VI PREFACE. 



It is only very recently that any attempt has been made towards 

 contributing to a knowledge of the Sind fauna. Among the first of the 

 naturalists to whom science owes much, may be named Mr. W. T. 

 Blanford, whose contributions from time to time in various scientific 

 journals have helped to a general knowledge of the mammals and reptiles 

 inhabting the Province. To Mr. A. 0. Hume, c.b., we are indebted 

 for a knowledge of the avi-fauna, his chief and largest contribution 

 having appeared in the first volume of the periodical entitled, " Stray 

 Feathers,'^ launched by him in 1872. Captain Butler, Mr. H. E. 

 James, Colonel LeMesurier, Mr. S. B. Doig, Lieutenant Barnes, myself, 

 and others following up the interest in the subject, contributed subse- 

 quently to a more complete knowledge, the number of known species 

 being now 399. But notwithstanding these researches, Sind cannot 

 be said to be thoroughly explored, to do which with any degree of 

 success is a task of no small difficulty, and requires the co-operaiion of 

 enquirers and interested persons. 



The materials for this work have been mainly derived (1st) from 

 collections made by myself during a thirteen years' residence in Sind, 

 and during occasional tours in the Concan, Deccan, Central and South 

 India, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, and Southern Afghanistan. 

 Next, are the different works treating of these four vei'tebrate classes, 

 as well as the various important contributions to a knowledge of the 

 local fauna of many parts of India in the volumes of the London 

 Zoological Society's Journal, Annals and Magazines of Natural History, 

 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Ibis, Stray Feathers, and 

 other scientific periodicals. 



Descriptions are given of all the Sind vertebrates — except fish — 

 known to science. In every instance where a sufficiently satisfactory 

 series of specimens was not available to me for description, and where 

 the animal had already been so fully described as to leave nothing to 

 be desired, I have pi-eferred to give the original descriptions. These 

 are chiefly from Dobson's excellent monograph of the Chieroptera ; 

 Oldham Thomas' monograph of the Indian species of Mas ; Sharpe 

 and Seebohm's monographs of birds in the collection of the British 

 Museum (vols. 1 to 6); Gunther's most valuable work on the 



