JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOMBAY 



Ipiatiuial Stoiffi Ji0cu% 



*to. 4.] BOMBAY, OCTOBER 1887. [Vol. n. 



WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 

 Part IV. — Gujarat — (continued). 

 (By a Member of the Society.) 



The seas of Gujarat, as has been shown above, resemble towards 

 the south those of the Konkan ; and northwards belong to the Sind 

 maritime region, so I need spend no time or ink on them. 



In the freshwaters, as hitherto, the only important mammal is the 

 Otter (Lutra nair). In the matter of birds, the difference between 

 these waters and those hitherto dealt with is very great. We have 

 here got to the edge of the tropical region, and while we have nearly 

 all its Indian forms, the cold weather brings us many of the 

 Palaearctic birds. 



0£ the Aquatic Raptores, the chief is the Ring-tailed Sea Eagle 

 Haliaetus fulviventer (teucoryphus), closely followed by the Osprey, 

 The former certainly breeds Here in the rains, but I have not 

 found an Osprey's eyrie. The Ring-tailed Eagle preys at certain 

 seasons at least as much on water-fowl as on fish, its chief victims, 

 the countless bald coots, being much inferior both on the wing and 

 in the water to ducks, are a comparatively easy prey ; and I have 

 seen, on an island of the Nal, a space of many square yards strewn 

 six inches deep with their feathers, around an old acacia which the 

 eagles used as a dining-room, or, as falconers call it, a " block. " 



The Osprey, on the other hand, seldom touches feather. 

 l 



