

KALLEEGE PHEASANTS. 39 



ing feed. A whistle caused it to stop, as a startled beast 

 often will do for a few seconds, to listen and look back on 

 hearing any sudden and unusual sound behind it. Off it 

 went again, but this time hard hit, and, as is the wont of 

 animals of the wild-goat kind when wounded, took to some 

 very bad ground, where it lay down. We did not attempt 

 to follow it, for my guide wisely remarked that if we dis- 

 turbed it again then, we might never get it ; whereas if we 

 let it alone, he would return to look for it in the afternoon, 

 by which time it might be less inclined to move, when there 

 would be more certainty of securing it. We therefore took 

 a bee-line for camp down through the thick forest of oak 

 and rhododendron that usually covers the northern slopes 

 of the middle and outer ranges. 



The evening was devoted to beating up some patches of 

 cover in the vicinity of the terraced fields 1 near our camp, 

 where I bagged a brace of Kalleege pheasants. The Kal- 

 leege is common in most parts of the Himalayas. The cock 

 is black, with grey hackles and crest, and the hen brown. 

 As several varieties of this bird can be seen in the Zoologi- 

 cal Society's Gardens in London, it is needless to describe 

 it more fully. 



The men who had gone after the wounded gooral returned 

 with it at dark. They had had considerable trouble in 

 securing it in the difficult ground where it had betaken 

 itself to. As the night was bitterly cold and logs were 

 plentiful, we lit a huge camp-fire. This was always done 

 whenever wood was procurable. And many a pleasant 

 hour have I passed beside it before turning in for the night, 

 smoking my pipe, and listening to the marvellous tales and 

 adventures related by the mountaineers, some of which were 

 as amusing as they were incredible. 



Next day we tried other ground, on which I made a clean 



1 In the Himalayas the villagers always cultivate their crops in small fields 

 arranged in flat terraces, one below another, in such a manner as to allow of 

 their being irrigated from some neighbouring stream. 



