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[edit] Shikari

Few Hindus in Eastern Bengal take any pleasure in sport, and only a few low caste men ever fire a gun. The Muhammadan, on the other hand, is often a keen sportsman, shooting deer and stalking paddy birds, rails, and other water birds. Rich families, again, often keep one or two Shikaris to supply their tables with all the common marsh birds and with an occasional deer or hare. The Mir-shikari Bediyas and the Binds are, however, the only classes in Eastern Bengal who live by the game they kill.

In the cold season Muhammadans from Chittagong visit the Dacca district and capture the "Machh-ranga," or large blue kingfisher (Todiramphus collaris), in the following manner: On the bank of a pool or running stream, two nets hanging on rings are fixed at an acute angle, within which a tame kingfisher is placed as a decoy. The birds are most pugnacious, and as soon as a wild one sees the stranger it swoops down, but striking the upright net it becomes entangled, and all attempts to get free are unavailing. The concealed sportsmen make their appearance, and capturing the helpless bird, kill and skin it.

The flesh is eaten, while the skin is pinned on a thick jungle leaf and dried. When sold to the Burmese, four anas are got for each skin.

The Mags, who occasionally visit the Eastern districts for the same purpose, by using nooses of string, and placing them in a circle around the decoy bird, are equally successful.

[edit] Notes