Birds of the Jhelum District. 37 



The most important elevations are as follows : — 



Jhelum is mentioned occasionally in books on Indian 

 ornithology — as, for instance, in Blanford & Oates's 

 volumes on Birds in the * Fauna of British India ' series 

 it is given as a southern point to which Corvus monedula 

 reaches, and as the type-locality for Molpastes humei, while 

 in Hume's ' Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds ' there are 

 several notes on eggs taken about Find Dadan Khan by 

 Mr. Theobald. 



These, however, are but scattered entries without con- 

 nection, and in no way represent the real interest of the 

 district. It is well worth study for several reasons. Of 

 these, the most outstanding is its geographical position in 

 the angle between two great masses of mountains at the 

 meeting of the Indian and the western Palsearctic regions, 

 and near the north-western gateway into India. The result 

 of this position is seen both in the number of western 

 Palsearctic birds which occur in the district as winter visitors 

 or passage migrants, and in the clearness with which migra- 

 tional movements may be noted ; in the latter connection 

 I may note that the Jhelum River appears to form a minor 

 but well-marked migration route, so that the riverain tract, 

 and in especial the Government E-ak, may be highly recom- 

 mended to future observers who desire to watch migrational 

 movements. This Government Rak is a forest reserve, 

 consisting of a block of thick tree and undergrowth jungle, 

 about a mile and a half long and several hundred yards wide, 

 situated on the river- bank just above Jhelum city. In the 

 summer it contains nests of birds such as Terpsiphone para- 

 disi and Zosterops palpebrosa which otherwise must be 



