XOrUS ON THE BIRDS OF AM BALA DliSTlilCT, PUNJAB. GG7 



There are a few specific refereuces to the district in the four 

 volumes of ' Birds' by Blanford and Gates in the Fauna of India 

 Series, and in Gates' edition of "Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds". 

 From time to time sliort notes on individual species have appeared 

 in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, in "Stray 

 Feathers " and other publications. I have discovered and included 

 a few odd notes from my father's old game books. 



So far, however, as far as I know, no attempt at a collected 

 account of the birds of the district has yet appeared. It is in order 

 to provide the frame-work fctr such an account that I have prepared 

 this list. In it I have included such published references as I have 

 discovered under their respective species for the convenience of 

 other observei's : but working fa)' I'rom any complete library of 

 Ornithological works I have doubtless omitted manj^ published notes 

 in volumes that are not included in my small private library. For 

 the sake of uniformity the variant forms of the word ' Ambala ' have 

 all been corrected to the now official spelling. The nomenclature 

 is for the most part that adopted by Blanford and Gates in the 

 ' Fauna of India ' volumes, and the serial numbers are those of the 

 species in that work. 



1.* The Raven — Corvus cora.r, L. 



" Numbers of these birds may be found around Ambala in the 

 cold weather ; most of them disappear again, but some remain 

 to breed. I found a nest. . . .on 28th March 1866. It contain- 

 ed a nearly fledgeil young one." (Beavan). 



Personally i found the Raven much scarcer at Ambala than 

 at any other Punjab station where 1 have been posted. The 

 only ones that I saw were a pair at Mubariqpur on the 

 3rd and 6th of November, a very few at Rupar in December, 

 and a pair at Kalka at the end of December. 



4.* The Jungle Crow — Corvus macvorhifuchus, Wagl. 



This crow appears to be widely spread in the district during 

 the cold weather, occurring in company with C. splendeiis. In 

 November, 1 found it common at Mubariqpur, Chandighar, and 

 Bilaspur and at Chandighar again in February. In December 

 numbers were collecting to roost in the bamboo jungle about 

 Kalka, though in March they had gone leaving only a few 

 individuals who would probably breed in the vicinity. On Janu- 

 ary 3l8t and February 4th, a flock was observed in Ambala 

 itself, and a single bird came into my compound on February 

 10th. The species was abundant in Kasauli in the first week 

 of March. 



7.* The Indian House Crow — Corvus splendens, Vieill. 



General distributed, abundant, and resident, mixinp; freely 

 with the last species where it occurs. A few were noted as high 

 as the bazaar in Kasauli during the second week in March. 



Beavan records the large flights of these birds which assemble 

 for roosting about Ambala, but states that they only occurred 

 in the cold weather; at Jheliim, however, 1 noticed that the 

 habit was cuntiuued also during the hot weathor ('* ibis." 

 1916, p. 4 .) 



