118 STALKS ABROAD 



the course of time might have developed into a beard. 

 I requested him to address his remarks to me and 

 not to the surrounding scenery. To this he replied 

 by advising me in the imperative to go and get my 

 water in a place where T should have been likely to 

 find it boiling. A month's notice being happily un- 

 necessary we dispensed with his services as cook 

 instanter, and watched his departing back vanish 

 down the valley in a glow of audible cheerfulness. 

 The rest of the day I spent sketching, whilst Burton 

 went and killed rabbits, of which there were hundreds. 



April ISth* Had a hard day's walking over rock 

 slides and stony tops. We had a climb of five or 

 six thousand feet before getting on our stalking 

 ground, but the views both up the Hunter Valley to- 

 wards Mount Ferguson and down towards Lake 

 Hawea were very fine. My boots got cut about a 

 good deal but the ice nails held well. Saw some 

 nice young ten-pointers but no stags worth shooting. 

 Burton, however, came in about 8.15, having killed 

 another royal with a pretty head. 



April 19th. Was awakened at dawn by the 

 Paradise ducks calling each other. They are very 

 handsome birds, more like a goose in appearance than 

 a duck. In the distance they seem quite black, with 

 the exception of the snow-white head of the duck and 

 some white markings on the wings common to both 

 sexes. The breast of the female, however, is covered 

 with shimmering bronze feathers similar to those on a 

 cock pheasant, with some green and brown colouring 



