THE MAHADEO HILLS. 91 



and I transferred myself and dogs to its shelter, while 

 a fire was lit in the hollow of the banyan, and the 

 natives were soon crouching over it as jolly as sand- 

 boys ; while my servant plucked and grilled over its 

 embers one of the spur fowl I had shot as a " spatch- 

 cock." About midnight the rain ceased, and the sky 

 cleared. It was an excessively cold night ; and when 

 I got up shivering in the morning I found my men 

 had stayed up the greater part of the night by the 

 fire for the sake of the warmth. 



The morning broke fine and bright, however, and 

 I started ofi" for a ramble over the plateau. In passing 

 through the swamp below the tent, the dogs put up, 

 and I shot several couples of snipe, and among them 

 a fine specimen of the solitary or wood snipe.* This 

 fine snipe is of rare occurrence in Central India, and in 

 fact I have only met with it on one other occasion, 

 in the Mandla district. I suspect this is the bird that 

 has stood for the woodcock in the stories told of the 

 latter's occurrence in the Central Provinces ; for though 

 I have hunted every likely spot in the hills for the 

 latter bird, I never found a single one of them. 



There were two small settlements of Korkiis on 

 the plateau : one at Puchmurree itself, and another 

 about a mile to the north of it. The former was the 

 larger of the two, consisting of about thirty houses, 

 and, besides the Thakiir, a few families of traders from 

 the plains lived in it. The functions exercised by these 

 Hindii dealers in the rural economy of the aborigines 

 will form the subject of some remarks further on. 



A brother of the Thakiir of Puchmurree accom- 

 panied me in my ramble, a fine, athletic, intelligent 

 * Gallinatjo nemoricola. 



