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A LIST OF THE BIRDS FOUND IN AND 

 ABOUT MA DRAW. 



By D. Dbwar, i.c.s. 



This list is, I regret to say, by no means complete. Indeed, so full 

 of lacunae is it that I should not have thought of sending it to the 

 Journal, but for the fact that I am leaving Madras and am not likely to 

 return to the station, — at any rate for soma time to come. 



So far as 1 have been able to ascertain no list of the birds found 

 about Madras exists. I therefore venture to hope that this list, in- 

 complete though it be, may prove of some service to bird-lovers, who 

 happen in future to be stationed in Madras. 



Now that a beginning has been made 1 hope that some ornithologist 

 will ere long compile a complete list of the winged creatures seen in 

 the neighbourhood of the chief town of the Benighted Presidency. 



The present list was put together during the cold weather of 11)04- 

 05, which was an abnormal one on account of the total failure of 

 the N.-E. monsoon. It is therefore tolerably certain that some wading 

 birds will have to be added to those given below. 



The opportunities I have enjoyed of going outside the immediate 

 environs of Madras have been few, hence nearly all the birds herein 

 enumerated are to be found within five miles of Fort St. George. 



As, however, some of the birds that find place in this list were seen 

 farther afield, I have taken as my area a strip of coast 10 miles 

 broad extending from Chingleput on the south to the Pulicat lake on 

 the north ; that is to say, an area of roughly 400 square miles. The 

 Madras man who goes out for a day's shooting is not likely to go out- 

 side this area. 



The number given against each bird is that attached to it in the 

 Fauna of British India. 



4. Corvus macrorhynchus. — The Jungle Crow. — The term "jungle 

 crow" is a misnomer, for this bird affects town almost as much as C. 

 splendens does. The two species are almost equally common within 

 the Municipal limits of Madras. It is amusing to notice the respect 

 with which this species is treated by C. splendens. It nests from 

 March to June in Ma Iras. 



7. Cofvus splendens. — The House Crow. — The bird is a positive pest 

 in Madras. Their numbers must considerably exceed the human popu- 



