THE GOORAL. 1 29 



feet below. As we had no coolie with us, the Shikari went to look for a man, while I remained 

 perched on the rock. Soon a large vulture came sailing down the valley, and, after a 

 few circles, settled by the dead Gooral, which it proceeded to tear. I rolled down two or 

 three stones without effect ; so, as I did not wish the meat to be wasted, I had recourse to the 

 rifle and dropped the foul bird dead on the spot. The Shikari, on his return, was rather 

 astonished to see the result of my shot, and as this was the first day that he had been out 

 with me, I was not sorry that I had an opportunity of showing him that I could hold pretty 

 straight. I was fortunate enough to keep up my character for the rest of the trip, as I have 

 seldom or never shot better. 



It was about a month before I again went after Gooral, and one evening I was hunting 

 along a steep hill-side, where slopes of short green grass alternated with sheer descents of 

 rock. My Shikari was below me, and signalled that he had seen game. Going down to him 

 I found that a Gooral was at the foot of a small precipice a little lower down. By the time 

 that I had got within shot, the Gooral had become restless, and was walking away from me. 

 It was rather an awkward shot, but I fired, and missed. 



The Gooral galloped off in the direction in which we were hunting, and disappeared. 

 Having reached the point from whence we expected to see game, we sat down to reconnoitre, 

 and had not been there long before a Gooral looked over a ridge, but seeing us immediately 

 drew back. Following quietly in the direction it had taken, we soon saw it standing on the 

 hill-side about three hundred yards below us ; and as it evidently thought itself in a safe 

 position, it gave me time to stalk to within a hundred and twenty yards, when I had no diffi- 

 culty in knocking it over. Unfortunately, it proved to be a female, and it was almost 

 undoubtedly the one which I had missed little more than half an hour before. Sending the 

 Gooral home by a coolie, we reascended the hills and again sat down to watch. 



My Shikari went a short distance to a point where he could command a view of another 

 valley, and I sat for a long time without seeing anything. At last I heard some Moonal 

 whistling not far off, and as no Gooral had made their appearance, I rose to see whether the 

 Moonal were in a place where they could be stalked. I had hardly moved when I heard a 

 sharp hiss below me, and on looking down had the mortification of seeing a fine buck Gooral 

 bound away not twenty yards from me. It had crept up under the rocks in such a direction 

 that I could not possibly see it coming ; though, had I been prepared for it, I could not have 

 failed to bag it. 



