104 WANDERINGS OF A 



across the dizzy height, to where yon ibex stands perched on 

 the brink of a yawning gulf ; his rifle laid across the rock, with 

 a steady hand and fixed eye he marks the fatal spot ; scarcely 

 done when the leaden messenger is on its unerring course, 

 and the noble quarry is seen rolling and bounding down the 

 precipice. It is with such reminiscences I connect the Hima- 

 layan shickaree. 



The jungles along the banks of the Gerrie are stocked with 

 barking-deer, but although we saw many daily they were too 

 shy, and could not be got at from the denseness of the jungle. 

 Young brought me a specimen of that beautiful sunbird called 

 the red honeysucker or goulparah creeper {Nectarinia goul- 

 'pariensis) ; it is not uncommon in the more sheltered parts. 

 The note of the male is sweet and varied. In habits, like 

 the simbirds in general, they resemble the humming-birds, of 

 which they are the Eastern representatives. 



We spent a day in Thor Valley among the game, and I 

 observed footprints of wild pigs in great abundance. A herd 

 of large monkeys, with fawn-coloured bodies, black faces, and 

 white cheeks, were seen in a wood. The three species of 

 parrakeet are found here feeding on the buds and tender shoots 

 of trees ; the rose-ringed and plum-headed have been men- 

 tioned before ; the slate-headed (Palceornis schisticeps) is only 

 met with in the mountains, and never affects the plains of. 

 India. It is usually seen in flocks, and during the harvest- 

 season commits depredations among the wheat and barley. 

 Each of the three species is readily distinguished on wing — 

 the tail of the rose-ringed is a uniform green, that of the 

 plum-headed has the tip white, the other has the extremity 

 yellow. We came on a wounded tawny vulture by the side of 

 a pond ; one of the poor animal's legs was terribly mutilated, 

 yet with great courage, he repelled the attacks of our dogs by 



