‘And, as [the tigress] turned her head back, gazing towards the bearers, I aimed at her neck … and fired.’

J. Moray Brown introduces his experiences of shikar, or game hunting, one of the main pastimes for British officials in India during the days of the Raj. This could range from going out to take a pigeon or two for a junior official’s cooking pot to a full ceremonial tiger hunt as organised for a maharajah or viceroy, involving beaters and elephants.

Brown, an army officer stationed in India, describes Indian sporting incidents from hunting small game and wild fowl and the dangerous but exhilarating sport of pig sticking, to hunting a rogue elephant and close encounters with the tiger, the ultimate Indian wild animal.