264 Mr. H. Whistler on tjie [Ibig, 



as there are practically no metalled roads and the railway 

 arrangements are primitive. Almost all my travelling 

 has been on horse- or camel-back. 



Such are the physical characteristics o£ the district of which 

 I took over Police administrative charge on the 19th of 

 October, 1917, remaining there for over two years until 

 relieved on the 17th of March, 1920. For the whole of this 

 period, with the exception of two months' absence on military 

 duties in June and July 1918 and one month's leave in 

 November 1919 and a few short spells of casual leave, I was 

 either at Jhang or toured in the interior. 



Camp-life is a great feature of a police officer's duties : 

 he has to visit and inspect the various police stations, and all 

 areas in his charge come to notice either from its own local 

 importance or for some reason connected with the ad- 

 ministration. In the course of it he acquires a most detailed 

 acquaintance with the whole of his district. The circumstances 

 of my life at Jhang were therefore ideal for an ornithologist : 

 my observations were not made merely at one isolated spot, 

 but they covered an area of some 3000 square miles, different 

 parts of which were visited at all times of the year. A con- 

 sultation of my official registers shows that I spent in all 245 

 days on tour away from headquarters, and travelled over 

 1700 miles on horse- or camel-back on official duty, to keep 

 no count of the many miles which I walked out shooting or 

 collecting. It may be mentioned that often for a month or 

 more at a time I saw no white man, and was in consequence 

 entirely dependent on my own resources for amusement when 

 the day's work was done : my leisure was therefore devoted 

 to sport or ornithology, and my opportunities for them were 

 immense. About the time that I arrived at Jhang my friend 

 and " fellow Ibis," Dr. Claud B. Ticehurst, arrived in India 

 in the R.A.M.C., and was fortunately stationed at Karachi, 

 which is comparatively handy, as distances go in India, for 

 Jhang. On two occasions in December 1917 and December 

 1918 he was able to obtain some leave and join me. For 

 both visits I arranged a short tour in those parts of the 

 district most suitable for sport and ornithology. The notes 



I 



