2 THE FOOD OF BIRDS IN INDIA. 



than a wide generalization of the food of birds, and much of which 

 does not apply directly to India, gives a very good idea of what the 

 food of various orders of birds consists. 



There is a great deal of literature from other countries on the 

 food of many of our Indian birds, and in all probability foods of 

 widely distributed species differ but little in different localities. 

 We cannot, however, assume that this is so, nor even that because 

 a bird is beneficial or injurious in one country it is equally so in 

 another, where climatic conditions and food supply are different. 

 We must know the food of Indian birds in India. 



The following works have been consulted, and the abbrevia- 

 tion used in the text are here given : 



"Birds of India." Jerdon ._ ... ... ... Jerd. B. I. 



" Game birds of India, Burma and Ceylon." Hume and Marshall ... H. M. G. B. 



Indian Museum Notes ... . ... ... ... I. M. N. 



Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society ... ... B. N. H. S. J. 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ... ... .. A. S. B. 



"Fauna of British India." Birds. Gates and Blandford ... ... F. I. 



" Indian Ducks and their Allies." Stuart Baker ... ... S. B. I. D. A. 



'Birds." Evans Cambridge Natural History . ... ... E. B. C. N. H. 



" Game, Shore and Water Birds." A. le Messurier ... , A. le M. 



"Biidsof the Plains." Dewar ... ... ... ... Dewar. B. P. 



"The Indian Crow." Dewar ... ... ... ... Dewar. I. C. 



Manual of Forest Zoology. Stebbing ... ... S. M. F. Z. 



Dictionary of Economic Products of India. Watt, ... ... Watt. 



District Gazetteers for Assam, Baluchistan, Bombay, Central 

 Provinces, Madras, North-West Frontier Province, North-West 

 Provinces, Province of Oudh, Punjab and of the Sirmur State. 

 The general account of birds in the Imperial Gazetteer has also been 

 consulted ; this latter account gives an excellent description of the 

 general distribution of birds throughout India. 



It will be noticed that some well-known papers such as "Stray 

 Feathers" are not included in these works consulted as they were 

 not available. 





