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Description of Shiloi Lake and its wildlife |
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To Shiloi Lake. A short march but very laborious as the going very bad and jungle to be cut all the way. |
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Halted and visited the Lake. A large piece of open water with many coot and a few teal. Put up a wood-cock near the edge but had not a gun in my hand. The Lake also frequented by deer and mithan and must contain fish as three otters on a log sat up and watched me at close quarters. The edges are boggy in places and there is naturally a deo who catches hold of you and pulls you in if you go too near the water. I put the Lake roughly at an area of from 3 to 4 times the size of the one in Shillong Station and there are many subordinate pools of varying sizes in the nullahs behind. The area seems to be increasing as all round the edge the stems of fallen trees are visible under water. Eventually it will probably cut away the narrow strip that divides it from the river gorge and slide down the Khud. The slopes behind are very steep and covered with pines which in places come down to the edge of the lake though in other places there is mixed tree jungle and nettle beds between the water and the hills. I shot one Sambhar stag, but a very poor head. I saw five other Sambhar and could easily have shot 2 or 3 of them but they were either hinds or had poorer heads even than the one I shot. |
