NOmS ON THE lilRD.S OFAMUALA IJI^TRICI, PUNJAB. (i(i9 



low hill jungles about Kalka ; in the last mentionod locality the 

 species was very common in the first week of March, when the 

 flocks had already paired ofl' for breeding. 



" It is seen also m gardens about Anibala " (Beavan). 



269. The Himalayan Black Bulbul — Hypsipetes psaroides, Vig. 



Parties were noted along the road between Kalka and 

 Kasauli on oth and 10th of March : two birds were seen just 

 above Kalka on 28th December. 



278. The Madras Red-vented Bulbul — Molpastes hcemorrhous (Gm.) 



283. The Punjab Ked-vented Bulbul — Molpantes intennedius (Hog.) 



Common throughout the district, including the low hills about 

 Kalka. Unfortiitiately 1 preserved no specimens, so am not sure 

 which of the above races is the form represented in the district. 



284.* The White-cheeked Bulbul — Molpastes leucof/eni/s (Gray.) 



Met with in numbers ou Kasauli hill in the second week in 

 March and in the low hills above Kalka at the end of December. 

 Beavan records it as extremely abiind.mt all along the road 

 from Kalka upwards to Simla : he further adds " Dr. Scott writes 

 to mo lately that he has seen several specimens in the station 

 at Ambala during the last hot weather. I never before had 

 heard of its occurring in the plains." Ou Dr. Scott's list occurs 

 the note " seen this year for the first time.*' 



321.* The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch — Sitfa castaneicentrU, Frankl. 



Beavan states : " I made my first acquaintance with this hand- 

 some little bird when staying at Ambala with the late Dr. Scott 

 (who had not previously observed it there, though Colonel Tytler 

 had) ; and on the 22nd Uct. 1863 shot one in his garden .... 

 two others procured in the same locality a few days later." 



I found it common in the fine roadside trees of the fJupar 

 sub-division from November till March, and also met with several 

 at Ambala; on one occasion two entered my compound in a 

 hunting party of various small insectivorous birds. I found 

 a nest with young in a roadside Cirrhus tree in Civil Lines on 

 19th April. The ordinary call of this species is a shrill squeak 

 very similar to that uttered by the common musk rat ; the male 

 has also a \<^ng tremulous whistling call. They are very fond 

 of perching on twigs at the summit of high trees, 



327. The Black Drongo — Dicrurus ater (Herm.) 



Common and generally distributed, but their numbers seemed 

 to be greatly increased during the second half of March by 

 immigration. Beavan writes : "This species occurs also fre- 

 quently about Ambala " and refers to a note on it there by Dr. 

 Scott in the " Ibis" for 1867, at p. 1.36. 



330. The White-bellied Drongo — Dicrurus ccvrulescens (L.) 



Beavan says : "I have since procured the species at Ambala 

 where it is rare. However, I procured an example in Dr. Scott's 

 garden there, October 27th, 1866." 



341,* The Himalayan Tree-Creeper — Certhia himalmjav, Vig. 



The first, Tree-creeper was met with at Mubariqpur on 7th 

 November; from the 9th to the 11th one was seen at Chandi- 

 gar, and one was seen at Bilaspur on the 26th and 29th of the 

 same month. It probably breeds in Kasauli as I met with on« 



