BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



BRITISH BIRDS IN THE PLAINS 

 OF INDIA 



MOST birds are cosmopolitans and belong 

 to no nationality. Strictly speaking, 

 there is only one British bird, only one 

 bird found in the British Isles and no- 

 where else, and that is the red grouse ( Tetrao scoticus). 



For this reason some apology seems necessary for 

 the heading of this article. " Birds common to the 

 Plains of India and the British Isles" would doubtless 

 be a more correct title. However, I write as an 

 Englishman. When I meet in a foreign land a bird 

 I knew in England I like to set that bird down as a 

 fellow-countryman. 



In India most of the familiar birds : the thrush, the 

 blackbird, the robin redbreast, the wren, the chaffinch, 

 and the blue tit are conspicuous by their absence ; their 

 places being taken by such strange forms as mynas, 

 bulbuls, seven sisters, parakeets, etc. The Englishman 

 is therefore prone to exaggerate the differences between 

 the avifauna of his own country and that of India. The 



