PREFACE. 



In publishing tliis work I fulfil the promise held out in my hand- 

 book to the Geology, Botany, and Zoology of Sind, of issuing in due 

 course a series of volumes descriptive of the flora and fauna of Sind. 

 In 1881 the " Plants and Drugs/' of the Province was published. This, 

 besides being largely patronized, has been productive of good results, 

 inasmuch, as affording aid to collectors, several collections have been 

 brought together of the Sind plants, as well as of those of Beloochistan 

 and the shores of the Persian Gulf, a knowledge of the flora of which 

 latter countries was hithei'to very limited. The importance, too, of the 

 subject may well be estimated by the calls from America, Continental 

 Europe, and Museums in India for supplies of the indigenous drugs. 



The present work will, it is hoped, be found as useful a manual 

 of the four vertebrate classes, viz., Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and 

 Amphibians of Sind, as well as of the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, 

 Beloochistan, Persia and the Western Presidency generally, in so far 

 as the animals inhabiting these parts are identical with those of Sind ; 

 especially to those interested enquirers to whom hitherto a descriptive 

 manual was a desideratum, and to others who find delightful employ- 

 ment or enjoyment in their leisure hours in attempting to elucidate 

 from personal observations the various branches of natural history. 

 It is purely intended as a means to the acquirement of a better 

 knowledge of the fauna of the Province, by recording what is already 

 known. There is no other British possession in India which, in this 

 respect, is so far behind as Sind. Mr. Blanford speaks of this fact in 

 a pamphlet circulated in 1875, and, as he says, "it is really not 

 creditable to us to be obliged to confess that, after Sind has been 

 British territory for thirty-two years, (more now) we actually know 

 less of the animals inhabiting it than the Russians have already 

 ascertained in the case of their newly-acquired Province of Tur- 

 kistau." 



