ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1019 



cast- with a very beautiful babbler's nest, which 

 with its three eggs was quite unharmed, shel- 

 tered in a niche, in the side of a steep grassy 

 hank. 



Not far away, behind a bit of loosened deodar 

 bark, was a most delicate nest of a rufus-capped 

 titmouse, with three dead and one unharmed 

 young bird. Two big hail-stones had crashed 

 down, one being wedged a few inches above the 

 nest, while the other had fallen with full force 

 into the mass of moss and pheasant feathers, 

 and then slipped over the edge. The forlorn 

 youngster, balancing himself on a bit of stick, 

 looked as if life held out no hope of any kind, 

 but at the chirp of his parents, he opened his 

 eyes, and when I left him he had his mouth wide 

 agape, begging as only infant birds can. 



I found traces of many other tragedies, one 

 of the most unexpected being the bodies of two 

 giant Hying squirrels. These splendid rodents, 

 which weigh as much as five pounds and are 

 sometimes over three feet in length, are not un- 

 commonly seen in the dusk of evening, volplan- 

 ing from trunk to trunk in these mighty ever- 

 green forests. These had apparently been sleep- 

 ing in a half hollowed out space behind some 

 bark which had been torn away, and the ice had 

 stunned and killed them before they could es- 

 cape. Lizards were flattened on rocks and logs, 

 and the total destruction of .animal life must 

 have been very great. Certainly no creature of 

 small size had any chance if exposed to the full 

 fury of the ice. A chicken in an open crate 

 was so injured that we had to kill it. 



Taken altogether, this Kashmir storm was the 

 most severe one I have ever witnessed, and my 

 servants would have had a bad time of it if 

 they had not been able to reinforce the sloping- 

 walls of their tent and so keep under cover. As 

 it was. great rents were torn in the canvas and 

 the men were pretty badly frightened by the 

 time it was all over. 



The more immediate interest of this marvel- 

 lously beautiful part of the world, and the sig- 

 nificance of the danger to wild life from a storm 

 such as that which I have attempted to describe, 

 is enhanced for us by the fact that the in the 

 Zoological Park there have been exhibited forty- 

 nine species of living wild birds which inhabit 

 these western Himalayas — Garhwal and Kash- 

 mir. These birds are as follows- 



Himalaya Snow Partridge — Tetraogallus himalay- 



i a six Gray. 

 Chukar Partridge -Caccabis chukar Gray. 

 Bonham Hock Partridge — Ammoperdix bonhami 



(Fraser). 

 Gray Francolin — Francolinus pondicerianus 



(Gmel.). 



Indian Hill Partridge — Arboricola torqueola 



(Val.). 

 Impeyan P heasant — Lophophorus impeyanus 



Lath. 

 White-crested Pheasant — Gennaeus albicristatus 



(Vig.). 

 Cheer Pheasant — Catreus wallichi (Hard.). 

 Snow Pigeon — Colwmba leuconota Vig. 

 Blue Hill Pigeon — Colwmba rwpestris Bonap. 

 Eastern Stock Dove — Columba eversmanni Bonap. 

 Indian Turtle Dove — Turtur ferrago (Evers.). 

 Spotted Turtle Dove— Spilopelia suratensis (Gmel.). 

 Hooded Vulture — Viillnr monachus (I. inn.). 

 European Goshawk — Astur palumbarius palumba- 



rius (Linn.). 

 Lammergeyer — Oypaettis barbatus (Linn.). 

 Golden Eagle — Aquila chrysaetos (Linn.). 

 Imperial Eagle — Aquila heliaca Savign. 

 Booted Eagle — Eutolmaetv.) pennatus (Gmel.). 

 Indian Crested Eagle — Spizaetus nipalensis 



(Hodgs.). 

 White-tailed Eagle— Haliaetus albicilla (Linn.). 

 Peregrine Falcon — Rhynchodon peregrinis pere- 



grinus (Tunst.). 

 Great Himalayan Barbet — Megalaema marshallo- 



riim Swin. 

 Blur-cheeked Barbet — Cyanops asiatica (Lath.). 

 Northern Golden-backed Woodpecker — Brachyp- 



1 1 runs awrnntius (Linn.). 

 Streaked Jav-thrust— Trochalopterwm 1 1 " e •< i u m 



(Vig.). 

 Slaty-headed Scimitar Babbler — Pomatorhimis 



schisticeps Hodgs. 

 White-headed .lav-thrush — Garrulax leucolophus 



Hard. 

 White-throated Jay-thrush — Garrulax albigularis 



(Gould). 

 Striated .lav-thrush — Grammatopelia striata (Vig.). 

 Red-billed Wren-babbler— Stachyridopsis pyrrhops 



(Blyth). 

 Himalayan Whistling Thrush — Myiophoneus tem- 



mincki Vig. 

 Black-capped Sibia — Lioptlla capistrata (Vig.) 

 Gray-winged Blackbird— Merula boulboul (Lath.). 

 Small-billed Mountain Thrush — Oreocichla dauma 



(Lath.). 

 White-capped Redstart — ( 'haimarrornis leucoce- 



phala Vig. 

 Green-backed Titmouse — Parus monticola Vig. 

 Large Pied Wagtail— Motacilla maderaspatensis 



Gmel. 

 Himalayan Goldfinch — Carduelis carticeps canicepi 



Vig. 

 Himalayan Siskin — Hypacanthis spinoides (Vig.). 

 Eastern linnet- -Acanthis 'rannabina fringilliros- 



tris (Bonap. & Schleg.). 

 Eastern Meadow Bunting — Emberiza cia stracheyi 



Moore. 

 Indian Golden Oriole — Oriolus kundoo Sykes. 

 Red-billed Blue Magpie — V r o c i s s a occipitalis 



(Cab.). 

 Wandering Tree Magpie Vendrocitta rufa 



(sco,,.): 



Himalayan Jay — Garrulus bispecularis Vig. 

 Lanceolated Jay — Laletes lanceolatus (Vig.). 

 Chough Graculus gracuhis (Linn.). 

 Upine Chough— Pyrrhocorax alpimts Vieill. 



