PREFACE. 



THE Vertebrate animals of British India have now been 

 described for the first time in a single uniform series, 

 consisting of eight volumes, of which this is the last to 

 appear. The work comprises two volumes on Fishes by 

 the late Dr. P. Day. one on Reptiles and Batrachians by 

 Mr. G. Boulenger, and two on Birds by Mr. E. W. Gates ; 

 the remaining two volumes of Birds and one on Mammals, 

 together with the editing of the whole, having been my own 

 contribution to the undertaking. Five volumes on Inverte- 

 brata four on the Moths of British India by Sir G. P. 

 Hampson, and one on the Hymenoptera by Colonel C. T. 

 Bingham have also been published on the same plan. The 

 work has fully occupied me during the fifteen years that 

 have now elapsed since my retirement from Indian service ; 

 but the completion of the Vertebrate series would not have 

 been practicable without the valuable cooperation of the 

 able naturalists already mentioned. 



This volume contains the Pigeons, the Gallinaceous birds, 

 and the numerous tribes commonly classed together as 

 Waders and Swimming birds. It thus includes all the Game 

 Birds, both of land and water an arrangement which may 

 be found convenient, although good separate works on the 

 subject exist, containing fuller details than are consistent 

 with the limits of the present publication. One part of a 



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