THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 1117 



Bhutan Hills, at a staging bungalow, well named Shikar, I shot 

 fourteen Florican in one day. 



" The Florican is also found on the Sadiya plains in fair numbers, 

 and on the chars of the Brahmapootras, but it is much scarcer on the 

 South bank of that river. 



" On the Bishnath plain and other places in the Darrang dis- 

 trict I have seen, I am sure, from 30 to 40 Florican in a day. 



" Taking Assam, as a whole, I should say of the Florican : 

 " In Darrang, very common. 

 " In Kamrup and Goalpara, a good sprinkling. 

 " In Nowgong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, here and there a fair 

 sprinkling, but, as a rule, scarce. " 



At the present day the Florican is still plentiful in the Goalpara 

 district on the North bank, breeding in great numbers in the sun- 

 grass lands at the foot of the Bhutan Hills ; from this district it 

 extends through Kamrup, Mangaldai, Darrang and Sibsagar. North 

 of the Brahmapootra in considerable numbers wherever*here are 

 the necessary plains of grass to be found. In North Lakhimpur 

 it becomes less common, though it will be found, as already men- 

 tioned, right up to the foot of the Abor, Mishmi and Dafla Hills, 

 East and North of Sadiya. South of the Brahmapootra River, 

 though it is common in parts of Nowgong, it is elsewhere rare. In 

 Lakhimpur and Sibsagar a fair number are shot annually south of 

 the River, but in Kamrup and Goalpara it is decidedly rare on that 

 bank of the Brahmapootra and it hardly ever straggles to the district 

 of Mymensingh, which adjoins the latter, though it is common in 

 parts of the Rangpur district to the North of the River. I should, 

 however, note that Farren recorded it as occurring not infrequently 

 along the borders of the Madhapore jungle in 1880. 



Both in Maldah and Purnea, where 25 j^ears ago it was common, 

 it has now become much less so, principally owing to the spread 

 of cultivation and the consequent destruction of its favourite haunts. 

 In Nuddea it is not now heard of and the last killed there was by 

 myself, this too a female, in January 1884. 



In Behar it only occurs as a very rare straggler. Inglis, who has 

 worked this part of India very thoroughly, only records five 

 instances of its occurrence, and, of these, two concern the same bird. 



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