STRAY FEATHERS. 



Vol. XI.] DECEMBER 1888. [Nos. 1 to 4- 



Wxt iirds of Panijjur, 3ls.^am, ^^\M m\d djadtar. 



J 



NTRODUCTION. 



Manipur is such an extremely out-of-the-way little State 

 (five-sixths of my readers have probably never even heard 

 of it), that some explanation seems necessary, first, for my 

 having spent so many months in its exploration, when there 

 remains so much ornithological work to be doi^e in other 

 more civilized portions of the Empire ; and, secondly, for in- 

 flicting on my subscribers the very lengthy account of this 

 small state's Avifauna that I am about to present them 

 with. 



In the first place, Sindh and Manipur are the extreme 

 points, east and west, of our Asian Empire. Karachi and 

 Manipur are almost exactly on the same parallel of latitude, 

 viz., 25^^ North. As I was the first, practically, to explore 

 systematically the ornithology of the one so I wished to per- 

 form the same work for the other, and I was the more anxious 

 to do this, because I had a kind of fancy that the two being 

 in exactly the same latitude, but distant as the crow flies, (and 

 a very long flight it would be for any crow) some 1,660 miles, 

 a comparison of the two Avifaunas might throw some new 

 light upon the subject of the distribution of our birds. 



Besides being in the same latitude, there was another 

 curious point of resemblance. Each includes, nearly in its 

 centre, a huge fresh-water lake — the Muncher in Sindh, the 



* Note. —I completed this paper in September, 1881, since when I have 

 not looked at it. I now publish it, just as then written, because I am assured 

 that it will be useful to brother ornithologists, I dare say it is out of date 

 in many respects. Probably my nomenclature is more or less obsolete now. 

 I much regret any such shortcomings, but have no time to rectify them now 

 and have given up ornithology. I never intended to publish this without 

 careful revision, but I shall never have time to revise it, and therefore, as I am 

 pressed by many to let them have it as it stands, I ijublish it, errors and all. 

 I have only to add that as the proof sheets pass through the press, Mr. J. R. 

 Cripps, who has resided long in Assam, has engaged to add in some notes of 

 hia own in regard to the species dealt with. 



