30 f Naturalist at Large 



year when his professional butterfly collectors worked 

 most successfully. These men were Lepchas, a tribe 

 of hillmen from Bhutan who were born naturalists. 

 I had often heard of the wonderful variety of butter- 

 flies to be found in the deep tropical valley of the Teesta 

 River. 



The upshot was that he agreed to hire for me several 

 of his very best collectors, and Amir Hassein immediately 

 set out to get ponies and suppHes. We set forth early one 

 morning, I on a sturdy gray pony, for I was slender and 

 light in those days. Collecting along the road as we went, 

 we arrived at nightfall at the Dak Bungalow near the bridge 

 over the Teesta River. 



On this trip I first had a chance to see really fine, high 

 tropical rain forest. I also had my first sight of a troop of 

 monal pheasants with an enormous cock leading his harem 

 across the narrow road — a glittering mass of metallic 

 golden bronze and green, the sun striking his back as he 

 moved proudly on his way. He certainly topped my ex- 

 perience observing wild life up to that moment. 



Then, of course, there were many other birds, jungle 

 fowl, and other species of pheasants, and lastly, the but- 

 terflies. These were in astonishing variety. The Lepchas 

 were keen as mustard and extraordinarily skillful with their 

 long-handled nets. We caught and papered butterflies until 

 we had a magnificent collection. 



After several days of continuous excitement and enjoy- 

 ment we returned to Darjeeling, where I joined Rosamond, 

 who was waiting for me there. I supplemented the collec- 

 tion we had made ourselves with material purchased from 

 our friend Mr. Mueller and sent the whole collection back 



