BIED NOTES FROM MURREE. UB 



The local distribution of breeding species in Murree is not without 

 interest. Many species, at breeding time, confine themselves either 

 to one or other side of the ridge, the top of which forms the range 

 1)0undary for the time being. This is, no doubt, explicable by the 

 range of hills on which Murree stands running practically east and 

 west and the consequent difference in the climate and flora of either 

 slope. The slopes facing south, receiving the direct rays of the sun, 

 have naturally, in the dry season, a much higher temperature than 

 those facing North and here the flora is restricted to an open forest 

 consisting of the Blue Pine (Pinus e.vcelsa), Hill Oaks {Quercus ilex and 

 <i27a/a), The Himalayan Dogwood Tree {Cornvs macr oph// 1 la), n few 

 Pimis lov(jifoUa, Black Poplars (^Poindus nigra), Mulberries (Morvs 

 alba and nigra), Wild Cherry (^Prumis padv,s),.A\mGot {Prunus jjer- 

 sica), and Pear trees (Pyrus variolosa). Scattered throughout this thin 

 forest and over the hillsides down to the cultivation 3,000 feet 

 below is a thick nndergrowth of The Dog Bose {Rosa moschata), The 

 Himalayan Honeysuckle (Lonicera quinqnelocularis), Khenti broom 

 (Indigofera heterantha), Ilex scrub (Ilea; dipyrena), and The Himalayan 

 Barberry (Berberis aristafa). The Travellers' Joy (Clematis vitalba) is 

 often found trailing in profusion over the first two of these shrubs. 

 Until the rains break there is practical I v no runnino- water on this 

 side of the hill. 



Crossing to the northern slopes the aspect of the flora changes 

 considerably. Here we are in dense and varied forest two trees of 

 which are not to be found on the southern slopes, namely, The 

 Silver Fir (J 6?(?5 IF^W>m?ia), and The Yew (Ta.rw„s- baccatta). Other 

 trees of this forest iare Tall Oaks, Quercus semecarpifolia, dilatata and 

 ilex, Ashes {Fraxinas fiorilmnda), Horse Chestnuts (y^sculus hulica), 

 Sycamores {Acer pictuni), Himalayan Toon trees (Cedrela serrata), 

 Wild Cherry trees, Hazels (Cor?///^^ colurnd) and a few Walnut trees 

 {.luglans regid), Blue Pines Black Poplars, and Elms (X^/m//.s' loalli- 

 chiana). With the exception of a little Khenti broom, Himalayan 

 Honeysuckle, a few brambles {Rubus fniticosus^ and {lasiocarpus) 

 and the Dog Rose {Rosa sericea), the undergrowth on this side consists 

 almost entirely of Viburnvm fcetens with here and there patches of 

 Skimmia laureola. These two shrubs, I may here mention, compose 

 the undergrowth wrongly referred to in " Notes On The Birds of 

 Thandiani " as Daphne oleioides and a species of Sti-obilanthes. On 



