Ml'. A. Hume 07i Indian Ornitholoyy. 401 



stoneheaps (the best possible name for many of them) are the 

 homes jiur excellence of the Striolated Bunting. Everywhere a 

 dwarf withered grass peeps out in yellow tufts amongst the 

 particoloured fragments, and furnishes the tiny seeds which, so 

 far as my observations both in April and November go, consti- 

 tute the sole food of this species. 



Fearless, cheerful, active little birds, they flit rapidly up and 

 down the rocky slopes, sportively chasing each other like children 

 at play, or, pausing motionless for several minutes, sun them- 

 selves on some gx-ey rock^s broad bosom. But it is on the hills 

 and amidst the rocks that they are here alone found. Scarcely 

 a hundred feet below, the valley may sti-etch away all soft and 

 green into the far distance, rich crops may wave, or the fea- 

 thery golden -blossomed acacias smile invitations irresistible to 

 Warblers and White-throats; but our little Bunting is a uioun- 

 taineer, and, disdaining Capuan luxuries, clings to his much 

 loved though inhospitable-looking alps. It is pleasant to watch 

 a pair running and hopping about on the ground, pecking over 

 stones and in amongst the stunted grass, and then flying to 

 the topmost shoot of some many-branched Euphorbia hard by, 

 where the female sits and plumes and suns herself, while the 

 male alongside pours out his little feeble song. On a sudden 

 both are off^ with a dart, twisting and turning in jerky flights, 

 and dropping unexpectedly, as if shot, out of sight amidst rocks 

 and grass. Towards the base of Taragurh some bygone chief- 

 tain (for the " Fort of Staro " was once the stronghold of mighty 

 men) has built a massive masonry dam across the bed of what, 

 during the rainy season, may be a torrent, but now in the winter 

 is only a tiny rill. The bed of the stream has been brought up 

 level with the top of the dam by rough masonry, so that in the 

 rains there is probably a tolerable waterfall here. Inside the 

 masonry of the dam, opening with pillar-supported arches (in 

 front of which the falling water would hang like a curtain), a 

 vaulted chamber has been wrought. In the course of ages in- 

 numerable cracks have opened in the roof, the whole interior 

 surface of which, dripping from the percolation of the water 

 running overhead, is tapestried with luxuriant tresses of mai- 

 denhair. Right and left the rocks rise precipitously ; and here 



2 f2 



