351 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Before taking leave of the kind reader, I would crave his 

 patience for a moment or two longer whilst I add a few 

 concluding remarks, some of which may be of use to the 

 inexperienced, whereas others I should perhaps call apolo- 

 gies for my shortcomings. 



To those who are not disciples of St Hubert, should they 

 have cared to open such a volume, the fact of its being 

 almost entirely devoted to subjects connected with wild 

 sport will, I fear, have made it dull and unavoidably ego- 

 tistical ; and the brief descriptions of animals will, I dare- 

 say, have been as uninteresting as they are imperfect. 

 These latter are mere notes of my own observations. 

 They are given more for the benefit of those who, being 

 unacquainted with the Himalayan fcrm naturcc, may natur- 

 ally, when reading of their pursuit, wish to know something 

 about their general appearance ^ and habits, than with the 

 idea of adding anything to natural history beyond that which 

 is well known. 



The tyro, I venture to hope, may not have found this 

 book altogether uninteresting, and some of the hints it con- 

 tains may possibly be of some service to him. 



To any old Himalayan sportsman who may have perused 

 it, most of its contents will doubtless have proved stale. 

 Still, I trust that it will have served to while away a few 



^ The two groups of heads, from photographs by Mr R. Mihie of Aboyne, 

 have been given with the same intention. 



