PHEASANT SHOOTING IN NORTHERN INDIA. 797 



.Straight down the khud, steering themselves dexterously between 

 dense cover, or it' they elect to perch, which they only do when 

 fluhhed hy a dog, they rise almost noiselessly, and take their depar- 

 ture in the same manner on the apjiroach of man, giving a very 

 difficult snapshot to the gunner, the only result from his point of 

 view being the tailing of a few twigs and leaves. 



The koklass {Piicrana macrolopha), a far more sporting bird than 

 the kalij and weighing nearly halt as much again, lives higher up 

 where the Paludas grow (a species of pine tree, only growing at about 

 7,0C0 feet — at least I have not come across them lower down). They 

 are very partial to the courses of streams and small plateaux on the 

 sides of hills. They also live on berries and insects, but get a different 

 variety of each in their more elevated haunts. The two sexes are 

 very dissimilar, the cock-bird being even more handsome than the 

 male kalij ; both varieties are crested, but the crest of the adult male 

 koklass is jet black, whereas the crest of the adult of the other is 

 white, the general colouring below is silver grey merging into 

 slatey grey on the back ; head and upper part of the neck jet black 

 with a wm'te patch on each cheek. The hen is a much more 

 homely looking bird, the general colouring brown with lighter shades 

 on the under-surface, a sporting looking bird withal and more massive 

 looking than her mate. In the shooting season, the old cocks are 

 almost always found by themselves ; the old tens may have their 

 whole brood numbering usually 4 to <S with them, or sometimes a 

 single young bird, but are seldom solitary. The young birds are often 

 found in couples. In shooting, if your dog puts up an old cock, do 

 not trouble to look for any more birds near him, but if it be an ohl 

 hen or a young one, make the dog range first above, where the first 

 bird rose, then well to either side, and lastly below. I have never, 

 seen either these or the kalij run down hill for any distance. 



Now for the description of a day's shooting, when fate was kind, 

 one of the days on which all went well. There is a tremendous amount 

 of luck in the sort of shooting I am about to describe, and a lot of hard 

 work. About 4-30 a.m., I heur a voice which says : " sare char 

 bajee," and it seldom has to be repeated for me at this time of the year, 

 which is October, as previous shooting and prospecting seems to have 

 sharpened my senses: possibly exercise has made my liver a few sizes 

 -mailer, lience I am less somnolent. It will not be lioht until G a.m. 



