BEST SEASON FOR TAHR. 91 



admirer of nature as well, the mere slaying of his game 

 is certainly not what conduces most to his delight in his 

 work. For my own part, a feeling of regret has always 

 been mingled with my exultation, at seeing a beautiful 

 animal I have brought down lying lifeless before me, how- 

 ever inconsistent it may seem. Nevertheless, it is very 

 satisfactory to make a good bag. When I say a good bag, 

 I mean one of fine, and, if possible, of varied specimens, 

 and not made up, merely for the sake of competition, of 

 inferior animals, such as a man of true sporting instincts 

 would feel ashamed to shoot at, unless he required meat for 

 his camp. I have less sympathy with those who shoot 

 only for the bag, than with the downright old poacher ; 

 not the murderous, skulking cadger of the present, who 

 nets and snares for the game-dealer, but a man of the 

 bygone Highland stamp, who stalked a fat stag or shot a 

 brace of grouse quite as much for the keen excitement of 

 the sport as for providing venison for his family and his 

 friends. 



Spring is certainly not the best time of year for tahr- 

 shooting. The proper months are October and November, 

 when the old bucks have their shaggy hair much darker and 

 longer, and the toil in searching for them is lessened by 

 their being at that season lower down on the mountains, 

 and associated with the does. The weather, too, is then 

 sure to be settled and fine, which, of course, adds so much 

 to the pleasure of hunting. In fact, " the fall " is the best 

 season for sport of almost every kind in the Himalayas, as 

 it is elsewhere. 



