Preface 



If this key had included all the birds of 

 Kashmir and the Himalayas, it would have 

 bewildered the user by its complexity, and 

 so failed in its object. As it stands, it should 

 enable anyone who consults it to identify 

 readily twenty-nine-thirtieths of the birds he 

 sees in summer at elevations between 5000 

 and 7500 feet. 



Except in so far as they may serve as aids 

 to identification, nothing has been said about 

 the habits of birds in this book, which is merely 

 an artificial key. 



A treatise on the life-histories and habits of 

 the birds of Kashmir and the Himalayas has 

 yet to be written. Much information, how- 

 ever, about the habits of these birds is con- 

 tained in Hume's Nests and Eggs of Indian 

 Birdsy Jerdon's Birds of India, the bird volumes 

 of the Fauna of British India and my own little 

 book entitled Birds of the Indian Hills, 



