Birds of the Indian Hills 



centauria, the anemone, and the edelweiss occur 

 in profusion. Orchids grow in large numbers 

 in most parts of the Himalayas. 



Every hillside is not covered with foliage. 

 Many are rugged and bare. Some of these are 

 too precipitous to sustain vegetation, others 

 are masses of quartz and granite. On the 

 hillsides most exposed to the wind, only grass 

 and small shrubs are able to obtain a foothold. 



" On the vast ridges of elevated mountain 

 masses," writes Weber in The Forests of Upper 

 India, " which constitute the Himalayas are 

 found different regions of distinct character. 

 The loftiest peaks of the snowy range abutting 

 on the great plateaux of Central Asia and Tibet 

 run like a great belt across the globe, falling 

 towards the south-west to the plains of India. 

 Between the summit and the plains, a distance 

 of 60 to 70 miles, there are higher, middle, 

 and lower ranges, so cut up by deep and wind- 

 ing valleys and river-courses, that no labyrinth 

 could be found more confusing or difficult 

 to unravel. There is nowhere any tableland, 

 as at the Cape or in Colorado, with horizontal 

 strata of rock cut down by water into valleys 

 or canons. The strata seem, on the contrary, 

 to have been shoved up and crumpled in all 



