
gaged who had a little smattering of English. It would be 
as well to have one of these to each member of the party. 
He would be your personal attendant and could be around 
with you at all times. Thus the party could go into the 
country and get along very well. A great many of the 
British army officers, whose duties do not make it neces- 
sary for them to study the language, have a very slight 
knowledge of it, and yet with the aid of a servant who 
knows a little broken English they go out on shooting 
trips and get along all right. 
Being provided then with a respectable English-speak- 
ing interpreter and a few servants as above said, the 
party would go by rail to some outfitting point in the in- 
terior and there fit out and make a start into camp. 
In such a large country of course hundreds of different 
tours might be marked out, but by way of a sample I will 
describe one tour which would prove satisfactory and 
would take in a great variety of Indian country and 
game. 
Landing in Bombay at the end of September, go by rail 
to Jubbulpore, a large station in Central India, and there 
fit out. (AH the places I shall mention will be found in 
any atlas.) 
It will be in order here to explain that the whole of 
British India is divided up into "districts" averaging say 
eighty miles by forty in size, and each district has a head- 
quarters "station." Some of these are only "civil sta- 
tions," the residence of the group of officials who manage 
the district. At the smaller stations there is always a 
"Europe shop" or two where canned provisions, liquors, 
powder and shot, etc., can be got. Thus in marching 
about the country supplies of this kind can be renewed 
pretty frequently. The larger stations, such as Jubbul- 
pore, are also military centers, and the shops contain a 
considerable variety of goods. At this place tents are 
also made, and it is therefore a good outfitting point. 
The outfit to be bought would be somewhat as follows. I 
win suppose a party of four. 
Rupees. 
Four ponies at 75 rupees , 300 
Four saddles and bridles at 30 rupees , .130 
One light driving rig with harness s*i, . 200 
Two sleeping tents at 40 rupees 80 
One general tent 50 
One kitchen tent. SO 
Camp ilurnlture, cooking utensils, bedding, enameled plates and 
dishes, etc., etc., say .150 
Total 930 
Or, say 1,000 rupees. At present rates of exchange this 
would equal about |350. And supposing that the whole 
was sold off at only half price (though you would prob- 
ably do better), at the end of the trip the loss would be 
$175, which is not much divided by four. 
Then the following servants would be enlisted: one cook 
and an assistant, two table servants, four grooms, two grass 
cutters, a couple of "coolies" as helps in pitching tents 
and tending camp, and a couple of "shikarees" or native 
hunters, a water man, a washer man and a sweeper. 
These with your four personal servants make up twenty- 
one men, which of course in this country seems an 
absurdly large number, but they are necessary in India, 
and their jiay is a mere trifle. The lower servants, such as 
grass cutters and coolies, would get only 6 rupees (equal to 
about $2) a month and find themselves. The upper serv- 
ants and cook would get some 10 or 12 rupees (say $4) a 
month. I have put these rates higher than the wages 
ordinarily paid by residents, because servants hired for a 
camp and having to leave their homes and go into the 
jungles expect a little more. The above rates are very 
liberal and would insure content and keep the men with 
you. At an average of say 9 rupees, the twenty-one serv- 
ants would cost you about $63 a month. Your respectable 
English-speaking head man might expect 20 or even 80 
rupees a month, and it would be worth while to pay him 
well, say 30 rupees (equal to $10) a month. 
For the conveyance of the oamp two bullock carts 
would be hired at about 15 rupees a month each, 30 
rupees, or $10 a month. 
The cost of living may be put at 2 rupees a day per 
head, equals 8 rupees, or say $3 a day, for the party of 
four, and this is a very liberal estimate. 
The commissariat arrangements are as follows: ordi- 
nary provisions, such as flour, rice, fowls, eggs and milk, 
can be bought all over the country in the larger villages 
and markets, which would never be far out of reach of 
the camp; also a few common kinds of native vegetables. 
The better class of garden vegetables and potatoes can 
only be had at the English stations, as well as canned 
provisions and liquors. 
The above calculation shows that running expenses 
would be about 360 ruppes or $120 a month — only $1 a day 
per head. In addition to this there would be some little 
expense in hiring villagers occasionally as beaters or to 
carry in game, etc. , but since a villager thinks himself 
well paid with about 10 cents for a day's work, this can- 
not come to much. Even a big "drive" as before de- 
scribed, using 100 men, will only cost $10 and that would 
only be an occasional occurrence. If you put down $50 
each per month as all the expenses you will be a long 
way on the safe ride. 
Having fitted out at Jubbulpore and laid in enough 
canned provisions, liquors, etc., a route would be laid out 
of 200 miles northward along the "Great Deccan Road." 
