1873.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 655 



noticed by Brooks, Hume, and others, I find (excluding the waders 

 and water birds, which are probably more numerous here than in any 

 other part of the Himalaya) 116 genera, containing 1/1 species: — 



per cent. 



GeneracharacteristicofthePahearctic region 32 27*5 



Peculiar to or characteristic of the Hima- 

 layan subregion 21 18 



Characteristic of the whole In do-Malay re- 

 gion 29 25 



Cosmopolitan or very wide range 34 29'5 



Of the species, about 40 per cent, are peculiar to the Himalayan 

 mountains ; but only two, namely Cephalopyrusflammiceps, Burt., and 

 Pyrrhula aurantiaca, Gould, are peculiar to this part of the range. 



In Kashmir we have evidently reached the north-western limit of 

 the Himalayan fauna : only about 70 of its peculiar species occur here, 

 against 340 in Nepal ; while, on the other hand, Palsearctic species 

 are comparatively much more numerous, being as 50 species against 

 about 60 in Nepal. 



The greater part of Kashmir, politically speaking, belongs to the 

 region north of the Himalaya, and is very poor in bird life ; but in 

 winter the valley is said to be the resort of multitudes of wild fowl 

 from the north. Warblers of the genera Phylloscopus and Reguloides 

 seem very abundant in the forests, no less than 10 species having been 

 noted by Mr. Brooks in a short trip ; but of Timaliidce there are but 

 very few, and only 3 Bulbuls. Chalcophaps indica, Gallus ferru- 

 gineus, 4 species of Palceornis, and a Hornbill extend thus far to the 

 north-west, and here meet several European species which do not 

 extend much further into India. 



Passing from Kashmir to the south-west, we find the number of 

 species gradually increasing, till in Kumaon nearly all the principal 

 Himalayan and Indian genera are found ; and here in the valley of 

 the Dehra Dhoon, which is, I believe, the north-western limit of the 

 wild Elephant, we find the forest along the foot of the hills assu- 

 ming a more dense and tropical appearance, under the increasing in- 

 fluence of the south-west monsoon, until on the frontier of 

 Nepal it forms a belt of dense and often marshy and unhealthy 

 forest, which is called the Terai or Morung. 



A number of species are found in the hills of Kumaon which do 

 not extend as far as Sikim, being there represented by a different 

 form. Among them may be mentioned the following : — 



Certhia himalayana. Machlolophus xanthoyenys. 



Sitta feucopsis. ^thopyga horsfieldi. 



Trochalopteronerythrocephalum. Ceriornis melanocephalus. 



variegatum. Gallophasis albocristatus. 



Lophophanes melanolophus. 



Nepal. 

 Still following the line of the mountains in a south-westerly direc- 



