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Rough List of the Birds of Gaestern Ithandesh. 
By J. Davinson, Esq., Bo.C.S. 
A¥FrTrR many applications it suited the convenience of a 
paternal Government, in October 1879, to transfer me _ to 
Khandesh, and from that time till May 1881 I was on duty 
there. Unfortun: ately my work was confined to the western 
part of the district, and I was unable even to visit the major 
portion of the eastern talukas. Still what I saw gave me 
a very fair idea of the ornithology of the western half, at 
any rate, of this great district, and I managed to pick up a 
considerable number of specimens both of birds and of eggs. 
The results of this year and a half’s observations in Khandesh 
I now chronicle at the request of the Editor.* ‘At the 
same time I must caution every one, indulgent enough to read 
through it, that the subjoined list does not pretend to be an 
exhaustive one, even of those parts of Khandesh which I have 
visited, much less of the ornithology of Khandesh as a whole, 
as, up to the very last day of my stay, I hardly passed a week 
without meeting with species new to me. It may, however, 
be of use to any one subsequently visiting the district, and 
is, so far as it goes, as accurate as I can possibly make it. 
Khandesh, the lar gest of the Collectorates in the Bombay 
Presidency, was, when we obtained it in 1818, in great part 
almost uninhabited. Though once well cultivated, successive 
wars and raids by the Pindarees and the Holkars had _pre- 
vented the villagers cultivating, and vast tracts having lapsed 
into jungle were then only inhabited by a few wandering Bheels 
and by wild animals, who proved most unpleasant neighbours 
to any adventurous settlers and their cattle. It was then 
a perfect paradise for sportsmen. Now, settled Govern- 
ment and increase of cultivation and population have, in 
sixty years, transformed these wild jungles into a huge black 
soil plain, crowded with villages, and covered, as far as the eye 
can reach, with wheat and cotton fields, and inhabited by a 
peasantry better off, less discontented, and in every way super ior 
to that of any other part of India, T have ever served in. 
The original kingdom of Khandesh was a huge slice of 
country comprising, ‘outside the present limits of the district, 
the western portion of Nimar on the east, and the greater 
part of the Nasik Collectorate on the west. 
The present district consists of a long strip of land following 
the river Tapti for over one hundred’ and sixty miles, and 
* Up to date noining has ever been put on record concerning the Ornithology of 
Khandesh. —Ep., 58. F 
