126 THE MOONAL. 



forest, and in the interior it is the most abundant of our game 

 birds. When the hills near Mussooree were first visited by 

 Europeans, it was found to be common there, and a few may 

 still be seen on the same ridge eastwards from Landour. 



" In summer, when the rank vegetation which springs up in 

 the forest renders it impossible to see many yards around, 

 few are to be met with, except near the summits of the great 

 ridges jutting from the snow, where morning and evening, when 

 they come out to feed, they may be seen in the open 

 glades of the forest and on the green slopes above. At that 

 time no one would imagine they were half so numerous as 

 they really are ; but, as the cold season approaches, and the 

 rank grass and herbage dies away, and they begin to collect 

 together, the woods seem full of them, and in some places 

 hundreds may be put up in a day's walk. 



" In summer, the greater number of the males, and some of 

 the females, ascend to near the limits of the forests where the 

 hills attain a great elevation, and may often be seen on the 

 grassy slopes a considerable distance above these limits. 



" In autumn, they all descend into the forest, frequenting those 

 parts where the ground is thickly covered with decayed leaves, 

 under which they search for grubs ; and they descend lower 

 and lower as winter sets in and the ground becomes frozen or 

 covered with snow. If the season be severe, and the ground cover- 

 ed to a great depth, they collect in the woods which face to the 

 south or east, where the snow soon melts in the more exposed 

 parts, or descend much lower down the hill, where it is not so 

 deep, and thaws sufficiently to allow them to lay bare the earth 

 under the bushes and in sheltered places. Many, particularly 

 females and young birds, resort to the neighbourhood of the 

 villages situated high up in the woods, and may often be seen 

 in numbers in the fields. Still, in the severest weather, when 

 fall after fall has covered the ground to a great depth in the 

 higher forests, many remain there the whole winter ; these are 

 almost all males, and probably old birds. 



" In spring all in the lower parts gradually ascend as the 

 snow disappears. 



" In the autumnal and winter months, numbers are generally 

 collected together in the same quarter of the forest, though 

 often so widely scattered that each bird appears to be alone. 

 Sometimes a person may walk for a mile through a wood 

 without seeing one, and suddenly come to some spot, where, 

 within the compass of a few hundred yards, upwards of a 

 score will get up in succession. At another time, or in another 

 forest, they will be found dispersed over every part, one getting 

 up here, another there, two or three further on, and so on, 

 for miles. 



" The females keep more together than the males ; they 

 also descend lower down the hills, and . earlier and more gene- 



