42 THE KOKLASS AND PEWIIA. 



had I then possessed one, would have probably done in an 

 hour what I took so long to accomplish without one. I 

 may here, by way of parenthesis, remark that dogs kept in 

 these mountains very frequently end in becoming food for a 

 leopard. I have known a leopard so bold as to take a dog 

 actually from the doorstep of a room in which his master 

 was dining, and the table attendant passing constantly to and 

 from the kitchen outside through the doorway. This hap- 

 pened at the travellers' bungalow at Eamgarh, in Kumaon. 



Another bird of the pheasant tribe is the " koklass." It 

 is to be found - in almost every oak-forest, where its loud 

 crow may often be heard in the early morning. The hand- 

 some plumage of the cock is grey and dark brown. The 

 female is something like our own grey hen, and, I should 

 judge, about equal in weight. On the same kind of ground, 

 the mournful whistle of the wood-partridge comes at times 

 from the dense thickets and bushy dingles it affects. The 

 " pewra," as the natives call it, is a game-looking bird, of a 

 general dusky olive hue, from which it gets the name of 

 " olive partridge," as it is sometimes termed. 



Having made such a long deviation after one cock-pheas- 

 ant, let us return once more to our hunt after better game. 



On the third morning, the bear-slayer having mistaken 

 the star by the rising of which he determined the time for 

 our start in the dark, aroused me much earlier than was 

 necessary. Being thoroughly awakened, I turned out, 

 stirred up the log-fire, and made the best of it until it was 

 time to set out. We had got about half-way up Dhiij, 

 when there was a sudden stampede of heavy animals near 

 us in the forest. At first we could see nothing in the deep 

 gloom under the dense dark foliage of the oak-trees — for 

 the morning had not as yet dawned, and there was only the 

 pale dim light of a waning moon. " Hist ! there's a 

 mirrig!''^ whispered Baloo Mar, as the form of a jurrow 



' Mirrifj is a term applied by the natives to any large ganie-aninial except 

 bears, tigers, and suchlike. 



