FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 27 



instance, many forest-loving species, which are not as a rale 

 found outside the Ghat region. They keep to the evergreen 

 jungles on the slopes and spurs of the mountains, rarely cross- 

 ing the belt of low and comparatively bare plain country 

 which intervenes between the foot of the range and the Ghats. 

 Where such species are found near the coast their presence is 

 usually to be accounted for by continuous belts of jungles stretch- 

 ing from the spurs of the Ghats westwards to the sea. To the 

 north of Ratnagiri no such jungles are found, and consequently 

 the species most characteristic of the hill region are there rarely 

 found near the coast. In the south, throughout the well-wooded 

 Savant Vadi State, such links occur, and many of the hill 

 species there find their way to the coast at Malvan or Ven- 

 gorla. The most prominent instances of this are, Myiopho- 

 neus horsfieldi, Pitta brachyura, Petrophila cinclorhj/nchus, Alcippe 

 poiocephala, Pomatorldnus horsfieldi. All these species have 

 been found on the coast either at Malvan or Vengorla, but 

 have not been found west of the Ghat range in the country 

 north of Ratnagiri. Other Ghat species, such as Pericrocotus 

 Jlammeus, Hypsipetes ganeesa, and Criniger ictericus, although 

 not found anywhere on the coast, descend the Western Ghats 

 to Savant Vadi, to a point intermediate between the sea and 

 the foot of the range. 



To make the distribution perfectly clear, however, it would 

 be necessary to divide the district into two or more lateral 

 zones from north to south ; but my collections from the south 

 have not been sufficiently exhaustive to make such a division 

 so useful as it otherwise might be. 



It is, however, worthy of note that of the 284 species 

 entered in the list, the following 18 species have as yet only been 

 obtained at the extreme south of the tract, in the Savant Vadi 

 forests or the neighbouring districts of Malvan and Vengorla. 



39. Spilornis cheela. 



81. Ninox lugubris. 



98. Cypsellus melba. 



103. Collocalia unicolor. 



118. Merops philippinus. 



1 30. Haley oil pileata. 



202. Cuculus sonnerati. 



208. Cacomantis passerinus. 



213. Coccystes coromandus. 



216. Rhopodytes viridirostris. 



239. Bicceum concolor. 



253. Dendrophila frontalis. 



269. Volvocivora melaschista, 



281. BucJianga ceerulescens. 



285. Dissemurus paradiseus. 



286. Chibia hottentotta, 



287. Artamus fuscus. 

 469. Irena puella. 



Several of these no doubt occur to the north of Savant Vadi, 

 and their having escaped notice elsewhere may of course be 

 accidental ; but I believe that the Savant Vadi jungles, and 

 their outskirts will be found to be the northern limit, on 

 the west coast of Cypsellus melba, Collocalia unicolor, Merops 



