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bird is extremely common, but it merely skirts the outer hills ; 
about 5500 feet, without entering them. I have seen six to eight 
the Southern forests are the richest and most varied, both in respect to 
vegetation, and in animal life, and from the warmth and moisture of the 
climate, are more particularly the resort of the soft-billed or insectivorous 
birds, those numerically far outweighing the granivorous species. This 
remark, however, more particularly applies to the summer months, for in the 
cold season, many of the former travel farther south, and give place to 
numerous species of Finches, Thrushes, Pigeons, &c., from the central and 
northern regions. Among the feathered tribes, in fact, there is a constant 
change, and succession of genera and species, throughout the year, many 
appearing to visit us from the south for three or four months in summer, for 
the sole purpose of breeding: retiring again as soon as the periodical rains 
are at an end, and their progeny is old enough to travel. So great is the 
influx of northern species into the Terai, during the winter months, that we 
should almost be justified in saying that, at that season, our fauna, as regards 
the feathered tribes, is exchanged for those of the central and northern regions. 
The Doves, the Cuckoos and smaller insectivorous species of the summer, 
giving place to more northern types, reminding us poor exiles, of our boy- 
hood’s days, when the leafless trees and hedge-rows of our dear old father- 
land were enlivened by the sharp quick ehirp of the Fieldfare, the quivering 
tail of the Redstart, or the creeping Hedge Sparrow, threading its way 
through, and seeking concealment in each snow-covered bush and thicket. 
And yet, notwithstanding the multitude of species resorting to these hills, 
it is by no means an uncommon thing, to hear collectors, and even naturalists 
remark, that they have searched in vain through the forests and brushwood, 
without finding a single nest to reward them for their toil, and it becomes a 
perfect mystery to them where the several species actually breed, or whether 
they breed at all in these localities. The fault here lies entirely with the 
collector, who, if he be not a practical naturalist, seldom gives himself the 
trouble to consider which are the most likely resorts of the particular species 
he may desire to procure. To seek for Nucifraga, Cocothraustes, the Siskin, 
and various others among forests composed of oaks, rhododendrons, andro- 
meda, and the like, would be as absurd as to hunt for them among the copse- 
wood tracts of the outer southern mountains; each species has its own 
peculiar resort, whether it be for food, for shelter, or for a breeding-place, 
and it will probably, at particular seasons, be found no where else, except 
when it performs its periodical migration from one region to another. Thus 
the Pine forests will furnish species that are to be met with nowhere else; 
the mixed forest of oaks, rhododendrons, laurels, and andromeda, &e., will 
harbour other kinds, while the dense southern brushwood tracts are especi- 
ally devoted to the insectivorous tribes. Climate, soil, and elevation, will 
always be found to exercise a very material influence in the productions of 
the vegetable world, and according to the nature of those productions, so will 
be the nature of the food, and of the species which depend upon it. Warmth 
and moisture, are indispensible to the production of insect life, and the 
higher we ascend, the more attenuated and dry becomes the atmosphere, the 
consequence being the decrease or cessation of insect life, and in such situa- 
tions therefore, it would be absurd to seek for insectivorous birds, their 
place being occupied by granivorous, frugivorous and root-eating species. 
It is in the damp warm brushwood jungles, of the southern tracts, that the 
soft-billed birds are to be sought for, and there my own experience tells me 
they are to be found abundantly, so abundantly in fact, that this tract 
