Page:Gódávari.djvu/38

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16
GODAVARI

said to be particularly good. A fine fish which the natives call pundikuppa and which runs up to lOO lb. comes up the creeks. The mango fish and the mullet may also be caught in large quantities near the sea.

Yerukalas are the commonest shikári caste. Ídigas, Kápus, Rázus, Musalmans and Málas also shoot. Nakkalas hunt jackals and foxes for food. In Bhadráchalam and Pólavaram the Kóyas, Reddis and Mutráchas are keen sportsmen. Some of the methods employed are interesting, if the accounts given by the natives are to be credited. Jackals and foxes are killed with assegais of split bamboo; antelope are caught by sending out a tame buck with nooses on his horns which entangle the wild ones when they try to eject him; some animals are shot from behind a trained cow which conceals the sportsman and provides a rest for his gun; and spring guns are sometimes placed in the tracks of game. Birds are caught in nooses placed near the cage of a decoy; and by limed twigs baited with worms. Waterfowl are driven, by a man concealed behind a trained cow, over a net spread under water.