The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-07-29
TANK SHOOTING IN INDIA.

l Capital Sport at the Artificial Lakes.
 Tank shooting, owing to the numerous ] artificial lakes, or tanks" as they are called, with which nearly the whole Of l India is covered, seldom fails to afford 1 capital sport with duck or snipe in the cold season. Countless thousands of | various species of duck begin to arrive | in India about the beginning of October, and commence leaving about the end ot February, and during their stay are to
 be found in every suitable (to their kind) piece of water, from a mile wide river to what would in England be called a pond The method followed
 in this sort of shooting is generally the
 same, and the following description of a fair days sport may be taken as rep- resentative:
 Hearing that duck had come In large numbers during the last few days, two of us set off one December morning for a large tank about ten miles off. On getting near the water we deserted as fair a number of fowl as one would wish to see. On looking through the glasses We saw that by far the largest number were gadwell next came the little white eyed pochard-red crested pochard are easily distinguishable by their size and the brilliant coloring of the males, by far the most striking looking Indian duck. A few tufted duck were swim ming ostentatiously on the further side, and last, but not least, flock of pintail were in the middle of the tank, ever alert and ready to leave the water at the first shot It was decided that my companion was to get into native dug out at the further end of the tank, and try to drive the duck toward long tongue of reeds, in which I was to hide. Wading out waist deep to my place was not the pleasantest proceeding; the water was very cold, the weeds were thick, and once stepped on the edge of @ very deep hole, and was only hauled out by my orderly as I was struggling not to fall in.
 I eventually arrived at the furthest point of the reeds, and, peering eau tiously through, saw the duck for the most part heading toward me. As the boat got nearer to them an occasional flight would rise, fly afshort distance and settle down again near me. At last thought had as good a chance as I should get, and let drive right and left Into a flock of pintail. These birds always fly in compact tlocks, and thus afford good chances; but, on the other hand, their plumage is extremely thick and causes immunity from many shot However, I accounted for three-two dead and one winged. At the first shot the whole of the fowl rose en nlasse, the hundreds of wings making a mighty roar.
 Then the fun began; large fiocks, small flocks and single birds flying around the tank in all directions; a curlew high overhead uttered it's famil- far cry, conjuring up visions of shore shooting on a misty day in England, and seeming strangely out of place in this sunny land. My companion had run his boat into the rushee on my first | shot, and, both of us being concealed from view, we had many a shot at the | rapidly travelling fowl overhead | Around the tank I had posted men to ] mark down the birds that fell in the l rushes, and these were soon heard | splashng about at the work of picking | up. The pintail left the tank after the l first shot or two, but the red crested po- | chard remained, and continued to afford l long shots as they circled in V shape l formation overhead. After the last | duck had left the exciting work of re- | covering the cripples commenced.
 Caldwell were easily picked up, but l the pochards, tbeing such expert divers, | gave much trouble, as appearing for an | Instant only (and nothing but their | heads being visible), they would dive 1 again before one could always get the | gun up, and the shot would pass harm | lessly over the place where they had | The whereabouts of a | bird would sometimes be known by eee- ing a kite swoop down, but unless | quickly recovered the latter would rem der the bird worthlss Having got rii | of the larger game, we devoted our- selves to the snipe, which at the upper and ehallower end of the tank were found in plenty. Walking about thirty | paces apart, with man or two be- tween, we accounted for a good bag, as the sun being by this time pretty hot, the snipe rose lazly, in a very different manner from what they would have done two or three hours earlier in the day. Having walked twice over the snipe ground we made to our tiffln bas- Set, the contents of which, laid out un- fer the welcome shade of large ban- van tree, were soon done ample justice to. Our bag was twenty-three duck and fifteen and half couple snipe.-- The Field.