532 

 THE BIRDS OF CORAKHPUR. 



BY 

 A. E. OSMASTON, I.F.S. 



During two-and-a-half years in the Gorakhpur District I spent 

 most of my spare time studying birds and for three-and-a-half 3'ears 

 Mr. Hope Simpson, I.C.S,, has collected specimens from all over 

 the district. The list of birds we have now obtained seems to be 

 very fairly representative of the district, and though no list drawn 

 up in such a short time could possibly hope to be complete, jet it is 

 thought to be sufficiently so to be of interest. Some of the birds 

 obtained moreover are rare and in other cases it has been possible 

 to make short notes on the breeding or habits of the birds which 

 appeared worth recording. 



Except in a very few instances of cjuite common or well-known 

 birds they were always shot to make sure of their identification and 

 when on leave last year I took the opportunity of comparing some 

 doubtful skins with those in the British Museum ; so it is hoped that 

 no bird has been wrongly recorded. I should also add that several 

 skins were kindly identified for me by Mr. N, B. Kinnear of our 

 Society. 



Mr. Hope Simpson had seldom the leisure to skin the specimens 

 he obtained and so several birds he shot, and in whose correct 

 identification there appeared a possibility for doubt, have been 

 excluded from this list. As examples of the above I may mention 

 JEthojpyga horsfieldi, Sturnus minor and Calandrella tihetana. The 

 great slaty Woodpecker (HemiloiDlius 'palverulentus) was shot by 

 Mr. Hope Simpson about 10 miles over the Nepal border in the 

 forest below the Nepal hills, but I have never seen it in the Gorakh- 

 pur forests and I do not think it is found south of the border line. 



As my work confined me almost entirely to the forest areas of 

 the north of the district my observations of birds are similarly 

 restricted, but Mr. Hope Simpson in his touring over all parts of 

 the district has been able to fill up the gaps which would otherwise 

 have existed in treating of the Gorakhpur District as a whole. 



The Gorakhpur District lies in the extreme north-east of the 

 United Provinces, being bounded on the north by Nepal and on the 

 east by Bengal. It is entirely a plains district, the Nepal boundary 

 lying some five to ten miles from the base of the hills. The north 

 of the District is in reality Tarai though it has lost much of its tarai 

 characteristics owing to the great extent of cultivation and better 

 drainage which has taken place within the last sixty years. The 

 south of the District is very heavily populated and the avifauna is. 

 poor except along the banks of rivers such as the Rapti and Gogra 

 or in " tals.'"' 



