504 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI. 



distant — a long shot ; but a thar is a bigger mark than a gooral ; and I had a 

 rock in front to rest my rifle on, with Bhiku's cap as a pad to keep it from 

 "jumping." The animals were only occasionally exposed, and the brushwood 

 was dense ; but at last the big one was in full view, and I fired. The two 

 thar stampeded, and I fired again twice as I caught glimpses of the big one 

 Grossing open bits. After going about 100 yards full speed, the big thar 

 pulled up amid some pines and the small one went on alone. * He must be 

 hit," I said ; and I sent two men over to see what had become of him. The 

 noise made by the men climbing, moved him ; he was hit hard ; slowly be 

 walked along the steep bare rocks. I fired — 300 yards — and struck him ; he 

 pirouetted round and round ; I fired again, and making one last effort to save 

 himself, the fine old fellow went down the precipice. His horns were nearly 

 11 inches. The storm was now rumbling overhead. It was so dark that at 

 4 p.m., on the way home, we met a cooly coming with the lighted lantern to 

 meet us ! We got in just as the rain began to fall. Such rain ! The single 

 fly Native Officer's tent held it out till the two-ply cotton cloth was well 

 soaked, and then the pattering of large hailstones sent a fine spray over me. 

 I had no large water-proof sheet to hang outside, so I put all my kit under the 

 bed, spread the small waterproof over the bedding, and with my invaluable 

 umbrella over me, sat down to an excellent dinner of Soup de Bovril, and 

 Cotelettes de gooral. Next day I returned to Hul. The storm still raged, and 

 flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder were all round us. One pine tree 

 was struck a couple of hundred yards from the path, and blazed away merrily. 

 I made good time over the pass, 9,700 feet, and down the steep drifts of hail- 

 stones to the valley far below. Leaving Bhangori at 11 we got to the Hul 

 camp at 5 ; good hard going all the time, and bitterly cold. These six thar 

 were all I had a chance at ; some fair heads, but not first-class. To get 14-inch 

 thar one must go farther than two marches from Ohamba. ° ° ° 



June 1st. — I worked along the pine forest above Hul at about 8,000 feet. 

 To my delight, up flew a woodcock about five yards from me. She had a 

 young one — the men said two young ones, but I could not see two distinctly 

 myself — in her claws pressed close under her ; and she flew slowly and heavily 

 for about ten yards, then rested above a bramble which the young one seemed 

 to catch hold of with its claws, or become entangled in. The old bird fluttered 

 for quite half a minute over it before she could pull the little one 

 clear and fly a few yards further down, when she alighted, but rose again 

 when I sent a man to try to catch the young one. I have seen woodcocks 

 carrying their young in County Wicklow, and have caught the young 

 fledglings there ; but this was my first sight of a woodcock in India, and I 

 think it must be the first Indian record of a woodcock being distinctly seen 

 carrying the young thus between its claws. I may note that there is a capital 

 picture of the bird carrying its young in Harting's " Sketches of Bird Life", 

 page 225. It seemed to me that this Chamba woodcock did not carry her 



