Birds of Kohat and Karrum. 93^ 



which is situated about 13 miles from the head of the valley. 



Here the officers of the Kurram Militia very kindly allowed us 



to make use of their exceedingly comfortable mess, and most 



hospitably entertained us during our stay. After obtaining 



permission to move up to Peiwur, 10 miles further up the 



valley, we left Parachinar on the 21st of April. The 



Political Agent was so solicitous for our safety that he 



insisted on our taking an armed tribal escort of six men with 



us. AVe did not require their military assistance, but found 



them useful to look for nests, climb trees, and carry our 



guns and lunch-baskets. Making the little rest-house at 



Peiwar our headquarters, we daily explored the surrounding 



Ilex jungle and visited several times the pine-clad hills ou 



the Afghan border. In an Ilex, Whitehead was fortunate in 



coming across a nest, with eggs, of jEgithaliscus leucogenys. 



This bird is an early breeder, and six other nests that we found 



contained young. We had not been at Peiwar many days 



when rumours reached us from Parachinar that the Turis 



(the tribe inhabiting the Valley), who had been listening to 



wondrous tales of the spread of plague in Peshawar, poured 



into their ears by Kabuli traders and others passing up the 



valley from India to Afghanistan, had become highly 



suspicious of our movements and credited us with all sorts 



of nefarious deeds. We were supposed to be agents of the 



Government sent up to poison their water-supply and to 



spread the plague. We were said to stalk abroad at night 



catching and inoculating rats, in order to disseminate the 



pestilence. Colour was lent to this ingenuous theory by the 



fact that we had trapped a few Mole-rats, Gerbilles, and 



Dormice. Curiously enough we could see no signs of 



hostility in the villagers themselv^es, in fact we found them 



invariably friendly, and our tribal escort seemed to know 



nothing of these rumours. We were now anxious to shift 



camp and to move up the slopes of Sikaram, as the snow, 



under the influence of the summer sun, was gradually 



receding. But, in face of the rumours related above, the 



Political Agent did not think it advisable for us to do so, 



and even considered that our presence at Peiwar might lead 



