MOONAL PHEASANTS. 71 



unaware of our presence, that I could not resist such a rare 

 opportunity, even at the risk of disturbing better game, for 

 on open ground these birds are usually very wary. A wire- 

 cartridge sent him whirling from his perch so far down 

 among the rocks that it was hardly worth while fetching 

 liim, as his plumage was destroyed in his fall, and he 

 turned out to be as tough as an old shoe. Nothing else 

 was seen except a few tehrny. 



Moonals are often a great nuisance on tahr ground, where 

 they are almost invariably numerous. Sometimes an old 

 rascal will, on observing the stalker, set up his loud alarm 

 whistle, and thus warn the tahr of impending danger, 

 making them restless and suspicious, and consequently more 

 difficult to approach. 



Towards the afternoon it began to rain pretty heavily ; 

 we therefore returned to our lodging for shelter. By way 

 of employment we commenced digging out the lump of 

 stone that had made my couch so unpleasant. This we 

 found no easy matter, as it proved to be much larger than 

 we expected. After a good deal of work we managed to 

 loosen it, when, with the help of wooden levers cut for the 

 purpose by Kurbeer with his kookerie, we launched it over 

 the mountain-side, down which it went hurtling and crash- 

 ing, smashing and carrying away everything that impeded 

 its headlong course, until it disappeared from our sight in 

 a deep dark gorge far below, where, as it dashed against 

 rock and tree, an occasional sullen boom was heard, the 

 sounds and their echoes growing fainter and more faint 

 until they were no longer audible. 



After the rain had ceased it was too late to go up after 

 tahr, so we tried for gooral lower down, returning at dark 

 only to score in my note-book " a blank day." 



At daylight next morning we sent down our spare man 

 witli the blankets, &c., giving him instructions to have the 

 traps we had left at the village taken by a lower route to 

 our next camping-place. At the same time Kurbeer, the 



