NATURAL HISTORY AND SPORT IN THE HIMALAYAS. 405 
seen the like of. Nakunda bungalow is most picturesquely 
situated in the forest, at the foot of Huttoo, a mountain of 
10,500 feet elevation; the wood is chiefly deodar, and these giant 
plues are here to be found at their best; few have fallen to the 
axe, but some have to natural causes, and here and there a 
colossus is stretched to rise no more. I wandered about for a 
while, every few yards bringing me to a fresh peep of beauty and 
grandeur—magnificent deodar forest all round, with stupendous 
crags and precipices, and all so still; not a sound but the cracking 
of a branch under my feet as I walked along or the notes of some 
bird few and far between. I saw the Nutcracker and some large 
Pigeons,—that was all of animal life; and I shot nothing before 
breakfast. On emerging from a clearing in the forest I found 
myself close to the road again, which zigzagged down to a small 
bazaar, which I lost no time in exploring. There was scarcely a 
soul astir as yet; but I made myself heard at some of the huts, 
and found that I could here obtain all I wanted in the way of 
supplies, coarse flour for the servants and gram for the ponies, 
potatoes of the finest quality in abundance, and goats’ milk, &c. 
The purveyor at the bungalow had told me that all supplies for 
us would have to come from Koteghur, wherein he lied. I pur- 
chased what we wanted, and on reaching the bungalow found my 
Kitmutghar wrangling with a Pahairee for mutton. I bought a 
very good sheep for a rupee and a half (three shillings), and though 
it was rather lean, it was found pretty tender and well-flavoured. 
Most of the travellers had started, and all had cleared out by 
noon; so we had the bungalow to ourselves, and I told my people 
we would stop here for three days. I had a good many birds to 
overhaul, and a few to skin. Gomez begged hard for a holiday, 
so I took his work for the day, and sent him out with my gun, 
accompanied by Oosrao. They returned in the evening with some 
Pigeons, Columba Hodgsoni, and, besides a few common birds, 
what delighted me was a noble Golden Eagle, A. chrysaétus, an 
adult female in perfect plumage, shot by Oosrao. This specimen 
I sent to Blyth, and saw very well set up in the Asiatic Society's 
Museum years afterwards. I arranged my skins and packed a 
couple of cases full, to be left here till our return from Koteghur, 
and then strolled out with my gun. I got nothing worth men- 
tioning, except a single Spine-tailed Swift, of which I came ona 
small party hawking about some crags not far from home. I 
