NATURAL HISTORY AND SPORT IN THE HIMALAYAS. 287 
arrival at Mahassoo, the first stage beyond Simla, where my friend 
Capt. H. had a beautiful cottage, and had promised to put me up. 
I had engaged to reach Simla in time for a late breakfast at 
Rockbank, a house which the officers of my regiment had rented 
for the season, and to which they used to resort in parties for a few 
weeks at a time, according as they could get leave of absence from 
regimental duties. 
Kussowlie itself is rather a slow place. We had it all to our- 
selves most of the year, but during the gay and festive Simla 
season we used to be enlivened by lots of visitors passing through. 
I reached my destination in due course by means of half a dozen’ 
ponies “ laid on” at every six or seven miles, and after breakfast 
proceeded to an emporium to make sundry purchases, including a 
good supply of ammunition; and my friend Major L. made me 
take his rifle on the chance of my falling in with big game, 
although I had not intended encumbering myself with one. The 
road from Kussowlie descends for a mile and a half by a series of 
steep zigzags, and then there is a pretty level stretch for several 
miles; and as I sauntered along I did not much look out for birds. 
Below the road branching off to the Lawrence Asylum, at 
Sunawur, I disturbed a party of eight or a dozen of the handsome 
Himalayan Blue Pie, Psilorhinus occipitalis, which were making a 
great noise about something as they flew to and fro across a wooded 
ravine. I pulled up to watch them for a minute or two, when, as 
if by common consent, they closed in, left off their screeching, and 
sailed away in single file; displaying to advantage the beautiful 
different shades of blue on wings and body, and long graduated 
white-tipped tails. It is the handsomest of the Jay or Magpie 
_ tribe in these hills, not yielding the palm for beauty to the lovely 
_ Cissa venatoria of the eastern countries. As I rode along the 
Yiver-side, near the suspension bridge at Hurreepore, I noted 
two species of Redstart, Ruticilla leucocephala and R. fuliginosa, 
and the ubiquitous Ceryle rudis, but no other Kingfisher. Jays 
of both species, Garrulus lanceolatus and G. bispecularis, abundant 
in the woods. Leiothrix luteus in small parties, picking up what 
they could get on the road, and hardly getting out of the way. 
Several kinds of Garrulaz, in suitable localities; and on the 
grassy slopes about the road a Finch or two, which I could not 
identify, and an Accentor, probably A. variegatus. Noisy parties 
of the Mountain Parrakeet, Palgornis schisticeps, swept past over- 
