STRAY FEATHERS. 



Vol. V.] APRIL 1877. [No. 1. 



|l foot fist of % lirbs of lort^fotmt Caclmr. 



Mr. James Inglis has, for some years past, most kindly 

 collected birds for me in the north-eastern corner of the Cachar 

 District, for the most part near the banks of the Barak River, 

 a few miles below its junction with the Jheeree, and some 20 

 miles or thereabouts due east of the statiou of Cachar. 



Altogether Mr. Inglis has presented our museum with 

 specimens of 157 species, and, though this is probably barely 

 one-third of the total number that occur in his neighbourhood, 

 I think that, now that he has added to our former obligations 

 by furnishing a brief account of the localities in which he has 

 collected, together with notes on each species which I have 

 identified, the list which I am able to furnish of his collections 

 is sufficiently interesting to deserve early record. 



Mr. Inglis remarks : — 



" The part of Cachar in which I collected most of the few 

 birds, which I have from time to time sent you, lies about 2 

 miles south of Luckeepore, where the Barak emerges from the 

 hills for the first time, and enters the lowlands. 



" A few of the specimens I procured at some distance from 

 here ; these are noted and the places marked on the map which 

 accompanies this. 



"The whole of Eastern Cachar is drained by the River Barak 

 and its tributaries, the principal of which are the Jheeree, 

 which forms the boundary between Cachar and Munnipore, 

 and the Cheeree, which rises in the North Cachar hills. 



" These rivers rise to a great height during the rains ; the 

 Barak here often rises 70 or 80 feet above its cold weather level. 

 The Barak is navigable to the river steamers up to Silchar, and 

 indeed some 60 miles farther up, during the rains ; with very 

 little expense the rivers might be made navigable all the year 

 round, as the obstructions are not very numerous, and consist 

 principal^ of snags, silt, and indurated clay. I believe that 

 steps will soon be taken to have the bed of the river cleared 

 of all obstructions to navigation, as this province is fast rising 

 into importance, and its rivers are its highways. 



