434 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
said the birds take this snare for a cat or leopard, and instead of 
shunning it, as it is their nature to, come so near as to fall 
victims to their temerity. 
In the afternoon one of Mr. P.’s cowherds brought in tidings 
of a couple of Bears having been seen that morning at the margin 
of the forest, a couple of miles off; so we went in search of them ; 
a most fatiguing grind it proved it to be, and to no purpose. We 
saw their spoor, and traces of them in devastated patches of the 
crimson buckwheat, Fagopyrum, then ripe for the sickle; but that 
was all. This species, Ursus Thibetanus, is found all over the 
Himalayas, and is very destructive to orchards and gardens, 
consuming the fruit and tearing down the branches. The skins 
and the ‘‘ Bear’s-grease” are constantly brought into the hill 
stations for sale by the Paharries; and a well-cured and smoked, 
Bear ham I can testify to be right good eating. After a couple 
of hours beating about we gave up the search, and retraced our 
steps down the hill. 
On a bare grassy slope I secured a couple of specimens of the 
Brown Hill Titlark, Agrodroma sordida, then new to my collection, 
but afterwards obtained by me abundantly in the Punjab Salt 
Range, &c. Got also a brace of the Himalayan Siskin, 
Chrysomitris spinoides ; and single examples of Larvivora cyana, 
Keropia striata, Siva strigula, and Hemichelidon fuliginosus ; and 
of each of these birds I likewise afterwards obtained several 
specimens. K. striata, the streaked Jay Thrush, is, notwith- 
standing Jerdon’s statement that it is not found west of Nepaul, 
by no means rare in the North-west Himalayas, extending to the 
Dhoon. Its habits are quite Jay-like, and one I examined had 
its mouth and throat full of egg-shells. The Little Siskin is 
abundant in these parts, and extends all along the Himalayas; 
and I have seen them a dozen to twenty together. Larvivora 
cyana, the Blue Woodchat, is not, according to my experience, a 
common bird in the North-west Himalayas, but of wide range. 
It is of decided Flycatcher habits, as I watched it constantly 
returning to its perch with the insect or grub it had made free 
with. An ally of this bird, Janthia cyanura, the White-breasted 
Woodchat, is much more common, and a permanent resident in 
these hills; the other I believe to be a summer visitor only. 
My companion took another route, and brought in some 
Chicore and one or two ordinary Woodpeckers, and a Wall- 
