140 
A NOTE ON THE NIDIFICATION AND HABITS OF SOME 
BIRDS IN BRITISH GARHWAL, 
BY 
A. E. OsmasTon. 
(With three plates and a map) 
This note is the result of about ten years’ residence in the district of Garhwal 
lasting from 1910 to 1920. My work as Forest Officer necessitated much tour- 
ing throughout this portion of the hills and often led me for weeks together into 
more or less remote places where I had ample opportunities for observing the 
very. interesting and varied bird life of these forests. My remarks are only 
intended to cover the hilly portion of the district and do not include the plains 
portion lying to the south. Actually my observations did not even extend to 
the line of the plains and were almost entirely confined to the hills lying north of 
a line drawn south-east and north-west through Lansdowne. 
British Garhwal occupies a strip of the Himalaya running from the plains right 
up to the borders of Tibet. The rivers drain directly into the Ganges, which 
itself forms the western boundary of the district for a distance of some 80 miles. 
Thence onwards to its source this fine river with all its tributaries, excepting only 
the upper reaches of the Pindar, lie entirely within the district. To the east of 
Garhwal are the hills of the Almora and Nani Tal districts, and to the west lie 
the hills of the Tehri Garhwal State. 
The rainfall varies considerably according to the local configuration, but it is 
possible to differentiate three tracts as follows:—Firstly a wet tract comprising 
all the hills south of Joshimath (and this includes about 3 of the whole area to 
which this note applies) where the average annual precipitation varies roughly 
between 50 and 80 inches. Secondly the area north of Joshimath excepting 
that portion of the Dhauli Ganga above its junction with the Rishi Ganga. 
Here the average annual precipitation probably varies between 20 and 40 
inches. And thirdly the remaining area up the Dhauli valley as far as the 
borders of Tibet where the average annual precipitation probably does not 
exceed 10 to 20 inches. 
There are in all some 2,000 square miles of forest which often forms uninterrupt- 
ed blocks of large extent. In the central hill ranges, however, practically all the 
available land below 8,000’ elevation has been brought under cultivation, though 
even here there are always many slopes too steep for cultivation where forest, 
often of a secondary type, intersects the broad expanses of terraced fields. 
In a normal year snow does not fall below 5,000’ in winter, and it never lies 
for many days together at elevations below 7,000’. By the beginning of June 
there is seldom much snow left below 12,000’ and from this time on through the 
months of July, August and September the beautiful alpine pasture lands offer 
a welcome to those birds which retire each year to rear their families in the peace- 
ful seclusion of these lofty mountains. 
The uppermost limit at which forest will grow in the wet tract is about 11,000’, 
but in the dry interior tract it reaches an elevation of 12,000’ to 13,000’. 
In the notes which follow the numbers in brackets which will be found after 
each scientific name refer to the numbers given in the Fauna of British India. 
Corvus corax (1).—The Raven. 
The Raven is, I believe, only found in Garhwal within a narrow belt of country 
about ten miles wide lying along the Tibetan border eastwards from the Niti 
pass. This tract lies entirely above 13,000’ elevation and consists of treeless 
barren slopes. During two visits to these parts I only saw two or three pairs 
and the species is certainly far from common. 
Urocissa flavirostris (13).—The Yellow-billed Blue Magpie. 
Tolerably common in forests of the central and interior ranges from about 
6,000’ to 9,000’ elevation. I took a clutch of four fresh eggs in May from a nest 
