216 WANDEEINGS OF A 



colour of the coat was white, with splashes of black on the 

 back and hips ; the tail was short and bushy, with the tips of 

 the hairs black. The domestic or pariah dog is often forced 

 to depend on its own exertions, and hunts in packs over 

 large tracts of country on the Indian plains, but not appa- 

 rently on the Himalayas. 



The black-headed or Hastings pheasant (Geriornis melano- 

 cephda, Gray) is found on the wooded slopes of the Peer 

 Pinjal. This noble representative of the Phasianidse is one 

 of the gayest, and at the same time largest, of its family. 

 From the briUiaucy of plumage, it has been designated by 

 Europeans the Argus pheasant, but the true Argus is a native 

 of Sumatra and the Malayan peninsula. The most common 

 local name for this species, besides the above, is " jewar." In 

 some parts of the Cashmere ranges, especially in the district 

 we are now investigating, the male is called " sonalu," and the 

 female " selalee." Its close ally, the Sikim horned pheasant 

 (C. satyra), has not to my knowledge been met with on the 

 north-western Himalaya. The loud wailing cry of the jewar 

 sounds mournfully along the-vaUeys, and is more often heard 

 at dusk and break of day than at any other time. Oft, in the 

 stOlness of an alpine solitude, at my tent-door, by the cheerful 

 log-fire, have I listened to the well-known wa, wa, wa of this 

 bird. I believe the jewar is much more common than is 

 generally supposed, for its habits are cunning and stealthy, 

 always preferring the deepest solitudes of the forest, and 

 seldom taking to wing unless when hard pressed. like other 

 Himalayan forest game-birds, it is fond of secreting itself in 

 dense foliage. The jewar is usually met with in flocks. 

 I have never seen the plach or monal frequenting the same 

 localities with the above species. The two former are common 

 on the high wooded slopes of the northern Pinjal, but the 



