PJIEFACE. 



THIS volume is the third of the series belonging to the 

 ' Fauna of British India ' that has been published in the 

 course of the present year. Of the two preceding volumes, 

 containing the ' Fishes/ the first appeared in July and the 

 second in September. 



Birds, which form the subject of the present volume, and 

 which it is proposed to complete in two more, are not only 

 the most familiar and, in many respects, the most interesting 

 class of the Vertebrata, but they are in India represented by 

 the largest number of known species. 



The hope expressed, in the Introduction to the ' Mammalia ' 

 of the present series, that Mr. Gates would undertake the 

 ' Birds/ has been fulfilled, and I think that Indian orni- 

 thologists are to be congratulated on the fact. Had not 

 Mr. Gates come from India and devoted his furlough to the 

 task, much delay would have been caused and the work, 

 in all likelihood, much less completely executed,, as I should 



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