1158 



NOTES ON A BIRD COLLECTING TRIP IN THE BAL ACHAT 

 DISTRICT OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. 



E. A. D'Abrev, f.z.s. 



Early in January 1912, I had the good fortune to be deputed to collect 

 birds in the Balaghat District for the Nagpur Museum. The express 

 purpose of the expedition was to secure such specimens as were not 

 represented in the Museum and accordingly no wholesale slaughter 

 of biT-ds was indulged in, only such specimens were shot as were 

 needed. 



A list of the birds seen and identified with certainty is given, but this 

 cannot be considered complete, for only a part of the district was traversed 

 and that very hurriedly. 



The District of Balaghat lies to the north-east of Nagpur. It is bounded 

 on the n->rth by the Mandla District, on the south by the Bhandara District, 

 west by Seoni and east by the districts of Bilaspur and Drug. It is 

 mostly hilly except for the valleys of the Wainganga and the Banjar. To 

 the north-east is the Topla Plateau. Heavy forests are plentiful and large 

 quantities of timber exported. Other industries appear to be mainly 

 agricultural, and cattle-rearing is carried on in some parts. Manganese 

 ore is plentiful and there are several companies excavating it. 



The party consisted of five : myself, a fieldman, two peons, one of whom 

 was kindly lent to us by the Forest Department, and a cook. Before begin- 

 ning this account I would like to mention that this is the first time I have 

 collected in the Central Provinces and I had absolutely no knowledge of 

 the country. Country carts were available in most places and these formed 

 our mode of conveyance from one stage to another. 



The party left Nagpur on the morning of the 3rd and reached Balaghat 

 in the afternoon ; here we found carts and the Forest Officer's shooting 

 chakra waiting for us. A chakra is a bullock cart builb on a very light 

 scale, suitable to seat one or two persons at the most. This chakra difiered 

 a great deal from the common ones used by the natives ; there was a 

 hood to it and the seat was in the form of a chair and on either side of it 

 was a rack to rest one's guns in. A common practice in the Central Pro- 

 vinces is to shoot from off a bullock cart, antelope and such like are so used 

 to seeing these vehicles pass near them that they have lost all fear of them 

 and the sportsman is able to get well within range which most probably 

 he could nob do on foot. Carts can also be used in forests if the ground is 

 not very uneven and the forest not too dense ; moreover most forests have 

 cart roads running through them. 



On our arrival at Balaghat station we proceeded to the Dak Bungalow 



