PREFACE. 



LED on by friends, correspondents and working field and 

 cabinet Ornithologists, as well as by the successes of all my 

 previously published books, I began this work, which, it is 

 hoped, will be found a useful Manual to the student and to 

 those interested enquirers to whom hitherto a descriptive 

 monograph of all the Birds known to inhabit British India 

 and its dependencies was a desideratum. It is purely in- 

 tended as a means to the acquirement of a better knowledge 

 of the Avian inhabitants of British India and its depen- 

 dencies, by furnishing under a generally accepted classifica- 

 tion, and within a moderate compass, the ordinal, generic 

 and specific descriptions of all the known species, including 

 all the discoveries made subsequent to the publication of the 

 late Dr. Jerdon's work, and thus rendering greater facilities to 

 the student of the Ornis of the British Indian Empire. 



In every instance where a sufficiently large series of 

 specimens was not available to me for description, and where 

 the species had been already so fully described as to leave 

 nothing to be desired, I have by preference given the original 

 descriptions. These are chiefly from Sharpe, Seebohm and 

 Gadow's valuable monographs. 



To facilitate the study and identification of species, I have 

 given diagrams illustrating the different parts of Birds, with 

 the corresponding terms used in their description. These, it 

 is hoped, will be found useful to the student, the collector 

 and the would-be enquirer ; while numerous woodcuts and 

 coloured illustrations of structural, specific, generic and other 

 characters have been added to simplify identification. The 

 scientific and trivial English names are given of every 

 species described, as well as the different synonyms by which 

 a species has been known. Habits, resorts and distribution 

 have also been given as far as the materials within my reach 

 would permit. 



J. A, M. 



