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Rh 'the whole country was dotted over with bison bones' and it became necessary to extend the game rules to the chief reserves Fauna. to stop the wholesale slaughter which was proceeding. These rules have also been extended to some of the Palkonda reserves. In Jeypore the game is much harried by the annual beats in the month of Chaitra (see p. 72), when the whole able-bodied male population turns out and remains out. sometimes for days together, until it has succeeded in killing some animal and so in avoiding the rough reception accorded by the womenfolk to the unsuccessful. One haunch of venison goes to the man who first hits the animal and the other to the headman of the village in which it dies.

The best small-game shooting on the plains is afforded by the duck and teal. Of the former, the red-headed pochard and the gadwall are the commonest kinds. Snipe and quail are comparatively scarce. Peafowl are common all over the hills and the Savaras sometimes catch them by chasing them from side to side of a steep, narrow valley until they are exhausted. Of the rarer game-birds, woodcock have been seen round Pádéru, and in the hills the Imperial pigeon is not uncommon and a brown pigeon with a white head is seen now and again.