252 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



" Fauna of British India " Birds, where the Palghat Hills are said to 

 be in Travancore and the Auamallai Hills in S. Travancore, whereas 

 the former are in Cochin and the latter chiefly in British territory, 

 only a small portion lying within Travancore in the extreme north. 



The third district, the low country, excepting the extreme south, is 

 neither flat nor undulating, but may be described as hummocky, 

 consisting as it does of a number of low hills divided by narrow 

 valleys in which rice is usually grown. These hills are still covered 

 with small trees and undergrowth, and in many places serpent groves, 

 of some half acre or so in extent, are left where the old forest still 

 remains. At one place especially, called Kutyaui, about 8 miles from 

 Trevandrum, a much larger extent of the old forest has been left 

 standing, and here I have obtained many birds which are elsewhere 

 found only on the hills, and also the small dusky striped squirrel 

 (Sciurus subline atus), which is not usually met with below 2,000 feet 

 elevation. Nearer the sea there is a belt of cocoanut cultivation and 

 there is a chain of fresh-water lakes connected by canals which forms a 

 waterway running north and south throughout the whole length of the 

 country. Here, of course, is the home of numerous water birds, mostly 

 migrants. The rainfall at Trevandrum, 50 miles from Cape Comorin, is 

 sixty-five inches, distributed as follows : — 33 in the South- West mon- 

 soon (the middle of May to the middle of September), 23 in the North- 

 East monsoon (middle of October to middle of January), and 8 only in 

 the dry months, from the middle of January to middle of May ; 40 miles 

 north of this at Quilon it is 62, 29 and 8, beyond this such forms as 

 Pyrrhulauda grisea and Cursorius coromandelkus do not extend, as the 

 rainfall increases gradually till at Alleppy, 40 miles north, it is 70, 37 

 and 13 in the same periods. The usual west-coast forms, such as Iole 

 icterica, Tephrodomis sylvicola, Xantholcema malabarica, are common. 



The fourth district, the low country about and within twenty miles of 

 Cape Comorin, is flat. It is the rice-growing district of Travancore, and 

 the rainfall is only 25 inches. The palmyra here takes the place of 

 the cocoanut palm. It is this district which, as I have said, corresponds 

 with the northern region of Ceylon and with the Carnatic. Here only 

 in Travancore are found among Mammals the South Indian Hedge-hog 

 (Erinaceus micropus), among Reptiles Gongylophis conicus and Eryx 

 johnii, and among Birds Lanius vittatus, Munia malabarica, Franeolinus 

 pondicerianus, Neophron ginginianus, Turtur cambayensis and Turtur 

 risorius. 



