SPOUTING RAMBLES ROUND ABOUT SIMLA. 65 



for changing the subject. Your shikaree takes base advantage of 



this little weakness of the chulcor (which, however, they only indulge 



in early and late in the day while feeding). He sends men out to 



mark them down very early in the morning-, while the grey snows 



are still asleep, and the stars are flashing their last and brightest in 



the clear black sky. Poor fellows, wrapped ,in their blankets, how 



cold they seem when you come up with them some hour or two later, 



when the sun is just touching the hill top ! Then, directed by your 



watchmen, you begin to look up one of the coveys they have marked 



down for you, working round and below the birds, and then very 



quietly walking them up. These birds are very strong and take a 



good deal of shot. They get up wonderfully smartly and are off in 



every direction. If yon secure a right or left, you are to be 



congratulated. Your men all over the ground are on the look-out 



to mark down the birds which almost invariably separate, and often 



go some considerable distance before they pitch in some bush clump 



of grass or scrub. You must lose no time in looking up each group 



one by one ; if yon hive more than one gun, the guns should 



separate and divide the walk, as success in making a bag of chukor 



depends on leaving the birds no time to regain their composure. 



Constant and rapid disturbance seems to make the birds a bit 



'* mazed," as they say in Devonshire, and increases your chance. But 



shoot as you will, and walk as you will, probably you will not be too 



pleased with your performance when all is over and done, not at 



least while you are still a novice at chukor shooting. A chukor, 



I may add, is excellent eating. The only other partridge I recollect 



seeing on these hills is this very handsome little bird you see here — 



one of the wood or hill partridges (Arboricola iorqueolas). It is 



essentially a forest bird. You may expect to find it where you 



would find the (arboricola or torqusolas) pheasant. This specimen 



I shot in the Bhagi forest: ii was dusk, the bird was alone, aud it 



flitted through the trees and pitched on a bare bough, some fifty 



yards off, in such a way that I almost thought it must be some 



species of owl. My shikaree told me these birds were pretty 



numerous in that neighbourhood, but I cannot remember having 



seen more than that one. Other partridges as well as quail are 



to be got in the lower regions of the valleys. The last game bird 



I will mention is our old friend the woodcock {Seohpax rusticola). 



This bird is occasionally met with near Simla as early as the end 



of October or beginning of November, when working for the kalij 



