RHINO HUNTING.

Shannon News, 28 March 1924, Page 4

RHINO HUNTING.

JUNGLE ADVENTURES. Rhinoceros shooting in India is dealt with by Lieutenant-colonel Faunthorpo ini facile style in the London •Times.’ The writer says:— , The animal of which we were most anxious to secure good specimens waa the great Indian one-horned rhino, ceros, now extremely rare in British territory, and decrehsing rapidly in Nepal. H. H. Maharajah Sir Chandra Shumshero Jung of Nepal fully appreciated the importance of the expedition and sent-us to the Gandak Valley. This interesting tract of country is cut off from the plains by ranges, of hills through which the Gandak River cuts' a tortuou's way to the plains through a series of precipitous gorges. The valley is inhabited almost •entirely by Tharus of a very line typo. We first started .beating for rhino with elephants, and beat out a female rhino with a small calf, which was living in some patches, of thorn and hush cover near th<j camp. We refused to shoot her, as the calf was very smairand the cow had a small horn, and wo wished to make certain of geting good specimens, llu, Irfi "kCiS expressed surprise and regret. MADE FRIENDS. We quickly became frieifl&ly with this lady rhino, .whom V/C met lre- | qucntly and whom we called -'«s zie » buti I think she was glad when we left. . , . - Vernay o.n one occasion crawled, up to her private mud bath and watched her at about .4yds. range. Dyott, with his movie camera, sat ovei her mud bath for the next ttwo afternodns, but Lizzie did not appear. .

She had a histinctly peevish expression when I last saw her. . The local trackers did not seem keen on showing us big rhino, but a little heart-to heart talk. a«d the promise of o-ood rewards to the trackers and also to the villagers induced the former to take us up to a large solitary rhino, who. was located in the valley m the Sal Forest, containing heavy bush and several pools of water.

t UNSUSPECTING QUARRY.. This enormous, slate-coloured beast, which was apparently quite unconcerned by the presence of several men in trees who wore watching him allowed us to approach on elephants to within about' 70yds. from which range we both fired, with the result tha,t he pitched over dead after galloping about 100yds. I He was a big and very old male i rhino, whose horn had been splintered : and worn down by digging or fighting to about Sin. This was several miles from camp, and the taxidermist, and his satellites had to spend the night by the carcase. The next day, after a fruitless expedition under the guidance of the trackers, wo were informed by tlio villagers, o.n return to camp, that a rhiiio had been seen drinking: in a pool on the other side of the river. The energetic Vernay immediately crossed the river in a boat. I sat down and ordered tea.

i MISTAKEN FOR BIRD. _ - Shortly afterwards the Nepalese Munshi (the district officer’s assistant), who had gone out with the local Nepalese lieutenant to shoot birds with my gun, arrived with the news that, there was a big rhino, wallowing in a pool not far from the liver, about a mile down stream. , He was breathing heavily from ex. eitement and exertion. His account of how they came to see it was amusing. He said he saw what he took to he a black water bird in the pool,- and said to the lieutenant: ‘‘Give me the gun and I will shoot that bird.” To which the lieutenant replied: ‘‘Brother, if there is any bird-shooting to be done I will do it myself.” They then approached the supposed biid under cover.of the heavy jungle on the bank above the pool, and found that it was the horn and ears of a rhino, which was lying in the water. .

TIGRESS BAGGED. I go.t into a boat and. hustled down stream. It. was rapidly growing dark, but after a hurried scramble for half a mile over the most uncomfortable pebbles, I saw a rhino still in the water, and managed to get up near him just as he was leaving the pool. He -was a fine male, with a horn measuring 12 Jin. , ■ . On returning to* camp I found that Vernsty had accounted for another one, a very fine male with a horn over 12in, which,/ after being wounded, had charged him, but had been dropped in the grass on the-river bank by another bullet from his .4G5 Holland. My rhino had evidently been fighting, and had some nasty incised wounds on his flanks and stomach. I was using a .400 Jeffery rifle. Later on Vernay stalked a fine female rhino on foot, and killed her with ane shot in the neck at about 20 yds. We got some wonderful tilms of tigers in the Gaiidak Valley, both close up and galloping in the open, but only actually shot tigress a very fine 9 ft. specimen, which will go into the tiger group in the museum.