THE HABITAT OF HIMALAYAN 

 "BIRDS 



Himalayan birds inhabit what is perhaps the 

 most wonderful tract of country in the world. 

 The Himalayas are not so much a chain of 

 mountains as a mountainous country, some 

 eighty miles broad and several hundred long — 

 a country composed entirely of mountains and 

 valleys with no large plains or broad plateaux. 



There is a saying of an ancient Sanskrit poet 

 which, being translated into English, runs : " In 

 a hundred ages of the gods I could not tell 

 you of the glories of Himachal." This every 

 writer on things Himalayan contrives to drag 

 into his composition. Some begin with the 

 quotation, while others reserve it for the last, 

 and make it do duty for the epigram which 

 stylists assure us should terminate every essay. 



Some there are who quote the Indian sage 

 only to mock him. Such assert that the 

 beauties of the Himalayas have been greatly 

 exaggerated — that, as regards grandeur, their 



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