328 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



left bank fromKilba to Baghi, they are most common in the 

 centre of the State and are not often met with on the upper 

 reaches of the Sutlej watershed. There are always a few in 

 'the environments of Narkandah and Baghi and get more 

 numerous as you get further East up to about 100 miles from 

 Simla and then get more scarce again and appear to die out 

 'entirely in the rainless portion of Kanaur. 

 " Between 8,000 feet and 12,000 feet altitude is where they are 

 usually f omid, throughout the Kulu and Kangra Hills, including 

 the Mandi and Suket States into Chamba and Kashmir. 

 "Practically from Garhwal to Kashmir in the Punjab, the 

 Moonal is still fairly common and in spite of the numbers that 

 ' are annually trapped in the hawking-nets their numbers do not 

 appear to have fallen to any appreciable extent. They may 

 have left the environments of big stations but are numerous 

 enough further afield." 

 I am afraid that there is no doubt that in the case of this bird the 

 plumage trade has been to a very great extent the cause of its rapid 

 decrease. ^Vhere the trade is properly organized and the female, 

 young and eggs efficiently protected, the plumage of the males may be 

 exported in great numbers without any harm being done. Thus 

 Wilson year after year exported the skins of 1,000 to 1,500 males 

 without there being any decrease in the forests where he worked, but 

 it must be remembered in these he never allowed the killmg of hens 

 and throughout the breeding season all interference with the birds 

 was entirely tabooed. The modern dealer does not, however, work 

 on these lines. He knows nothing and cares less about the natural 

 history of the bird, the skins pass through many hands before they 

 reach the dealer on the London market, and the native, who in the 

 first place supplies them, only collects with a view to immediate profit 

 and without thought to the future ; consequently he collects largely 

 in the early part of the breeding season, kills as many females — often 

 sitting — ^for food as he does males for their plumage, and so harasses 

 the birds that they cannot hatch off their eggs when laid. It is true 

 that most birds which are trapped are trapped in the winter, but the 

 nooses catch hens, cocks and immature birds alike and none 

 are spared. 



The traps used are similar to those which have already been des- 

 cribed as used by various hill people for other game birds, the 

 favourite being the setting of nooses in openings in small artificial 

 fences in ground the birds frequent for feeding. 



During the winter they seem to be more or less gregarious, two or 

 three hens with their respective forces combining to make one flock. 

 Sometimes an adult cock may take up his quarters with them, but 

 as a rule three or four old males consort together durmg the non- 

 breeding season. 



