OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM SIKKIM. — NO. II. 451 



idiscovery. Although I could never see that his legs were less 

 bitteu — more they could not be — he continued to practise and 

 admire his remedy, and made it known far and wide with 

 that loving pride and satisfaction which a man feels when he 

 knows how great a benefit he is conferring on his fellowmen. 

 He has since rendered most important services to the scientific 

 world, but these services will, I feel sure, always hold but a 

 secondary place in his eflPections to his marvellous leech-cure 

 discovery ! I do not advise birds'-nesters to follow his plan, 

 nor can I suggest anything perfect. Certain compositions 

 smeared on the boots and gaiters keep leeches off the legs for 

 a time if the rain is not too heavy and protracted, which ifc 

 often is, however, in this part of the world about nesting time. 

 The best way is to wear strong lace-up boots and tight-fitting 

 gaiters, and every now and then whisk off the creatures before 

 they get beyond the gaiters. Any substance offensive to 

 leeches rubbed on the boots and gaiters is a partial preventive 

 so far as leeches off the ground are concerned. Unfortunately, 

 in the higher jungles especially, one gets any number on to 

 one's head, neck, and clothes from the bushes one brushes against, 

 60 that they have to be endured to a certain extent. As long 

 as one keeps to the paths the little pet plans about the boots 

 and gaiters answer admirably, but they are lamentable failures 

 when it comes to honest birds'-nesting through the undergrowth. 



No one, so far as I know, has yet been hardy enough to 

 suggest any plan for keepiug out that most vile and insinuating 

 pest — the tick.* One may get reconciled to being leech bitten, 

 but to tick bitten never. It abounds among the small 

 bamboos of the higher forests, and sparingly on the drier ridges 

 under 4,000 feet. It must be borne as one best can. 



But all the little hardships and inconveniences insepar-!- 

 able from birds' nesting in Sikkim are abundantly repaid 

 by the knowledge gained of the many charming ways of 

 birds in their domestic arrangements, and, let me add, of 

 the better ti'aits of your native companions, which only 

 similar excursions can bring out. So long as the European keeps 

 on horseback, and the native trudges on foot, or whilst the Euro- 

 pean directs the native in some civilized operation, they can have 

 but little sympathy in common. But let the European trudge 



* It is ■well to know how to get rid of ticks, as if not carefully dealt with they 

 are apt to produce terrible sores. You come in, strip and find your legs, more 

 especially about the knees and lower down, perfectly black with these wretches. 

 Don't attempt to tear them off and dig them out. Get your bearer to bring hig 

 Hubble-bubble, and wash your legs well with the nicotine-impregnated liquid. 

 Let it dry on. Ten minutes later all the ticks will be dead — the great majority 

 will wash away, and the rest can be safely removed with tweezers.—A, 0. H. ^ 



