A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 213 



throughout this period the weather in the valley is less pleasant 

 than during- any other portion of the year : for nearly the whole 

 surface of the valley is then covered with wet rice fields, and 

 this condition, combined with the comparatively high tempera- 

 ture during the rains, renders the air very damp and steamy. 



From the middle of October to the end of March the 

 Aveather is delightful; in December, January and February 

 hoar frost is common, and small pools of water have their 

 surface frozen during the night. In January the highest 

 temperature in the shade is not more than 60°, and the mini- 

 mum temperature is often as low as 25°. Snow very rarely 

 falls in the central part of the valley, but the hills surrounding 

 it are, now and then, covered in parts with snow. From 

 February to the end of April there are a few occasional 

 showers of rain ; bxt these are, as a rule, slight in amount. 



The valley is very fertile, and, with the exception of the 

 small area occupied by the central woods, every part of its 

 surface is cultivated. Owing to the denseness of its population, 

 which is certainly not less than 400,000, only food-stuffs are 

 allowed to be grown in the valley ; the land is covered with 

 crops of one sort or another throughout the year nearly, and 

 in almost every field there is a cottage. In the low marshy 

 lands near the streams transplanted rice is grown ; the rice is 

 sown in May, transplanted when the rainy season begins, about 

 the middle of Juue, and is cut from the end of October to the 

 middle of November. Land not so easily flooded as the above 

 bears wheat in the cold season, gyali or upland rice in the spring, 

 followed by some kind of pulse. In the w^ell-irrigated up- 

 lands the wheat crop is followed by mustard, buckwheat or 

 field vegetables, and these again by transplanted rice. In the 

 dry lands the wheat is succeeded by Indian corn, ^ The gyah 

 or upland rice is sown about the latter half of April and the 

 Indian corn in May ; both are cut at the beginning of Septem- 

 ber. Potatoes are planted in January and February, and dug 

 in May and June. 



All round the valley, at the foot of the hills, the feature is 

 sloping grassy ground, higher than the central part, with 

 small rouuded spurs running down from the main hills. In 

 this part of the valley small streams and springs are of constant 

 occurrence, and patches of scrub jungle and of small tree 

 forest abound. Of places at the foot of the hills where birds 

 were often collected, the following may be mentioned : Thankot 

 at the base of Chandragiri ; Hatti jangal, further to the south- 

 ward ; Godaveri immediately below Phulehank ; Sanga, at the 

 south-east corner of the valley ; Nilkant, below the Sheopuri 

 Peak ; and Balaji, under Nagarjun. 



