138 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



the hawk on his fist, a feat of no small difficulty 

 and danger. 



The beaters gradually drew nearer. Precipitous 

 places where they could not go were searched by 

 rocks being dislodged and rolled down. These 

 went bounding and crashing down the hillside 

 till, with a huge splash, they buried themselves 

 in the water, frequently shooting half-way across 

 the river. By this time the intervals between the 

 chakor became longer, and they came in single 

 birds, turned out with difficulty from rock crevices 

 and other hiding-places, and all the hawks, with 

 the exception of the Shunkhar, had been flown 

 several times. By far the prettiest flights to 

 watch were those of the peregrines and Shahins, 

 which stooped and struck their quarry to the 

 ground instead of seizing them in mid - air. 

 The Shunkhar is not flown in these sorts of 

 drives, but is reserved for heron and crow- 

 hawking. 



The beaters came up to us, a wild picturesque 

 lot of men, full of talk, and anxious to hear about 

 the sport. The bag on this occasion was not very 

 good compared with the number of flights that 

 had been witnessed ; but this was owing to the 

 high wind, which brought the birds down at a 

 pace which frequently enabled them, with the 

 start thus gained, fairly to outfly the hawks. 



