186 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



The important fact is this. The country between the Ganges and 

 the Godavery, east of the meridian of about 80° east longitude, is a 

 great, thinly populated forest region, with a different fauna from 

 that of the Western Central Provinces, the Bombay Deccan, and the 

 Central Indian Agency. By far the best account of the birds of this 

 eastern tract is by my friend, Dr. V. Ball, in " Stray Feathers " (Vols. 

 II, p. 355 ; III, p. 288, and especially VII, p. 191). His last paper on 

 the subject, li From the Ganges to the Godavery," contains a complete 

 list of all the species recorded by various observers. This list should be 

 compared with Colonel Butler's Catalogues of the birds of the Bombay 

 Presidency in the ' c Bombay Gazetteer." Both lists are excellent and 

 are amongst the most important contributions existing to our know- 

 ledge of the distribution of Indian birds. The area, east of 80° east 

 longitude, is the tract that many years ago [" Journ. As. Soc. Beng.," 

 XXXIX, pt. 2, p. 337 ; "Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist." (4), XVIII, p. 282 

 (1876)] I proposed to call the Bengal sub-province, whilst that imme- 

 diately to the west of that meridian I distinguished as the Deccan sub- 

 province, both belonging to the Indian province of the Oriential region. 

 The Bengal sub-province is distinguished by being the area of the sal 

 tree (Shorea robusta), the Bara Singha deer (Cervus duvauceli), the 

 black partridge {Francolinus vulgaris), and the red or Bengal jungle 

 fowl {Gallus ferrugineus), and is inhabited by several Malay and 

 Burmese birds that are either unknown further west or only re-appear 

 in the Bombay and Malabar coast-lands. Such, for instance, are the 

 black and white hornbills {Hydrocissa), the imperial pigeons {Carpo- 

 phaga), the bronze-winged doves (Chalcophaps) , and the green pigeons 

 of the genus Osmotreron. To the westward, and not in the eastern 

 area, or only as occasional stragglers on its frontiers, are found ga- 

 zelles, sand-grouse and bustard {Eupodotis), Gallus sonnerati and Fran- 

 colinus pictus. The difference is due in part to the eastern region 

 being a forest area with a heavier rainfall, but this does not account 

 for the circumstance that it is inhabited by Francolinus vulgaris, which 

 is found also in the almost rainless plains of Sind, nor for several other 

 peculiarities of the fauna. 



In 1833 a paper was published by Colonel (then Lieutenant) S. R. 

 Tickell, entitled " List of Birds collected in the Jungles of Borabhum 

 and Dholbhum " (" Journ. As. Soc. Beng.," Vol. II, p. 569). Borabhum 



