288 



seems to me that the birds of India are more interesting than those of 

 America, Africa or Australia, and infinitely more so than the poverty- 

 stricken collection found in Europe. This opinion, I would add, is shared 

 by Mr. Frank Finn, whose knowledge of the birds of the world is as great 

 as that of any man living. 



Wealth of Spkciks. 



Not the least inportaut feature of the avifauna of India is its wealth 

 of species. Oates and Blandford describe over sixteen hundred of these. 

 Among Indian birds are numbered ioS different kinds of Warblers, 56 Wood- 

 peckers, 30 Cuckoos, the same number of Ducks, 28 Starlings, 17 Butcher- 

 birds, 16 Kingfishers and 8 Crows. 



The richness of the avifauna is accounted for by the wide differences 

 in the climate of the various provinces of India, and by the fact that India 

 lies in two great divisions of the ornithological world. The Himalayas 

 form part of the Palseartic region, while the the plains are included in the 

 Oriental Region. 



The feathered folk that dwell in the mountains and valleys of the 

 Himalavan range differ as widely from the denizens of the plains as do the 

 birds of England from those of Africa. The thirty-mile tonga journey from 

 Rawalpindi to Murree transports the traveller from one bird realm to 

 another. In hot, parched, dusty Pindi the most noticeable birds are the 

 Kites, Sparrows, House Crows, Myuas, Rose-ringed and Alexandrine Paro- 

 quets, Indian Hoopoes and Rollers, Bee-eaters, Paddy birds, Tailor birds, 

 Rat-birds, Molpastes Bulbuls, King-crows, Ring Doves, little Brown Doves, 

 Orioles, Spotted Owlets, the Seven Sisters, Koels (Eudyuamis houorata), 

 Robins, White-breasted Kingfishers, Golden-backed Woodpeckers, Scaven- 

 ger Vultures and Fantailed and Paradise Flycatchers. 



Of all these, the Kites, Orioles, Mynas, Fantailed Flycatchers and 

 Scavenger Vultures are the only ones seen on the well-wooded Murree hills. 

 There, instead of the caw of the House Crow the deeper note of the Corby 

 is heard. The crescendo shriek of the Koel is replaced by the pleasing 

 double-note of the European Cuckoo (Cuculus catiot <~us). For the eternal 

 "coo-coo-coo" of the Ring (Tut tier risorius) and the little Brown Doves, 

 the " kokla kokla" of the Kokla Green Pigeon (Sphenocercus sphenurus) is 

 substituted. The chuckles and cackles of the Spotted Owlets no longer 

 cleave the night air, but the monotonous whistle of the Collared Pigmy 

 Owlet {Glaucidiuvi brodiei). The boisterous Rose-ringed and Alexand-iine 

 Paroquets are replaced by their Slaty-headed cousins (Pa/aeomis schisticeps). 

 The Golden-backed Woodpecker, the King Crow, the Coppersmith, 

 the Indian Hoopoe, the Grey Partridge (Francolinus pondicerianits) , and the 

 Alolpastes Bulbuls are supplanted ill the Himalayas by the Pied Wood- 

 peckers (Dendtocopus hitnalayensis), the Ashy Drongo {Diaurus longicauda- 

 lus), the Great Himalayan Barbet [Megalaema marshallorum), the European 

 Hoopoe [Upupa epops), the Chukor {Caccabis chucar), and the Black Bulbuls 



