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[Reprinted with corrections from the " Ibis " of 1909 by permission.'] 



ON THE BIRDS OF KOHAT AND THE KURRAM VALLEY, 

 NORTHERN INDIA. 



BY 



Lieut. C. H. T. Whitehead, Indian Army. 



With an Introduction by Majoe H. A.F. Magrath, Indian Army. 



I. — Introduction. 



By Major H. A. F. Magrath. 



Contrasted with a district of the Punjab, which I had just left, the variety 

 of the surrounding bird-life was one of the first impressions received on my 

 arrival at Kohat in December 1904, and it struck me that, as I was likely to be 

 quartered there for some time, a list of the birds of the district might be usefully 

 attempted. I had already made notes on a few of the commoner species, when 

 I had the good fortune to discover in Mr. C. H. T. Whitehead, 56th Rifles, 

 who had just rejoined his regiment at Kohat, a keen naturalist, anxious to start 

 work at once on the ornithology of the district. We at once agreed to work to- 

 gether, and in spite of military duties which permitted of little leisure for the 

 pursuit of hobbies, we had, by the end of February 1906, acquired at first hand 

 a fair working knowledge of the local avifauna. In March 1906 my regiment 

 moved to the Samana, a ridge 6,500 feet above sea-level and 30 miles due west 

 of Kohat Station. This ridge forms the northern boundary of the Miranzai 

 Valley, and overlooks on the north the Khanki Valley and Tirah, the land of 

 the Afridis. Here a few interesting additions were made to our list- — such as 

 Pica rustica, Accentor rufilatus, Accentor himalayanus, Fringillauda sordida, 

 and Suya crinigera. Meanwhile, Whitehead was doing good work below, and 

 during the manoeuvres secured, amongst other birds, an example of Fringilla 

 ccclebs, a species new to India. In the end of April 1906 I proceeded home 

 on furlough and, as the sequel will shew, the production of the List was then 

 left entirely in Whitehead's hands. An interesting discovery made by him 

 shortly after my departure was a nesting colony of Aedonfamiliaris in the 

 vicinity of the station. Taking two months' leave in June 1906, he paid a 

 visit to the Kurram Valley lying to the N.-W. of Kohat, and followed to their 

 breeding-grounds at the head of the valley many of the birds that winter in 

 the plains around Kohat. During these two months he explored the Safed 

 Koh Range very thoroughly, considering the short time at his disposal, 

 ascending the two peaks of Sikaram (15,600 ft.) and Bodin (14,000 ft.), and 

 by dint of real hard work, aided by much enthusiasm, added a great deal to 

 our knowledge of the distribution and nesting-habits of many Oriental and 

 Palsearctic species, discovering for the first time the nests and getting the eggs 

 of Saxicola capistrata and Phylloscopus subviridis, besides obtaining some 

 interesting mammals. His most important discovery, however, was a new 

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