6 i6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 17, 1908. 
a crash. The first shot had killed him, break¬ 
ing his shoulder blade and going through his 
heart. I gave a cooee to my friends and ran 
down to measure him—thirty-one inches from 
burr to tip and one ,of the best stags ever killed 
in the Kandyan Hills. 
Then I sat down, lit my pipe, and waited. 
Soon old Savarimootoo came toiling up the hill, 
and his joy was even greater than mine, for 
although he is glad when my friends have good 
luck, he prefers that his own durai (master) 
should have the pick of it, and this was quite 
a special occasion, for we both had seen this 
stag more than once before, but had always 
failed to account for him. 
He told me that “Fred Durai” had got 
a fair stag and had let a couple of does and a 
fawn pass him. He did not know what Jim 
Durai had, but thought it was not a deer at all. 
A couple of the beaters came up by this time, so 
we took off the stag’s head low down near the 
shoulder and gralloched him, taking his liver, 
heart and kidneys to have them cooked for lunch. 
Old Savarimootoo also carefully picked up my 
empty cartridge cases and we started down to 
meet the others. First we found Fred jubilant 
over a decent stag. He told me that he hit it 
with his first shot, but that it wheeled round 
and that he fired again and missed it with the 
second, but that the third shot brought it down. 
We found that his first shot had hit it too far 
back, fracturing its thigh, but that the third had 
caught it just behind the short ribs, raked it 
forward and brought it down. 
We moved on toward the place where we had 
left Jim. He told us after hearing our news 
and congratulations that he thought at first that 
he was going to open the ball, for the deer came 
straight toward him, but for some unknown 
reason turned short toward Fred. Then he had 
a long wait and he thought the deer had slipped 
through by some other track between him and 
Fred, when he had heard Fred’s shots and call, 
and a moment later he heard something coming 
down toward him. A big pig came trotting down 
the path. He fired and hit him hard and he 
had dashed off into the jungle leaving a blood 
trail. 
This we now took up and soon came on old 
piggy shot through the lungs. Another shot 
finished him and then we sat down to our lunch 
on a fairly dry spot near the stream. 
But before we started we witnessed a curious 
ceremony. Savarimootoo first lit a fire at the 
foot of a tree and then took' our rifles and 
leaned them up against the trunk behind the fire. 
Beside the rifles he placed the empty cartridge 
shells, then cut some bamboo skewers, and on 
them placed small pieces of tender liver, a piece 
for each of us, a piece for each of our guns, 
pieces for the empty shells, for himself, for 
the other coolies and even for the hounds. This 
was cooked over the fire and left for the Jungli- 
Swami," or forest god, as his share of the pro¬ 
ceeds of the hunt. The coolies then said a short 
prayer for success in future hunts and we went 
on with our lunch. 
Sandwiches, liver and kidneys broiled over the 
fire, bread and butter, cold tea and whisky and 
water made a hunter’s meal. After lunch and 
a pipe we followed the coolies who had started 
back with the game some time before, getting 
back hot, tired and contended about midday. 
A hot bath apiece and lunch soon put us 
all right. Then we stretched ourselves out in 
long chairs and discussed the whole hunt again 
till 4 P. M., when we had tea, after which my 
friends had to start home and I was left to my¬ 
self for another week, when we were to meet 
at Fred’s and hunt his country. 
Little Shikari. 
Upland Game in North Carolina. 
Hendersonville, N. C., Oct. 2. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have been reading with very 
much interest the reports from various parts of 
the country in your valuable journal in regard 
to game. 
In western North Carolina I find by inquiry 
that quail (or partridges as we call them down 
South) are quite abundant. The season has been 
exceptionally good for the hatching and raising 
of a larger number of them than usual. I see 
coveys fly out of the way of trains I am in from 
time to time and they seem very well grown and 
large coveys. All being well I expect to make 
my usual visit to Clay county in December, the 
season opening on the first day of that month 
in that county. 
