On the Birds of Kattiawar, Western India. 397 



XLV. — On the Birds of the Province of Kattiawar in Western 

 India. By J. Hayes Lloyd, Capt. Bombay Staff Corps. 



Surastrene of the Greeks, Saurashtra of Sanskrit literature, 

 and Kattiawar of the present day, is a peninsular-shaped tract 

 of country on the west coast of India, situated between 69° 5' 

 and 72° of east longitude and 23° 10' and 20° 40' of north 

 latitude. It is bounded on the north and north-west by the 

 waste tract of the Runn and by the Gulf of Kuchh, on the 

 south-west and south by the Arabian Sea, and on the east 

 by the Gulf of Cambay ; while on the north-east it is con- 

 nected with the mainland of Gujerat by the district of Ahme- 

 dabad. Speaking generally, the country presents an undu- 

 lating surface, with a gradual rise towards the centre, whence 

 a number of streams taking their rise flow in opposite direc- 

 tions and empty themselves respectively into the Gulf of 

 Kuchh, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Cambay. Near 

 the coast on the north-west occurs a cluster of hills — the 

 highest rather over 1500 feet — known as the Burda hills, for 

 the most part thinly covered with brushwood, but with some 

 of the inner and more sheltered valleys moderately wooded. 

 In the opposite or south-eastern extremity of the peninsula 

 the country again presents a rugged broken surface, much 

 intersected by streams, and rising in some parts into bold 

 rocky hills, the principal elevation being Mount Shuttroonjai, 

 sacred to the first Tirthunker of the Jain hierarchy, and a 

 great place of resort for pilgrims. In the south are two re- 

 markable tracts. The smaller of these consists of a range of 

 wooded hills disposed in a semicircle, from the base of which 

 towers to the height of 2500 feet the granite peaks of Mount 

 Geernar, a hill renowned in Sanskrit literature, its summit 

 crowned by temples dating far back into the past, and its 

 base bearing the rock-cut inscriptions of Pryadarse. The other 

 and larger tract lies a few miles further south, and consists of 

 a succession of ranges and lofty hills running in irregular di- 

 rections, the whole thickly wooded and known as the Geer. 



Excepting these last-mentioned tracts of the Geernar and 

 the Geer, with the country in their immediate vicinity, the 



