Huntsville gazette., 1885-10-10
SPORT. IN ASIA.
Afghans Disguised as Leopards-The Turk
estan Bow-Hindoo Shares.


estan Bow-Hindoo Shares.
The natives of Candahar adopt very
novel and successful method of en-
ticing partridges within reach. They
wear mask or long veil of a coarse
yellow cotton cloth, dotted all over
with black spots, having eyeholes, and
hanging in loose folds round the body
of the sportsman. Thus disguised, he
creeps cautiously on hands and knees
toward the spot whence the ''chickor"
calls. The bird takes him for a leop-
ard, an animal to which it has the
greatest aversion, and will collect all
its species in the neighborhood with
loud calls, and allow the make-belief to
approach while they scream and flutter
when with gun or net he can secure
them with little difficulty.
For catching partridges peculiar
kind OF bow is used in Turkestan. 1t
is formed Of long elastic rod, which
is stuck into the ground and then bent
down and held in that position by
small catch arranged on fork-shaped
twig stuck into the ground; upon the
catch are placed small sticks, on which
the moose of the bow is ranged, under
which some food is strewn. generally
Indian corn. AS soon as the bird
steps on one of the, sticks placed on the
catch the bow becomes detached, and
he flies upward with the latter caught
in the moose either by the leg or head.
There is another original appliance
for catching partridges in the same
country, which may be called, for the
want of better term, a fowling line.
1t consists of a peg, with strong twine
attached to it, on the end of which is
fastened grain of Indian corn. A
whole row Of these pegs are driven into
the ground along path among the
reeds The partridge or pheasant in
swallowing the grain becomes captive,
and remains attached to the peg until
the sportsman makes his appearance.
These birds and smaller ones are
taken by Pardis, a wandering tribe of
Indians, in long, conical bag nets, kept
open by hoops, and provided with
pair Of folding doors. Bullocks are
used to walk through the long jungle
grass and drive the birds into the nets.
without alarming them sufficiently to
cause them to fly. After the usual
thoughtless cruelty of their race, the
Pardis break both wings and legs of
each bird directly after capture, and
thus the miserable victims are carried
through hot morning sun, all bas-
keted together, to market.
The Hindoos are said to equip them
selves with light framework of split
bamboos. resembling the skeleton of
kite, and covered with green twigs,
leaving two loopholes to see through
and another lower down for the inser-
ton of the rod. This they fasten be-
fore them when they are in the act of
catching birds, thus leaving both hands
at liberty and remaining completely
concealed from view The wand they
use is twenty four feet long, resembling
a fishing-rod They also carry with
them horse-hair -nooses, of different
sizes and strength. likewise bird lime
and variety Of calls, with which they
can initiate the various birds notes
with the utmost nicely. As they pro-
ceed through the various covers they
use the different calls for the birds they
think reside there, and when the call
is answered, suppose it be bevy of
quails, they continue calling them un-
til they get quite close; they then arm
the top of their rod with feather
smeared in bird lime, and pass it
through the lower hole in their frame
of ambush, and continue adding other
parts until they have five or six out,
which they use with great dexterity,
finally touching one of the quails with
the feather, which adheres to them.
They then withdraw the rod, arm it
again, and touch three or four more in
the same manner, before they attempt
to snare any of them.-London 1ele-
graph.