It is a very great pity there is not a uniform 
date for all of our western counties at least, 
but so far we up here on the west side of the 
Blue Ridge Mountains cut up our game laws 
so that it is hard for an “insider” to keep up 
with them and an “outsider” simply cannot. In 
Transylvania county the shooting of quail begins 
Nov. 1; in this county (Henderson), Nov. 15, 
and so it goes. Personally I think, too, that our 
license law is. all wrong: $10 for “outsiders” 
and nothing for “insiders.” With a general 
license of say $2 for residents a much larger 
fund would be raised, and with the fund so 
raised proper and efficient game and fish pro¬ 
tection could be had. 
I am also informed from various sources that 
ruffed grouse are more plentiful this season. I 
have heard of several places where six and as 
many as twelve have been seen at one time. I 
am counting on bagging some of these finest of 
our game birds when the season opens. 
Ernest L. Ewbank. 
Raleigh, N. C., Oct. 10.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Within three weeks the season for 
quail will open, and in some sections the 
“crop” is going to be short, this being en¬ 
tirely due to the great rains which far ex¬ 
ceeded anything ever known in this part of the 
world. There was a heavy rainfall for a day 
or two in June, and this did some damage, but 
the worst trouble was due to the unprecedented 
rains which fell for one whole week in August, 
flooding vast areas of lowland and which 
caught a great many of the second brood of 
birds. Sportsmen tell me that they do not 
find many birds, but they have seen a good 
many pairs of old birds together, which they 
take to be not a good sign. The State is so 
variegated, however, that of course there will 
be large areas in which birds will be abundant. 
The pea crop, which is very important for 
quail, was badly hurt in some sections by 
flooding; the floods probably drowned a good 
many rabbits and other animals. 
The deer season in the East has opened, 
and a number have been killed. In several 
counties they are reported to be numerous. 
SoJ'ie bear have been killed also. 
Some leases of preserves have been made, 
notably of ten thousand acres in Chatham 
county. This is on the Cape Fear River, near 
the point where the Deep and Haw rivers form 
it, where large numbers of geese come, and 
there is excellent quail shooting usually. 
The Johnston county men who tried to fight 
the Audubon Society wardens before a magis¬ 
trate and who ridiculed the Audubon work 
are now trying another tack, since their case 
has gone into the Superior Court. The higher 
courts are very earnest in their purpose to 
support this law, the judges being strongly in 
favor of the work which has been done. 
A more systematic effort is to be made to 
stamp out fire-lighting for ducks and geese in 
the sounds. At certain places there was a lot 
of fire-lighting last season. The Audubon 
Society now sends wardens from other parts 
of the State to prosecute these people, and 
this is really the only way to stop the abomin¬ 
able custom. Fred. A. Olds. 
South (arolina Laws. 
Blacksburg, S. C., Oct. 6 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The open season for dove shooting is 
now on, and for some time past sportsmen 
throughout the country have invaded wood 
and field in search of this game. The open 
season for shooting quail and partridge does 
not begin until Nov. 15, from which date the 
hunting season will be on until the first day of 
March. At the last session of the General 
Assembly an act was passed making it un¬ 
lawful for any person, except upon his own 
lands, or upon the lands of another with the 
consent of the owner thereof, to net or trap, 
sell or ship, partridge and quail for five years 
from Feb. 20, 1907. 
The new act also protects Mongolian pheas¬ 
ants until Jan. 1, 1912. Section 3 makes it un¬ 
lawful for any non-resident, except on his own 
land or the land under his control or when 
accompanied by resident freeholder by special 
invitation for special occasion, to kill wild 
turkey, partridge or quail without a license 
(fee $25). 
I don’t think we could make it any better 
than it now stands. One reason for making 
sportsmen from other States pay $25 is be¬ 
cause so many sportsmen from North Car¬ 
olina cross the line and shoot our game, and 
they have more game at home than we have. 
But we will welcome them and any other 
hunters who will come and abide by our laws. 
A great many sportsmen from Pennsylvania, 
New York and other Northern States come 
here to enjoy themselves in helping us chase 
our wild game, and we are glad to have them 
with us. 
Quail are about as plentiful this season as 
they were in recent years. The flood that we 
had the last of August did not destroy much 
of our game in the upper part of the State, 
but in the lowlands, the southern part of the 
State, it hurt us very much. But the floods 
are not near so bad as the forest fires that the 
Northern and Western States are having. 
J. L. Rattersee. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief See adv 
