29 DAN MEINERTZHAGEN'S DIARY. 



biscuits. I counted at least ten Jays, and after I 

 had sat there and watched these birds for about 

 a quarter of an hour, I put up my gun and fired 

 at the Owl. I saw the bird distinctly drop, but 

 could not see for the thickness of the wood 

 whether it touched the ground. I, however, 

 did not go up to it directly, but waited to get a 

 shot at the Jays, but they carefully kept out of 

 range. But imagine my disgust at finding no 

 Owl on the ground. The air here is so clear, 

 and the tree was so high, it must have been out 

 of shot, and since I had only No. 8 shot with 

 me, the only consolation was that the bird was 

 probably uninjured. I only heard it give 

 one screech as it sat on the tree. A little 

 further on, I saw a Grey-headed Yellow 

 Wagtail by an open piece of water in a small 

 mountain torrent but I could not get a good 

 shot at it. 



Bob found another Cross Bill's nest on the 

 'rara side of the river, and shot the bird, which 

 I have skinned this evening. He broke one of 

 the three fresh eggs ; the bird contained one 

 egg nearly ready for laying. 



An Englishman, named John Gow, was here 

 about five years ago, as far as I can gather 

 from the natives. They thought he was mad, 

 because he bought anything they chose to bring 



