My Indian Consignment. 131 



trip near Dalhousie, and two of those days were practically 

 spoilt hy heavy hail ami wind storms, which almost made 

 me regret camping out in a bivouac tent above Bakloh in 

 February. The birds, my jjcnsiuncr liii'd orderly and my 

 servant were (juitc coniforlalilc in a cowhouse very dirty, 

 it is true. By ni.^lit and u:i line days I was all right, but by 

 day in bad weather it was trying, and the thought of time being 

 wasted did not help to make one take things philosopically. 

 I had my two Darjceling Tits as call birds in two oT my own 

 p:attern trao cages. I spent most of my timCj wandering about 

 with a cage in either hand searching i^r a party. On hear- 

 ing or seeing the advanced guard, usually Tree-creepers and 

 Crested Tits, 1 huri-iedly put down the traps and took the 

 nearest cover, generally within twenty yards. I always got 

 one bird at once, but very seldom more than one, though the; 

 party would stream by, a thin stream after the first rush, for 

 seven or eight minutes, ample time to get more if all be- 

 haved like the first comers. But apparently it is a good thing 

 to be in front, and stragglers were too much engrossed in 

 getting there to pay any attention to my strangers. It is 

 surprisingly hard to pick up a party again, and then one seems 

 to hit the stragglers. 



I lost a few by accident, but had eight beauties prac- 

 tically in show condition on departure from Paris. At Calais 

 there was the shute accident and at Charing Cross, the first 

 chance I had of really seeing the birds after Calais', I used the 

 language of a life -time. Other birds, notably White -eyes. 

 Hanging Parrakeets, and Fruitsuckers, were bad enough, but 

 the Tits — three were dead, stuck to the floor with condensed 

 milk, two were dying, and the other three looked the most 

 forlorn creatures one could wish not to see. These three, 

 however, pulled round in a marvellous way and soon became 

 quite their lively selves, but alas — at the expense of their 

 plumage. They are now in the possession of our member, 

 the Marquis of Tavistock. I had just the same luck (or want 

 of itj with my AVhite- eyes, for only three survived out of eight 

 with a similar loss of feathers ; they too were in show con- 

 dition. These three are now in the possession of our Editor, 

 and are doing very well. Imagine bathing in condensed milk! 

 How I hated the stufi" on my hands even, but cleaning had 