This is one of the great metaled highways of the country, 
formerly constantly traveled by stages, carriages, etc., 
but now thrown out of use by the railway. It runs 
through a gqod sample of Central Indian country partly 
cleared, partly wooded, and almost every variety of Cen- 
tral Indian game will be found along it (except biaon). 
This route of 200 miles would be only twenty 
short marches, but the progress along it could 
easily be made to cover say three months, Oc- 
tober, November and December, by halting for a 
week or two at good places and by occasionally branch- 
ing off. Every two or three weeks while making a halt 
the light driving rig would be sent back to Jubbulpore to 
get your mail and a fresh supply of canned and bottled 
goods, until the distance became too great, when you 
would find some other center nearer. A very large map 
of India would be used, showing aU the districts and 
stations, post offices, etc. One hundred miles would 
bring you to the native city of Rewah, and a march or 
two beyond that the great river Sone is found to be near 
the road running in a deep-forested valley full of game. 
There ia probably no cart road down into this valley. In 
such cases leaving carts and heavy goods behind and 
hiring a gang of villagers to carry a light camp, you 
would penetrate a day's march into the Sone valley, 
camp by the river for a week or so and then return to 
the main road. 
The end of this 200-mile route brings you to the large 
station of Mlrzapore, on the river Ganges, and you have 
now passed out of the Central Indian country and reached 
the great northern plain. 
It would be weU here to take the rail for Bareilly, and 
from thnt station lav out a route of 150 miles to the sacred 
city of Hurdwar. The march should be along the Grand 
Trunk road, and by branching off and making halts two 
months could well be spent. Here you have a good 
sample of the sport to be had on the northern plains. 
Hurdwar stands at the foot of the Himalayan outer 
ranges or foothills, and here the river Ganges issues from 
the hills and affords the very finest of mahseer fishing. 
Beyond Hurdwar and behind the foothills lies the cele- 
brated valley of Dehra Doon, about fifteen miles wide, 
thickly wooded and affording an excellent sample of the 
sub-Himalayan forest. The month of March and part of 
April could be spent here to great advantage. When 
April is fairly in the weather gets pretty warm and the 
visitors will be ready to make their retreat. If it is in- 
tended to spend the summer in the mountains the party 
should ascend to the neighboring hill station of Mussoorie 
and there arrange for marching in the Himalayas, or 
ihey will take the rail for Bombay or Calcutta. 
Such is an outline of how an Indian sporting tour could 
be conducted, and I do not think that any serious diffi- 
culty would be experienced. I shall be happy to give 
further details to any one who may contemplate the trip 
and who may require to know about some points which I 
may have omitted to mention. Of course all information 
as to how to get from America to Bombay or Calcutta can 
he found out from any travelers' agency such as Cook & 
Co. 
At Bombay and Calcutta there are firms of general 
agents who are also bankers, and will do anything for you, 
such as forwarding your mails, etc. I can especially 
mention the firm of King & Co. at both of these ports. 
The traveler should have his mails sent to their care and 
redirected by them as he moves about, and he should de- 
posit his funds with them and have them send him drafts 
from time to time, which can be cashed at the up-country 
banks or at the Government treasury at stations where 
there is no bank, thus avoiding carrying about too much 
cash at one time. 
A Winchester rifle of the more powerful models, such 
as the Winchester express .45 or .50 gauge, would answer 
quite well for all Indian sport except the three heavy 
beasts, rhinoceros, buffalo and bison, which require a 
heavy, large bore. But the visitor would have little 
chance of seeing buffalo or rhino, which can only be 
got at on elephants. Bison may be shot with an express if 
the bullet is well placed in the head or neck, but there is 
much chanod of only wounding and losing. 
Winchester ammunition is not generally on sale in 
India, so a good supply should be taken along. 
An ordinary 12-bore is the best gun. It is an advantage 
to have it hard hitting and long ranging, as a large pro- 
portion of the shooting is at wildfowl, geeae, cranes, sand 
grouse, etc. A pea rifle is also very handy for shooting 
bustard, pea fowl, cranes, otters, etc. 
The dress for camping in India is much the same as one 
would wear in the Southern States of this country. 
Major G. M. Bellasis, 
Bengal Staff Corps (retired). 
Younq's Point, Ontario, Can. 
RATTLESNAKE AND HORSE. 
On Sunday, Aug. 9, Noel E, Money was riding on 
horseback in the Ramapo Mountains back of his home, 
Oakland, N. J, While on his way down one of the roads 
that thread these mountains, he happened to look upon 
the ground directly beneath his horse and saw a rattle- 
snake stretched out across the road immediately beneath 
him. He dug his heels into his horse's sides, the animal 
responding by a quick leap forward, landing horse and 
rider in some pretty rocky country. Looking back at the 
snake, Mr. Money saw that it had not moved, but was 
still stretched out in a straight line across the road. This 
made him think that some one had killed the snake g,nd 
placed it there; wanting to examine it more closely, he 
dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and went back to look 
at the snake. 
