248 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



I never came across any — but there is a well-marked race 

 or caste of fowlers who live entirely by this trade. 



In the cold weather of 1866 I was acting as Deputy- 

 Conservator, and spent many months in the Gorakhpur 

 forest, and had ample opportunity of studying the natural 

 history and flora of the Terai, also collecting specimens 

 of all the timbers of the forest, and testing their qualities, 

 and verifying the botany of the locality and the native 

 names. 



Sometimes, in the more open country joining the forest, 

 black partridge and quail abounded. The latter were 

 shot on foot in stubble fields with a line of beaters. The 

 black partridge lived in long grass close to cultivation. 

 We sat in the howdahs while the men beat up to us, and 

 got very pretty shooting, as the swift-flying, black-breasted 

 birds came straight up like driven grouse. They are as large 

 as a grouse, fat, and excellent eating. A Rajah had sent 

 the Collector sahib, with whom I had joined camp, two fine 

 elephants to try as howdah elephants. He stated that 

 they were good, steady, shikari hatis. So we started one 

 afternoon to try them, shooting kala titar (black par- 

 tridge). They seemed a little unsteady when the guns 

 went off, and stamped and made trumpeting noises to 

 one another, but were obedient enough to the mahouts, 

 and we shot a fair number of birds, including a lesser 

 fiorikin. Towards dusk we were turning towards camp, 

 when a jackal trotted out of a patch of grass. At this 

 a shot was fired. The twilight semi-darkness made the 

 flash visible, and this was too much for the nerves of the 

 already excited elephants. They set off with trunk and 

 tail in the air, screeching with terrified alarm, the mahouts 

 striking the hooks of their ankuses in and shouting '' Dutt, 

 duttr very much in vain. We in the howdahs were 

 tossed about, the ground being uneven, and the rapid 



