94 Sport ana Life in the Further Himalaya 



ravine offering concealment, he climbs up this at 

 a more moderate pace. Emerging where, to his 

 own futile imagination, he must be well ahead 

 of the chakor, he advances cautiously, expecting 

 at every step to flush them. Suddenly a shrill 

 chorus bursts out from above him. Turning 

 sharply round, he sees the last of the covey 

 flutter up a rock face far above him, and well 

 out of shot. The rest are on the top of the 

 rock, little moving shapes against the sky. He 

 can almost see their open mouths as they shout 

 forth their scorn. Then, for the first time, an 

 exclamation leaves his lips ! 



Our sportsman now turns his attention to one 

 of the other coveys, and the next thing that 

 happens as he makes his way slowly along the 

 steep hillside gun in one hand and helping him- 

 self along the floor with the other, one eye on 

 the ground and the other on the look-out is 

 that they have got up below him, and, before he 

 can put his gun to his shoulder, have swung 

 round out of shot. He watches them take a 

 long flight and go down below a shoulder of rock. 

 Arrived at its foot, he is in time to see the 

 chakor disappearing over the crest, and the now 

 heated sportsman scrambles after them. At the 

 top the chakor are not visible, but a deep ravine 

 opens before him from which come more chakor 



