PREFACE. 5 



Of this number 49 only are known to breed within our 

 Hmits from the month of February to about the third week of 

 August, during which period there are not less than 76 other 

 edible birds which form excellent substitutes. Chief among 

 these latter are the TreronidcB and ColumhidcB or the families 

 of Pigeons, also the Buntings and Doves, besides a few of the 

 Charadrinae, which breed in India and Ceylon, and are found 

 the whole year round. After the third week of August, 

 besides the " Game" which up to then were prohibitive, 

 multifarious hosts of Waders and Swimmers are added to the 

 list of birds sought for by all sportsmen, for which with 

 doubtful footsteps it is necessary to tramp through reeds and 

 rushes and amidst oozing mud and stagnant pools. These 

 are the Herons, Snipe, Curlews, Geese, Ducks, Stone and 

 Sand Plovers, Stints, Quails, Coots, Buntings, Godwits &c., 

 of which there are numerous species and vast numbers of 

 individuals of each, chiefly migrants which winter in India, 

 leaving again at tolerably fixed periods during the months of 

 March, April and May. During winter, wherever suitable 

 situations are found, as marshes, mudbanks, channels and 

 lakes, or dhunds, formed either by the inundation of a 

 river or by rain, these places literally teem with Waders and 

 Swimmers. There is abundance of shooting at this period, 

 and in some places, as the Munchur Lake in Sind, wild fowl 

 literally swarm in such large masses, that when disturbed, 

 they form quite a feathered cloud in the air. And this the 

 sportsman may enjoy for fully 8 months in the year. 



It is much to be regretted that the Avifauna of Cashmere 

 has not been as fully worked out as either Afghanistan or 

 Persia. An attempt has been made to give the distribution 

 of the Game Birds in Cashmere ; the information is, however, 



