130 THE MOONAL. 



may be killed in an hour's walk, while at other times half that 

 number is a fair bag for a good shot and a persevering walker 

 to bring home after a whole day's shooting." 



I would add that, as is the case with all our Hill Pheasants, 

 you require, if you want to enjoy the sport, a couple of good 

 strong dogs, middle-sized spaniels, with good noses and trained 

 to retrieve. 



In a recent letter to me Wilson says : — " There is one 

 peculiarity about the Moonal which I forgot to notice. Where- 

 ever they are rare, there they are also sure to be very wild and 

 shy. This is the case whether we look to countries widely 

 separated, in one of which the birds are numerous, and in the other 

 scarce, or to different neighbouring localities. For instance, 

 Moonal are comparatively rare in Kashmir, while they are 

 very abundant in Garhwal. In the former country they are 

 very wild and shy ; in the latter, as a rule, quite tame in compari- 

 son. But even in Garhwal, there are in many places miles and 

 miles of forest, the Gangutri forests, for instance, where 

 Moonals are as rare as in Kashmir, and in these places they 

 are quite as wild ; while in other forests, barely a day's march 

 distant, they are plentiful and Barn-door Fowls in comparative 

 tameness." 



The great demand for the brilliant skins of the Moonal that 

 has existed for many years has led to their almost total 

 extermination in some parts of the hills, as the native shi- 

 karis shoot and snare for the pot as well as for skins, and 

 kill as many females as males. On the other hand, though for 

 nearly thirty years my friend Mr. Wilson has yearly sent home 

 from 1,000 to 1,500 skins of this species and the Tragopan, 

 there are still in the woods whence they were obtained as many 

 as, if not more than, when he first entered them, simply because 

 he has rigidly preserved females and nests, and (as amongst 

 English Pheasants) one cock suffices for several hens. 



No doubt the number of birds has greatly decreased in many 

 of the more frequented localities during the past decade even, 

 but I know scores of rather out-of-the-way forest-clad ranges 

 where a man, who worked for them late in autumn or in winter, 

 would still have no difficulty in bringing from five to eight brace 

 to book in a day. It is common to lament the Moonal as rapidly 

 becoming a thing of the past, but let sportsmen cheer up, there 

 is a right good sprinkling of them still left. 



I see that Wilson says nothing very definite as to range of 

 elevation, and I may say that this varies commonly from about 

 6,000 to 12,000 feet, partly according to season, and partly 

 according to the individual idiosyncracy of the bird. But I have 

 shot an old cock, sunning himself on the point of a project- 

 ing rock just like a snow cock, at close to 15,000 feet elevation^ 

 and I have known stragglers killed by my people after bad 

 weather in quite low valleys, not above 4,500 feet above sea level. 



