Contents: I: 1. Preliminaries. 2. Man eaters. II: 3. Arrival at your block. 4. Arrival at your camping ground. 5. Tying out a kill. 6. Arrival at my block: the picture painted. III: 7. Principles. 8. Number of kills. 9. Moving in the jungles. 10. Specimens of daily notes from my jungle diary. 11. Inspection of kills. 12. Collecting of beaters. 13. Moving to beat. 14. Machans. IV: 15. The beat. 16. Examples of beats. 17. An exceptional tigress. V: 18. Sizes of tiger. 19. A wounded tiger. 20. Shots to take. VI: 21. Sitting up. 22. Sitting up for a panther. 23. Live baits. VII: 24. Cubs. VIII: 25. After a beat: arrival back in camp. 26. Skinning. 27. Pegging out. 28. The skull. 29. The carcase. 30. Lifting the skin. IX: 31. Goat baits for panther. 32. If wounded or mauled. 33. Electric light torches. X: 34. The sloth bear. XI: 35. Objective. 36. Shooting near to camp. 37. Monkeys. XII: 38. Horns. 39. Bison. 40. Buffalo. 41. Sambar. 42. Cheetal. 43. Nilghai. 44. Black buck. 45. Chinkara. 46. Bara Singh. 47. Barking deer. 48. Four-horned antelope. 49. Skinning a head. 50. Red dog. 51. Sitting up over a wallow for observation. XIII: 52. Birds. XIV: 53. Jungle names. 54. Taxidermists. 55. Preserving skins. 56. Rifles and ammunition. 57. Health. 58. Kit. 59. Camp kit. 60. Stores. 61. Small money. 62. Butterflies. 63. Snakes. 64. Trees. XV: 65. Crocodile (Muggar). XVI: 66. Frontier hill heads. XVII: 67. Shot-guns. 68. A father's advice. XVIII: 69. Notes on duck, geese, partridge, etc. 70. Cantonment etiquette. XIX: 71. Hawking. Appendices: i. Autobiography of Shaitan Bhalu. ii. Bibliography of some Shikar and bird books.
"This most enjoyable book is a sure way to fall in love with forests and their enchanting animals! Written during one hot Indian summer, as this talented and candid author puts it, this book "is an attempt 'to paint the picture'... they are the actual experiences of a 'jungle foot slogger' who, with limited means has always run his own show.. and learned the jungles from his won experience and study".
Since the author was in the army, the 3-10 Baluch Regiment (Queen Mary's Own), he wrote this book keeping in mind his colleagues from his regiment who he thought would benefit from his understanding of the jungles of India. Today, his book stands out for its style, language, depth and keen understanding of the animal world.
The book has a special section on Hawking in India. A title gift awaits the reader at the end of the book - a heart-warming true story of an adorable baby bear, Shaitan Bhalu. The photographs of Shaitan and their adjoining captions make the story come live!" (jacket)
