WHITE-CRESTED KALEEGE ii 



creeper utter, but from time to time fluttered his wings in that never-to-be-mistaken 

 pleading for food of a young bird. 



The second nursery scene was enacted upon a lofty bough of a dead spruce. A 

 series of complaining, feline mews attracted my attention, and there perched a great, 

 full-feathered, baby nutcracker, flapping its wings and endeavouring to look starving and 

 dependent. One of the parents approached, and the mewing increased to a perfect 

 medley of cries, screams and croaks — all merging at last into a contented mumbling 

 gurgle as the food was crammed down its throat. Here we had the greatest contrasts of 

 creation : the defenceless, weak creatures of the wild, who trust to silence, dull feathering 

 and cautious, mouse-like creeping up of tree-trunks to preserve them from their enemies, 

 and the blatant, care-free ones who, from their combative ability, know that they may mob 

 a hawk with impunity, and hence may cry aloud their every emotion, perch in full sight 

 of the world and yet live. 



A sudden sharp cry and much craning of neck on the part of one of the parent 

 nutcrackers led my eye downward, and cutting a new loophole in the tent, I was 

 surprised to see a big bear nosing unconcernedly among the buttercups and turf half- 

 way down the slope. This was the second time I had encountered bears in my search 

 for pheasants. As he dug deeper and the earth tickled his nostrils he uttered sundry 

 , snorts and coughs, but appeared to find edible somethings which compensated him for 

 the discomfort. He moved slowly on and upward until he was not more than forty feet 

 from the tent, and I reached out behind and worked my three-barrelled gun into a more 

 convenient position. 



The use he made of his senses was interesting. Although fully half of my tent was 

 in view and far from matching the dark green of the deodar needles, yet the bear saw 

 nothing unusual, even when staring straight at me. Ever and always his mobile 

 snout curved upward from his teeth, and his nostrils quivered, but even those wonderful 

 organs told him nothing of my whereabouts, the breeze blowing down the valley, carrying 

 every scent before it. His sleek coat glistened in the sunlight, bowing out in smooth, 

 rolling curves as with each motion the great muscles rippled under the skin. Now and 

 then he seemed to scent some particularly delicate morsel, and in his eagerness to root 

 it out he moved slowly about the hollow, almost encircling it, with his muzzle buried 

 deep within it. A flat hind foot would be lifted and held trembling as he lunged and 

 lunged with bare teeth to scrape the tuber or succulent root. 



The sun had dropped low toward the jagged ridge top when a White-crested 

 Kaleege appeared — the first I had ever seen in its native wilds. I knew it even when, 

 fifty yards away, it stepped for only a moment into view. A breath of air caught the 

 long, filmy crest and splayed it out — glistening white, at this distance, against the dark 

 of the plumage. The bird vanished, then reappeared higher up. Suddenly a second 

 black bird beat swiftly along the slope toward me, dodging through the rose and 

 raspberry bushes, and sailing gracefully to the ground. Just before it alighted the 

 white crest and black feathers flashed out — a second cock kaleege. The moment it 

 stopped it straightened up, and with strong, vigorous beats it sent forth its challenge, a 

 deep, reverberating wing-drum, woof-woof-woof-woof I woof ! woof ! 



All this took place just below and within a few yards of the bear. The bird looked 

 at the great black form intently, but showed no symptoms of terror, and a moment later 



