585 

 SOME BIRDS OF LUDHIANA DISTRICT, PUNJAB. 



BY 



H. Whistler, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



It so chanced last year (1917) that on return from England I 

 was posted to Ludhiana District and remained there for roughly 

 four and-a-half months from the 20th June to the 9th October. 

 During my spare time in that period I collected a fair number of 

 birds and made a considerable amount of notes, but the time was 

 too short and the time of year rather unsatisfactory for gaining 

 anything like a complete knowledge of the birds of the district. 

 Several interesting birds were however obtained and a desire to get 

 them on record has induced me to write this short note, to which 

 for the sake of completeness I have added the names of all species 

 observed, so as to form a nucleus for a future complete list of the 

 birds of the district. All notes unless otherwise stated refer to the 

 neighbourhood of the town of Ludhiana past which runs an old 

 channel of the Sutlej River known as the Budhan Nala ; this 

 channel is clear cut and well defined running between grassy 

 meadovi's, with occawonal reed beds along its banks ; it was one of 

 my happiest hunting grounds, most of the country round Ludhiana 

 being merely a mixture of cultivation and sandy plain with coarse 

 Sarkana grass. 



Ludhiana is a town and district of considerable importance 

 situated on the main line of the N.-W. Railway betwen Ambala 

 and Amritsar ; its north-westerly boundary is the River Sutlej over 

 which the Railway line and Great Trunk road cross about 6 miles 

 from Ludhiana at a place called Ladhowal. 



The serial numbers and names of the species refer to those used 

 by Blanford and dates in the four volumes of Birds " Fauna of 

 India Series." 



1. The Raven — Corvics corax, L. 



7. The Indian Hoase-Crow — Corvus sjjlendens, YiceW. 

 16. The Indian Tree- Pie — Dendrocitta rufa (Scop.), 



104. The Striated Bs^hhlav— A ryya earlii (Blyth.). 



Some Babblers seen in the grass jungle at Ladhowal were 

 probably of this species. 



105. The Common Babbler — Argya caudata (Dum.), 

 107. The Large Grey Babbler — Argya malcolmi (Sykes). 



Common and doubtless resident at Ludhiana, Jagraon, and 

 Khanna. 

 110. The Jungle Babbler — Cratevopus canorus (L.). 

 139. The Yellow-eyed Babbler — Pyctorhis sinensis (Gm.). 



Met with occasionally in July and August ; an empty nest 

 was found on July 11th but it was apparently deserted ; a pair 

 with a brood of newly fledged young were seen on 6th August. 



