On Naujan Lake in Mindoro, and elsewhere in the provinces, magnificent duck shooting may still be had. The whistling tree-duck and the Philippine mallard are the two species which afford the best sport, although pin-tails, bluebills, widgeons, and blue- and green-wing teal come in on migration as does a tiny goose, smaller than the ordinary duck. Several other species stray into the southern Philippines from the Celebes, while at least one Formosan species sometimes visits the Batanes Islands.
Jacksnipe come to the islands in enormous numbers from Asia, usually arriving about the middle of August in northern and central Luzón and gradually working their way south to Mindanao. The return migration commonly comes during February. The flight of the Asiatic jacksnipe is exactly like that of his American brother. In fact only an ornithologist can distinguish between the two species. A bag of one hundred birds to the gun is by no means unusual at the height of the season, and a strong sentiment is developing among Americans in favour of limiting the bag.
A Typical Forest Scene.
From the buttressed roots of great hardwood trees, like the one here shown, beautiful table tops are obtained.
There are very numerous species of pigeons and doves in the Philippines. All of them are excellent table birds and several of them offer good sport. If one can take up his position under a fruit tree frequented by the great gray and green pigeons, known locally as baluds, about the middle of the afternoon he will get a wonderful series of shots at incoming birds flying fifty or more yards up in the air. They approach very rapidly, so that one must lead them a long distance, “pulling them out of sight” in order to bring them down. One may burn many a cartridge before he learns the knack of stopping these powerful, swift-flying birds. During certain seasons the larger pigeons roost, in countless thousands, in trees on little isolated cays remote from the larger islands, where wonderful shooting may be had during the morning and evening flights.
Junglefowl, the ancestors of all our domestic breeds of poultry, are to be found throughout the islands but only in a few places do they offer much opportunity for the sportsman who likes to kill his birds on the wing. Prior to the last eruption they were very numerous on the slopes of Taal Volcano.
A party which happened to visit Cavilli, a small isolated coral island in the Sulu Sea, once found it alive with junglefowl. No one else has ever seen any there. Obviously a great flock flew in and then flew away again.
Particularly fine sport may be had on Fuga Island by walking along the edge of the forest in the late afternoon. The birds which are then feeding in the open fly straight for cover and present difficult cross shots.
The larger hornbills are very good to eat, but as easy to hit on the wing as a fair-sized door sailing through the air would be, so do not offer much sport.