UP A HILL. 457 



kills them, and stands alone), its dwarfish and shrubby habit, and 

 the brilliant red colour of its leaf buds. 



Of living creatures there are few on the actual top of Raigarh. 

 The cisterns are said to hold centenarian fish of enormous size. 

 They certainly hold many small fry; loaches and highland carp 

 such as described above, preyed upon by two king fishers; Alcedo 

 Bengalensis and Halcyon Sniyrnensis. The latter could have done 

 without the fish, for there were some spot-winged locusts here and 

 there, probably strays. No mammal was seen, nor the trace of 

 any, but in the rains a few cattle come up and nibble the scanty 

 grass. Lizards of course were in their proper place on the walls of 

 departed glory, but then, lizards don't wait for the glory to depart 

 before taking possession, in the East at least; and I daresav 

 Jamshid saw a good many more lizards on the walls " where 

 Jamshid gloried and drank deep" than ever 'Umar Khayyam did. 



But if one descends from the pudding-shaped centre of the hill 

 to its scarped edge, one comes suddenly on a world of life in a rather 

 new aspect. The scarps of Raigarh furnish quarters to an immense 

 number of birds ; chiefly of course Rajjtores ; and it is a strange 

 sight to a man from the plains to find himself suddenly looking 

 down upon the backs of vultures and eagles and falcons, and see 

 them flying in and out as it were under his feet. They don't look 

 at all the same birds. Some, as Aquila Im'perialis, are much more 

 easily distinguished from above than from below, because you can 

 see the markings of the back and tail better ; and when they do rise 

 and pass over your head to see what you are doing on the roof of 

 their house they will give you a much better view of the breast and 

 under plumage than is often granted by living wild birds in the 

 plains — they feel at home and expect the intruder to be on his good 

 behaviour. 



Of course few people ever do shoot from such a place, where the 

 odds would be incalculable against ever recovering a hit bird. 

 Many a shot has been fired at men from here ; but the birds have 

 presumably never been molested. Even amongst themselves there 

 seems to be a sort of "truce of God'' at breeding places. The 

 pigeons go in and out amongst the great and little Raptores ; and 

 I have seen the same in trees. Yet the birds are without the very 



