PHOTOGRAVURE ii 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE IMPEYAN 



At the base of an ancient, weather-beaten stub, half hidden in a mass of Himalayan ivy and maiden- 

 hair fern, a hen Impeyan had made her nest. She would never have been revealed had not a crested tit 

 discovered and scolded her. In the cool air of these high Garhwalese forests, I watched the bird day 

 after day. During her brief absence, I photographed the two great spotted eggs. The succeeding day 

 I surprised a group of bander-log — the great grey Langur monkeys — and one of them had stolen the spotted 

 eggs and was climbing up a slanting tree-trunk. The lives of the two young Impeyans were thus snuffed 

 out ; the spring courtship, the battles of the cock, the care on the part of the patient mother, all had been 

 of no avail. 



