262 TAPPING FOR FLYING SQUIRRELS. 



sambur, which carries only six regular points, called a bara- 

 singha. But we will now proceed to the resort of this splen- 

 did brute, where I hope we may become better acquainted 

 with him. 



Our headquarters were at first established near the ham- 

 let of Nouboog. It was rather early for the ground in that 

 neighbourhood, very few stags having, up to that time, found 

 their way down from their summer quarters on the higher 

 ranges for the lower woods were still full of tormenting 

 flies, and the shepherds with their flocks had not as yet left 

 the open pasturages above the forests. Other sportsmen, too, 

 were at present in possession of the best shooting localities 

 farther up the glen. The distant bellow of a stag was occa- 

 sionally heard towards evening on some neighbouring hill. 

 But on our reaching the spot where we hoped to have found 

 the animal that had spoken, his voice would tell us that he 

 had travelled far away to some other part of the dark forest. 

 On such occasions Eamzan was wont to give vent to his dis- 

 appointment by heaping abusive epithets on the innocent 

 animal and its relatives, and expectorating towards it. 



A certain amount of shikar was, however, afforded by 

 "tapping" for flying squirrels, which usually have their 

 domiciles high up in hollow old pine -trunks. The plan 

 adopted was to scrape or tap with the end of an alpenstock 

 at the bottom of any tree-stem in which there happened to 

 be a hole aloft. The inmate, if there chanced to be one, 

 generally answered this summons by poking out its head, 

 when a charge of shot had, in most cases, the effect of 

 making it kick itself out of the hole and bringing it to the 

 ground. There were two varieties : the fur of one was a 

 rich brown on the back, intermixed with grey and black 

 hairs, and yellowish fawn beneath ; that of the other was a 

 general grey, like the colour of a rabbit skin. These animals 

 are met with throughout the Himalayas, at elevations between 

 6000 and 9000 feet. 



