62 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



into the low wheat fields upon the opposite side to feed unmolested 

 ttntil morning. At sunrise they would fly back again and disappear 

 in the ravines. We shot several for their skeletons and two splen- 

 did males for their skins, expecting trouble with the natives almost 

 any day on this account, for the peacock is a sacred bird among 

 the Hindoos. It is not worshipped as a god, but it serves as a 

 throne for the god Rama, and is thus held sacred. 



The peacock is a bone of contention between the English soldiers 

 in the North- West Province and the Hindoos. The soldiers go out 

 hunting and shoot peacocks, for which the natives attempt to mob 

 them, and it is said that they seldom go out shooting without get- 

 ting into a row and perhaps shooting a native. Carlo found where 

 a flock of peacocks roosted in a large banyan tree, and killed sev- 

 eral. At last the natives came down to us and humbly begged, as 

 a personal favor to themselves, that we would not kill " any more of 

 those poor fellows that never did anything bad, but only ate a Httle 

 wheat ; " and so we promised to desist. 



One day we found a pau' of rose-winged paroquets (Palceomis 

 torquatus), which occupied a hole in a bank similar to the nest 

 of a kingfisher. One bird came out of the burrow and ahghted 

 upon a small bush near the mouth beside its mate. We shot both 

 of them for sj)eicmens and then climbed up to look for eggs. The 

 hole extended horizontally into the bank in nearly a straight line, 

 two inches in diameter, and we thrust in a stout stick eight feet 

 long without reaching the end. This was the longest stick we 

 could procure, and we decided not to attempt to follow up the 

 burrow by digging. Up to that time, I never heard of this bird 

 burrowing in a bank like a king-fisher, for they almost invaiiably 

 nest in holes in trees. 



Besides twenty-eight imjDortant species of birds, we also found 

 some small mammals along the banks of the Jumna. As I sat under 

 the awning, skinning a saras crane while the boatmen towed us up 

 stream. Carlo pointed out a small wild animal trotting along the 

 opposite bank of the river. I could not make out what it was 

 without the glass, but determined to take a shot at it for luck. 

 Putting my peep-sight up to one hundred and seventy-five yards, 

 I got down in the bottom of the boat, rested my rifle firmly upon 

 the edge, and without stopping the boat, blazed away. To the as- 

 tonishment of us all, especially myself, the little beast on the oppo- 

 site side fell down, rolling over and over, kicking and growling 

 furiously. A native on the other bank ran to seize it, and held it 



