148 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



Jhakra, and just above the lower rock scarps, Is a very plea- 

 sant lot an. As the false dawn spreads its green flush 

 abroad, the stag heaves up from this mud wallow, scrapes his 

 mud-plastered sides and grinds his rough horns against the 

 sapling at its brink, and passes slowly on up-hill. Higher 

 still he may be seen rearing himself up on his hind legs 

 against an aola tree, or moving about below it picking up 

 the fallen fruit hard, acid berries ; then he saunters 

 out of sight into a jungly hollow beyond. If we follow we 

 shall see him " eating the sunshine," as the Korkus say, 

 basking in the early beams of the sun, perhaps lying down 

 on some open spot, and rising again, once or twice, before 

 pushing his way into that dense patch of long rausa grass, 

 under the thick shade, where he will finally settle down in his 

 u form " for the day. In such a lurking place he will lie as 

 close as any hare, his head pressed earthwards as you pass 

 unconsciously by. Here also he will sit tight until the 

 beaters are almost on him, when, with a rush and a bound, 

 he will, specially if an old and wary fellow, break back 

 through the line and be off to some other retreat. 



This morning I had intended working the northern slopes 

 of Barra Jhakra, but was met on my way thither by two 

 Korkus, who told me that a stag had been seen, and marked 

 going home up in the spot that I have described 

 a shallow jungly depression, just below the crest of 

 Chota Jhakra so I turned aside and took a little path 

 leading to this hill, which was about two miles off. Old 

 Lallu, Jhapu, and serveral Korkus from the village of 

 Banur had the stag marked down. He was somewhere in 

 that cup-shaped corrie, but they could not exactly say 

 where. It was rather a difficult affair for one rifle, since 

 the stag might take almost any course when roused. As 

 a rule, there are certain routes which game, aroused in 



