202 WANDERINGS OF A 



vines, apricots, peaches, plums, apples, pears, etc., all growing 

 in great luxuriance, and surrounded by the most heautiful 

 sylvan scenery to he seen anywhere. I took my gun and 

 strolled through the groves in quest of birds. The fairylike 

 form of the paradise flycatcher flitted from bough to bough, 

 while the cooing of the Oriental pigeon sounded sweetly 

 through the copse, and the blackbird-like chaunt of the Cash- 

 mere song-thrush was heard sounding mellowly in the neigh- 

 bouring groves ; but of aU that charmed me most was the 

 weU-known and familiar voice, "that has no sorrow in its 

 song, no winter in its year ;" the remembrance of the budding 

 trees and the green fields and copses of dear old home ; and 

 often is it heard in these regions, for the cuckoo calls all over 

 Cashmere and the neighbouring ranges from March to June. 

 In bushy places numbers of red-backed shrikes were seen 

 hunting after beetles ; and the roller and oriole, as if doomed 

 to dwell in the midst of alarms, were off on the first symp- 

 toms of our approach. The latter has a soft, short note, 

 and may be often seen in the wooded parts of the valley. 

 The common sandpiper was by the side of the brook, emitting 

 its clear plaintive cry, and about on the sandbanks we saw 

 several ring-plover. I shot two pied kingfishers and a 

 black stork on the rivulet near the village of Changes, so 

 famous in the olden times for its pretty dancing-girls. But 

 Changes now-a-days has no such pretensions, although the 

 dark eyes and sunburnt countenances of old and young testify 

 to a race distinct from their neighbours, and with all the 

 appearances of gipsy extraction. It has been asserted that 

 more than one Changes girl entered the zenanas of the Delhi 

 emperors. There are several springs in the neighbourhood 

 of Atsibul. The one at Kokur Nag gushes forth with con- 

 siderable force, and forms a rivulet of a good size, which ulti- 



