FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 19 



the jungle is cleared and burnt by the hungry peasant. Their 

 inaccessibility to man alone has hitherto preserved what trees 

 and bushes still protect the head waters and gathering grounds 

 of the South Konkan rivers. Tons and tons of soil are 

 thus annually washed down the hill sides into the river beds, 

 and so the tidal creeks, the chief highways of the district, 

 silt up, and merchants grumble, as old-established wharfs 

 and quays become, year by year, accessible only to boats of 

 smaller and still smaller draught. In old days, when the 

 South Konkan was undoubtedly a forest tract, large country 

 crafts could work up with the tide, and load with ease, at 

 many places, where now nothing but a flat-bottomed tub or 

 a small canoe can approach. This is, as I hear, a native friend 

 remark, u one of the baneful effects of civilisation." It is 

 a drawback certainly, and only to be repaired by keeping 

 steadily in view for many long years what a high official 

 used to call mysteriously " the higher objects of the Forest 

 Department." But on the other hand it must be acknow- 

 ledged that, though much material wealth has been buried 

 in the process, a howling wilderness has been transformed 

 into a peaceful and fairly prosperous tract. 



Ghat Range. — From all parts of the tract the scarp line of 

 the Western Ghats bounds the eastern horizon, forming a con- 

 spicuous inland cliff, varying from two to three thousand feet in 

 height. The belt of lowland at the foot of the Ghats, broken up by 

 the countless spurs and knolls, thrown out westwards from the 

 main range, and intersected at every point by precipitous 

 ravines and rocky river beds, is a rough bit of country to 

 get over. The grand old hills rise almost sheer in places 

 from base to crest like a giant wall, majestic and impreg- 

 nable, in an endless vista of peaks, bluffs and headlands. 

 The hills which form the main range are easily distinguish- 

 able from any of the spurs that roughen the surface of the 

 country from the western face to the sea. The forest on the 

 lower slopes and at the foot of the range is seldom thick, 

 except in the more sheltered gorges, or where small patches 

 have been preserved round rude hill temples. On the higher 

 slopes immediately below the massive scarps, where a goat 

 can scarcely climb, and even the hardy hill peasant fears 

 to tread, there are patches of evergreen jungle, where you 

 may hear the cocks crowing, the loud call of the Green Barbet, 

 the whistle of the u lazy school boy" (Myioplioneus hors- 

 fieldi), the song of the Shama, and the clear ringing notes 

 of the Scimitar Babbler. But it is not till you reach the 

 summit of the range, and cross the watershed into the high- 

 lands or Konkan Ghat Mahta that you see thick and con- 



