Habitat of Himalayan Birds 



abound. Himachal has been converted into 

 fairyland by the monsoon rains. 



A remarkable feature of the Himalayas is 

 the abruptness with which they rise from the 

 plains in most places. In some parts there 

 are low foothills ; but speaking generally the 

 mountains that rise from the plain attain a 

 height of 4000 or 5000 feet. 



It is difficult for any person who has not 

 passed from the plains of India to the Himalayas 

 to realise fully the vast difference between the 

 two countries and the dramatic suddenness 

 with which the change takes place. 



The plains are as flat as the proverbial pan- 

 cake — a dead monotony of cultivated alluvium, 

 square mile upon square mile of wheat, rice, 

 vetch, sugar-cane, and other crops, amidst which 

 mango groves, bamboo clumps, palms, and 

 hamlets are scattered promiscuously. In some 

 places the hills rise sheer from this, in others 

 they are separated from the alluvial plains by 

 belts of country known as the Tarai and 

 Bhabar. The Tarai is low-lying, marshy land 

 covered with tall, feathery grass, beautifully 

 monotonous. This is succeeded by a stretch 

 of gently-rising ground, 10 or 20 miles in 

 breadth, known as the Bhabar — a strip of 



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