106 PERSONAL NJRRATIVE. 



In other places we subsequently often saw large num- 

 bers of this bird flying to water in the evening and 

 early morning, but nowhere so many as at Saati. All 

 sand-grouse have particular hours of the day for drinking, 

 and Pt. Lichtensteini, like the closely-allied Pt. fasci- 

 atus of Hindustan, drinks at twilight in the morning 

 and evening. 



In the morning I found large numbers of bunting 

 {Emheriza septemstriata) at the water. We started at 

 daybreak, and marched west for about fifteen miles to 

 Ailat. A small outcrop of granitic rocks appears at 

 Saati from beneath the volcanic formations, and the 

 spring is probably brought to the surface in consequence 

 of their existence, the water in the porous scoriaceous 

 rock being dammed back and forced to the surface by 

 the impervious granitoid gneiss. The latter formation, 

 doubtless, underlies the volcanic beds throughout, and 

 probably at no great depth. After passing Saati, volcanic 

 rocks, precisely similar to those further east, are met 

 with for about three or four miles, when metamorphics 

 succeed them ; the road traverses low metamorphic 

 hills for a few miles further, and then emerges upon 

 a plain four or five miles broad, in which is the vil- 

 lage of Ailat, consisting of thatched huts surrounded 

 by high thorn fences to keep out wild beasts, here 

 numerous. 



The plain around Ailat was tolerably green, even at 

 this period of the year ; large tamarisk trees grew in 

 places along a broad sandy watercourse which traversed 

 it ; and they, with a few other plants, gave the country 



