26 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 



than Ratnagiri. The temperature at Vengoria in the south is 

 very slightly in excess of that of Ratnagiri. 



,On the sea coast, and for some miles inland, as far as the 

 see breeze penetrates, the climate is very equable though ener- 

 vating and relaxing, extremes of heat and cold being never felt, 

 further inland, and at the foot of the Ghats, both days and nights 

 during March, April, and May are oppressively hot. The sea 

 breeze passes high over head, and the heat is further intensified by 

 the refraction of the great trap scarp of the Sahyadri Range. 



Distribution. — The total number of specimens as yet collected 

 is too small, I am afraid, to warrant any definite conclusions as 

 to tlje distribution of the various species within the limits of 

 the small tract under notice. I have, however, entered in the 

 list the exact localities at which the various species have been 

 either shot and preserved, or found breeding. The entry of 

 these localities does not necessarily denote that the species is 

 restricted to these specified places. I have endeavoured, as 

 far as I can, in my remarks regarding each species, to give all 

 the information I possess as regards its distribution. But in 

 the case of the rarer species, this information is necessarily 

 meagre and inconclusive. In order to show the distribution 

 as clearly as is possible I have divided the tract into 

 three longitudinal belts. In the first I include all the places 

 on the sea coast or its immediate neighbourhood where speci- 

 mens have been collected. The second division I call the 

 central inland belt extending from a line drawn parallel to, 

 and about eight miles distant from, the coast to the foot of 

 the Western Ghats. The last belt includes air the area from 

 the summit to the base of the Ghats. For convenience of 

 reference I append a key to all the localities mentioned in the 

 paper, arranged in order from north to south, according to 

 these three divisions. By the aid of this key and the accom- 

 panying map the position of any locality mentioned can be 

 at once fixed. The characteristic features of each belt are 

 also briefly summarised. In the list of the species all the 

 coast localities are printed on the left hand side of the page, 

 those of the inland central belt in the middle, and the places 

 in the Ghat range on the right, so that it can be seen at a 

 glance in which parts of the tract from east to west any 

 species has been obtained. 



After some consideration I thought this would be the best 

 plan, since narrow as the tract is in comparison with its length, 

 its physical features vary more from west to east than from 

 north to south. This arrangement will show, though imper- 

 fectly, the wrtical range of the species according to elevation, 

 from the sea level up to about 2 2 500 feet. There are, for 



