FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 207 



the tiger, a cruel and wasteful brute, which did much 

 damage to the poor villagers' cattle. He was killed 

 shortly after in a trap set by the villagers. It consisted 

 of huge beams with rocks on top, propped up with a 

 forked prop and trigger, under which a kid was tied, not 

 far from this very ghat. 



It is wonderful how the jungles at the foot of the hills 

 teem with bird life. Some are permanent residents, 

 others are migratory, on passage in the spring to northern 

 latitudes across the snowy range. They include nearly 

 all the small birds of Europe which migrate, besides 

 hundreds of Asiatic types. For instance, our own 

 familiar skylark visits India in the winter, and breeds, 

 probably, on the plains of Tibet ; but (according to the 

 ornithologists) there are nineteen other different species 

 of larks found in India at one or other season. Then there 

 are all the migrants which do not cross the snows, but 

 remain in the cooler climate of the Upper Himalayas all 

 through the summer, returning to the plains in the winter. 



The permanent residents are also numerous. In a 

 morning's beat at the foot of the hills, following the flat 

 valley between densely wooded spurs where a stream 

 flows, we come, at early dawn, first on a troop of pea-fowl, 

 the gorgeous long-tailed cocks sunning themselves by 

 the water, the young birds and sleek brown hens picking 

 about among the senna bushes. They hear us coming and 

 run to a thicket ; but a brace of red spaniels, taking them 

 before and behind suddenly, flush half a dozen, which fly 

 with rapid wing-stroke in all directions, some coming to the 

 two guns, which knock over a couple. The young birds 

 were much sought after at Christmas-time by lady house- 

 keepers as substitutes for turkey. 



Then we beat through the low scrub in the old bed of 

 the stream, now dry, where the dogs flush a few black 



