BIRDS OF DARJEELING AND INDIA. 
INTRODUCTION. 
HIS book was written at the request of friends desirous of 
obtaining an easier method of learning about birds met with, 
chiefly, in Darjeeling, also, as an aid to getting acquainted with, 
some of the commoner species found in their haunts down in the 
plains, chiefly of Bengal. This however, seemed to be a secondary 
consideration, the chief desire was for the birds of Darjeeling, and the 
district, which were more frequently seen, when up, for a_ holiday, 
when leisure was more at one’s disposal, in a morning’s walk, or a 
lengthened excursion into the district, or possibly into Sikkim. Most 
of the books on Indian birds offer but little help in learning about our 
feathered friends in their wild state. In this work, I have utilised my 
numerous notes, and diaries kept for many years. Most of the books on 
Ornithology, dealing with the species found in India, appear somewhat 
obscure, whilst, on the other hand, popular works convey but little 
information, I have been much struck, on several occasions on finding, 
a friend, to whom, I had lent a more or less technical work on Orni- 
thology, skip over such important details, as the description of such 
and such a bird, or measurements, etc.: On being asked, I was told 
that it would be like “a needle in a hay stack,” to find a certain 
bird by the description given. Then, again, science hedges in each 
of its branches by a formidable array of scientific terms, perplexing 
phraseology and crowded up detail, that many a faithful student, and 
true lover of nature is driven from the field. One cannot help 
thinking, that, the tendency of the age, appears to be to mystify, so 
that any help to lead true seekers to these clear Olympian Springs 
‘ought to be thankfully received. The difficulties which beset us, 
at the outset are, that, with the smaller birds, we get but a hurried 
glance,—may be the bird just spotted, warbling sweetly a few yards 
away, as you approach, its song stops, and a fleeting figure is all that 
meets the gaze, or the little bird which skips about the branches 
with such rapid movements, that it is all the eye can do, to follow it 
from perch to perch ; as for trying to discover if the primaries or 
tail feathers are graded or not, or the 4th and 5th quills are unequal, 
or the bill notched, the little toe long and syndactyle, are out of 
the question, These are doubtlessly all important points, which can 
