PAHAREE FABLE. 213 



been expected, owing probably to their having fallen so clear 

 of rocks. 



The rifle that served me so well on this occasion, as well 

 as on many another although seldom, if ever, with such 

 astonishing results is still in my possession: a '450 bore, 

 double, muzzle -loading Whitworth; and never was bullet 

 thrown from a more trusty weapon. The dear old-fashioned 

 thing, there it stands in the rack before me now as I write, 

 and there it shall remain as a. memento, nothing more, of 

 many a happy day passed with it among the fells and forests 

 of the grand old Himalayas. 



In the evening I climbed up to the spot where the com- 

 panion of the first gooral I had killed had disappeared, 

 but found nothing on its tracks to show that it had been 

 wounded. 



After turning in at night, when all else was silent and 

 still, we heard eerie sounds and a weird-like rustling of wings, 

 as if the restless spirits of the haunted mountain were flitting 

 through the air. But I soon discovered they proceeded from 

 several nightjars that were flying to and fro close over the 

 camp, having probably been attracted by the moonshine on 

 the white tents. In the uncertain light, I at first took them 

 for woodcocks, which, among the higher ranges, sometimes 

 come hovering over the camp-fires after nightfall. 



Speaking of the nightjar, or goatsucker, reminds me of a 

 little fable the " paharees " (hill people) have about a small 

 bird of the nightjar kind, which is very rarely seen, although 

 its " too too " melancholy pair of notes may be heard at short 

 regular intervals all night long among the oak and rhododen- 

 dron trees. The legend runs that once upon a time the wild 

 birds had a "mela" (fair) of their own, to which they all 

 repaired. But this plainly attired little fellow, thinking his 

 plumage was not grand enough for the occasion, begged a 

 bright-coloured feather from each of his more gaily dressed 

 companions and went to the fair bedecked with those bor- 