When within a few feet of it he saw a short, quick move- 
ment of its head as it turned toward him. This showed 
that it was alive, and he made haste to get a stick with 
which to kill it. On approaching it again, this time with 
a stick, he poked the stick at it, whereupon the snake 
struck at the stick, the extreme length of the "strike" 
being apparently about 6in. The reptile did not coil nor 
rattle until thoroughly aroused by being teased with the 
stick. Killing the snake, Mr. Money cut off the rattles, 
which were incomplete, a certain number of them, to- 
gether with the button, being missing. The portion he 
secured showed eight rattles. 
Mr. Money heard another snake rattling somewhere 
close by (or fancied that he did so) and searched for it. 
Returning to his horse after an absence of about ten min- 
utes, he found it with a badly swollen off-hind fetlock, 
and at once surmised that the injury was due to a sprain 
as a result of the leap onto the rocky road. On his arriv- 
al home, three-quarters of an hour later, he accordingly 
put hot fomentations on the injured limb to reduce the 
swelling. It was not until the poison had begun to work 
in its system, and an examination had been instituted, 
that it was discovered that the animal had been bitten by 
the snake in the off-hind fetlock. Everything was done 
for the horse, a skilled veterinary surgeon being called, 
while Mr. Money informed me on Saturday, Aug. 15, six 
days after the occurrence, that he was afraid he would 
find the horse dead on his return home, as it was in a 
very bad way when he left Oakland that morning. 
Several times the horse had showed great improve- 
ment, eating and drinking well. The latter part of the 
week, however, the poison seemed to have reached the 
head, producing a sort of blind staggers. These became 
so violent on Saturday, and there being apparently no 
chance of saving the animal's life, its sufferings were 
ended by a bullet from a .38caliber Colt in the hand of 
Capt. Money. 
There are some curious features about this occurrence. 
In the first place it is a popular belief that a rattlesnake 
cannot strike unless previously coiled, but Mr. Money's 
statement shows plainly that the snake did strike at a 
stick, the length of the strike being about 6in., and that, 
too, while the snake was stretched out perfectly straight. 
It is also generally supposed that a rattlesnake will 
always give warning when it can that it is going to do 
mischief, yet this one gave no such warning when it 
struck at the stick, it only coiled and rattled when thor- 
oughly aroused by being teased with the stick. The fact 
that the horse was bitten in the fetlock of one of its hind- 
legs is pretty conclusive proof that the blow was admin- 
istered while the horse was jumping over it. 
Mr. E. Hough, of Chicago, and myself had an experi- 
ence with a good-sized old rattler in the Alleghany Moun- 
tains about Aug. 28 or 29, 1894. Mr. Hough graphically 
described our encounter in a later issue of Forest and 
Stream; he also told what fun Dick, the pet coon at the 
Wopsononock Hotel, near Altoona, Pa., had with the 
body of the snake when presented with it. As I remember 
it, this snake rattled before we got within 15yds. of him. 
He was not coiled, but waa slowly retreating over some 
rocfes at the side of the road at the time. We used rocks 
on him and he struck at the first one, which, badly aimed, 
fell close to him. The second rock bit him fairly, and 
then he tried to coil, but could not do so owing to his 
backbone being shattered. 
The point of similarity between Mr. Money's snake and 
ours is that both struck when stretched out; the difference 
was that ours rattled long before we either saw it or got 
near it, while Mr. Money's did not rattle at all until it had 
done the mischief. Edward Banks. 
HOW BIRDS AFFECT THE FARM AND 
GARDEN. 
BY FLORENCE A. MEERIAM. 
[Concluded from page ISU.'] 
Hawks and Owls. 
In speaking of the injustice which has been done to 
many of the best friends of the farm and garden. Dr. 
Fisher says: "The birds of prey, the majority of which 
labor night and day to destroy the enemies of the hus- 
bandmen, are persecuted unceasingly." There are only 
three common inland hawks in the United States that do 
harm, and when this is understood it becomes most im- 
portant that they should be distinguished from those 
whose services are of value in order that the beneficial 
ones may not be killed by mistake. They are the 
goshawk. Cooper's hawk, and sharp-shinned hawk. Of 
these, fortunately, the goshawk is rare in the United 
States except in winter. Cooper's hawk, or the chicken 
hawk, is the most destructive, especially to doves; and the 
sharp-shinned hawk is very destructive to small liirds, 96 
per cent, of its stomach contents consisting of birds. But 
about two-thirds of the birds of prey in the United States 
are mainly beneficial. 
Marsh Hawk. 
The marsh hawk is one of the most valuable of thenum- 
