The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-10
CANE BIRDs IN THE VELDT.
Tale Of south African sport That
VIII Rouse a Hunters Envy.

VIII Rouse a hunters Envy.
I Prom the London Saturday Review.
Wagon life in the South African inte-
rior has. Of course. its drawbacks. yet in
a climate where for about seven months
/ absolutely settled weather may be relied
| upon. its pleasures outnumber them fifty
/ 20 one. To mount ones pony on a clear
bright morning. 20 ride forth into the
veldt with a friend and brace of point
ers. with the blessed feeling that you
/ have not a care In the world beyond the
march Of your wagon to the next water;
10 be absolutely certain Of some pretty
shooting in a wild country innocent Of
farms and fences; to return to camp to-
ward 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 s o'clock on a bright April morn
Ing in South Bechuanaland. The air is
| fun Of light. brisk and wonderfully eXhil-
Grating. -Four gunners have just break
tasted under the lee OF their wagon. Now
having mounted their pontes-the aver
age South African horse is seldom more
than fourteen hands-they ride quietly
down the hither side of the shallow val
ley. 'laagte," II Is called in these parts,
wherein they were outspanned, and climb
the farther rise.
1t is a picturesque scene. The slopes
are clothed with a 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, begins thickish woodland of
short trees bastard yellow-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 al
ready in motion behind them, starting
upon its days trek-seventeen miles to
the next water. Through the clear, MIN
bic air comes the crack of the drivers
great whip and his shrill cries, hurled
at the oxen: and the unwieldly home on
wheels brushes slowly through the yield
ing sand. But now the gunners have
spread out in line and the pointers are
alredy busy. Near some powders one Of
the dogs feathers a little, then stands,
rigid as a figure of bronze. The two
nearest 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 cucumber their
movements. Brooches, CATERS and stout
boots, a shirt ana shady hat, are all
that a man needs In Africa.
The reins are thrown over the ponies
necks and hang in front of them, and the
nags will stand quietly for hours. Now
the gunners are close upon the pointer
still standing with rigid tail and out
stretched neck. These francoline lie close
in the long grass. Where the deuce!-"
on sudden up spring three brown birds
within five feet of the sportsmen. Twenty
yards Of law, the guns are up two light
reports from smokeless cartridges. and a
brace of the birds hit the earth. Almost
instantly third report follows, and the
near gunner has secured his right and
left-not difficult matter with these fran
colin. But the pointer is not yet content.
Another brace of birds is found and
brought to bag within thirty yards. The
partridges are now gathered. They prove
to be the small Coqui colin N swim
pi" the native CAN 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 beautiful
shape and featherlng, mark this partridge
of Africa as a gem among its fellows The
birds are bestowed in a saddle bag, and
the gunners mount and ride into the for
est 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, NOV
ing due west Once their pointer gets into
small troop of guinea fowl delving for
bulbs, and after 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 clearings for they carry
| a net, our gunners emerge upon broad,
rolling, sun drenched plains, covered with
long pale yellow grass. Through these
1 they ride steadily hour after hour, picking
up every now and again a head or two of
game Now it is a brace of big red wing
partridge (Orange river francolin); now
one of those annoying, yet handsome,
game birds, the black and white bustard
-swart koorhaan, the Doors call him
whose very noisy and Gliding ways are
familiar everywhere in open veldt in South
Africa. Now, after keenest search, a
leash of tiny bush quail are flushed and
secured, one after the other having lit
orally to be kicked up. A hare and soil
tary 'dikkop" -thick-knee plover-are
added to the growing bag,