Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-16
GAME BIRDS IN THE VELDT.
Tale of South African Sport That Will
ROuse Il Hunters Envy.

Aale OF south African Sport That Will
ROuse Hunters Envy.
From the London Saturday Review
Wagon life in the South African interior
has. of course. its drawbacks, yet in eli
mate where for about seven months abso-
Iutely settled weather may be relied upon,
It's pleasures outnumber them fifty to one.
10 mount ones pony on clear, bright
morning; to ride forth into the veldt with
a friend and brace of pointers. with the
blessed feeling that you have not a care in
the world beyond the march of your wagon
to the next water: to be absolutely certain
of some pretty shooting in wild country
innocent of farms and fences; to return to
camp toward evening with perhaps ten or
twelve brace of birds and a small buck
these things. to the average healthy male
seem as near perfection as may be found in
this vale of tears
1t is = o'clock on a bright anril rporni,o
in South Bechuanaland The air is full of
light, brisk ard wonderfully celebrating.
-FOUR gunners have just breakfasted under
tne lee or their wagon. Now, having
mounted their. ponieS-the average South
African horse is seldom more than fourteen
hands.they ride quietly down the hither
side OF the shallow valley, "laagte," it is
IN 5hs snd parts Parts wherein they were
1t Is picturesque scene. The slopes are
clothed with long growth of waving
grass, now greenish-yellow after the rains.
amid which great powders of dark-red rock
crop up. Here and there small patches of
blue-green bush start out from the grassy
veldt. Beyond, browning the valley, be-
gins a thickish woodland of short trees
bastard yelbw-wood, the Beers call them
which extends for some miles in front till
the great open plains are again reached.
AS the gunners ride up the further slope,
their wagon is already in motion behind
them, starting upon it's days trek-seven-
teen miles to the next water. Through the
clear. nimble air come the crack of the
drivers great whip and his shrill cries,
hurled at the oxen: and the unwieldy home
on wheels brushes slowly through the
yielding sand. But now the gunners have
spread out in line, and the pointers are
already busy. Near some powders one of
the dogs feathers a little, then stands,
rigid as figure of bronze. The two near
est gunners dismount. They already carry
their guns and bandoliers. and ride. as men
do in the veldt, in their flannel shirts with
their sleeves well rolled up the arms. There
is little to incumber their movements.
Brooches, CATERS and stout boots, a shirt
and a shady hat, are all that man needs
in Africa.
The reins are thrown over the ponies
necks and hang in front Of them, and the
stays will stand quietly for hours. Now
the gunners are close upon the pointer,
still standing with rigid tail and out
stretched neck These francolin lie close
in the long grass. Where the deuce!-"
on sudden up spring three brown birds
H..
yards of law, the guns are up. two light
reports from smokeless cartridges, and a
brace of the birds hit the EARTH Almost
instantly a third report follows, and the
rear gunner has secured his right and left
not difficult matter with these francolin
But the pointer is not yet content. An
other brace of birds is found and brought
to bag within thirty yards.
The cartridges are now gathered. They
prove to be the small Coqui francolin-
'Nswimbi'' the natives call them-perhaps
the most beautiful game birds in the world.
AS one of them lies in the gunner's palm for
few moments. the bright nank-in-yellow
and orange of the head, the clear, hawk
like markings of the breast, and the beau
tiful shape and feathering, mark this
partridge of Africa as gem among its
fellows. The birds are bestowed in a sad
die bag, and the gunners mount and ride
into the forest on the right-hand side of
the wagon road. Meanwhile their comrades
have entered the woodland more to the left
hand, and their guns can be heard already
going.
For two hours the sportsmen quietly walk
their horses through the forest. moving due
west. Once their pointer gets into a small
troop of guinea fowl delving for bulbs, and
after a smart chase drives three of them
into a tree, whence as they fly off, the
gunners secure them easily enough.
At length. after picking up few butter
flies in the forest cbearinssS for they carry
a net, our gunners emerge upon broad,
rolling Jan paa t Tsh
they ride steadily hour after hour, picking
up every now and ixain afhead or two Of
game. Now it is asbrace Of big red wing
partridge Orange riyer. francolin); now one
birds, the black and white bustard-swart
kcorhaan, the Beers call him-whose very
noisy and Gliding ways are familiar every
where in open veldt IN south Africa. NOW,
after keenest search, leash of tiny bush
quail are flushed and secured, one after the
other having literally to be kicked up. A
hare and solitary "dikkop''-thick-knee
plover-are added 1.-THE growing bag.