.TULV 1 1898.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTrRKT. 
61 
these stimulants— the brisk ride to the scene of 
action whicli was reached near aliout dawn. 
Very lilcely at tliis lime of year (January) tlie 
fields are enveloped in mist, making it difficult 
to see to shoot at a gveater distance than thin y 
yards, and iinpos.'^ible to follow the flight of a 
wounded bird to see where he falls. But after a 
little the sun gains power, and, with the depart- 
ing mists, all the beauty of the tropical morn- 
ing begins. The crops of grain and the surrounding 
jungles look so fresh and cool, and bird life is 
present everywhere. The fields are alive with 
cranes, kingfishers, mangobirds, and doves of 
different sorts — the little grey dove and the 
beautiful bronzewing being the most common. 
But far more attractive to the sportsman's eye 
are the snipCj which, with their exciting skeep, 
skeep, ' are rising and pitching again in ail 
directions. 
There is no duub* that Ceylon snipe are, as 
a rule, easier to hit than English ones ; but in 
the early mornings in the mudfields, where there 
is very little cover, they rise w ild and go away with 
a dash equal to anything ever seen with the 
home birds. As the morning advances and the 
sun gets hotter, they become lazier and seek 
cover, anil the great thincr is to get them into 
young paddy not more than 2ft. high. The paddy- 
ceds are divided by small ridges or bunds ; and 
you have to walk along these, and often get 
a most precarious foothold which, of course, 
handicaps you heavily, but otherwise the shoot- 
ing is perfect. The birds lie well, and fly, albeit 
swiftly, steadily — their brown forms showing 
grandly against the green background of paddy ; 
and, granted decent walking ground, you ought 
then to make the heaviest part of your bag. 
Generally, at the end of a range of fields, there is 
a more or less large bit of untilled ground called 
a deniya. This kind of place often abounds in 
little pools fringed with highfiags and rushes, 
and is veiy treacherous walking (it is quite easy 
to sink in up to your middle if notcaieful), but 
it is splendid holding ground for snipe, and must 
somehow or other be thoroughly sliot out. If it 
cannot be all walked, the plan is to drive it ; 
and tills, to my mind, is the prettiest foim of 
snipe shooting, and the one at which the best 
bags are often obtained. 
There is no ditliculty about getting beaters ; 
one is pestered by Sinhalese boys following to 
see the spoit from the moment shooting begins 
(that is to say, in populous parts ; it dees not 
apply to wild parts of Ceylon, wheie you are 
quite undisturbed), and they are only too glad 
to be allowed to flounder about in ilie swamp 
and scare up the birds. It can be generally as- 
certained in which direction tlie snipe mostly 
break away, and posting yourself well forward, 
they give most beautiful sliots of eveiy variety, 
though chiefly n.cketers ; anil to .'-ee their little 
twinkling wings CL'llapse and the bird.s come down 
dead from higli o\ er head is very sati.sfaotory. 
In the course of a day's siiooting one often 
conies across paiiilfd snipe ; beautifully plnmaged 
biids without doubt, and attractive to novices, 
but expeiienccd snijie-thooters vote tliem worth- 
less, as iia\ ing no good qualities to recomir.cnd 
them either for sporting or gastronomic j)ur- 
poses. 
Jack snipe are so rare that they may be said 
to be inactically unknown in Ceylon. It haj)- 
pened, liowever, to a fiienl and niyfelf to 
shoot three one morning niiuiy years ago on 
tlie lake shore at Jafllna, ilie extreme north 
of the island, They were veiitable jacks, 
and we were very much surprized, as neither of 
us had, in our experience of the colony, ever come 
across one before. Two of the birds were stuffed 
and sent to Capt. Legee, li.A., the weli-knovn or- 
nithologist, who has referred to them in his uork 
on the birds of Ceylon. Cuiiousily enough, some 
years after this, I heard of another jack being 
shot inexactly the same place; bat, ti> the best 
of my belief, no 0. her has been met with in any 
part of Ce.ylon. 
The bags of snipe in Ceylon are not equal lo those 
made in India. An account of some liea\ y liags 
of snipe near Calcutta was given in the t ulcl in 
the early part of 1897 — one shooter had since the 
beginning ot the year several times exceeded 100 
couple to his own gun. This is far greater than 
anything in Ceylon. The largest bag, to my know- 
ledge, as made sonip twenty-five years ago for a 
bet, and 110 couple were bagged by one gun. lic- 
ferees were appointed to see that all was fair, and 
the bet was paid, so there can be no doubt that 
this bag was actually made ; but it stands alone, 
and cannot be taken as a fair example of Ceylon 
snipe sport. Fifty couple have often been bagged, 
and this is a giand bag for one gun. Anytl.ing 
overtweiity couple may, nowadays, when guns 
and shooters are yearly increasing in numbers, be 
considered an excellent day's sport. — Court Journal. 
[Capt. Walker, the veteran member of the 
Forest Department, considers Mr. Eice's 103 brace 
shot on the favourite ground in the Triucomalee 
district to be the largest bag ever made in Cey- 
lon ; but then several guns were used by him. To 
make 40 to 50 brace, with only one gun, and that a 
muzzle-loader as Capt. Walker has done, ought 
to be considered very good. Next to the Trin- 
coinalee resort, the neighbourhood of Horobore- 
wewa tank in Uva used to have the greatest 
reputation for big bags among Ceylon snipe 
.shooters.] 
^ 
CEYLON, INDIA AND RUSSIA. 
For some unexplained reason, or perhaps ior no 
good reason at all, mercantile enterprise in India 
lias greatly neglected the very prom sing market 
for Indian produce which seems to exist at 
Odissa. Such goods as tea, cofiee, jute are quick 
to make their way in new markets if properly 
pushed, but though the more alert merchants of 
Ceylon export large quantities of tea to the Black 
Sea, Indian tea exporters have so far left this 
market unexploited. Freights for Indian produce 
by the Volunteer Fleet stean;ers, A\lich run to 
tidessa from the Far East, rule very low, and 
the shipowners, we are told, are keen to do 
more business. Volunteer Fleet steamers call at 
Colombo regularly, and at ordinary times— that is 
to say when there is no plague in India to laise 
quarantine difliculties— at Coconada also. It cer- 
tainly seems a pity to see steamers which are 
capable of cariyiiig thousands of tons of Indian 
{.oods to Russia, sail to Odessa with perhaps only 
a tew hundred tons of tea or cofiee from Ceylon, 
and a little castor-oil seed from Coconaiia. There 
is a large jute factory at Odessa, and most of 
ils jute" is supplied from Iiulia, though ;i Miiall 
quHiUity of tl.o best sons is >cnt from Keslit in 
Persia. In this direction, as in many others, 
Ihcrc apviears to be an opening for fiicliaii iner- 
chaiits. Mr. J. H. Froiitniann is the largest 
de;iler at Cdessa in Ceylon and Indian teas, and 
a British subject, and lie may be addievsed by 
anyone in India desiring to make furtl er inquiries. 
— hi did n A gric idt urift. 
