2G8 [No. 3 > 



List of Birds collected or observed in the Wardha valley 



AND ITS VICINITY NEAR Cha'nDA, — 



by W. T. Blanford, f. g. s. — c. m. z. s. 

 [Received 14th April, 1871.] 



The following list is far from complete. It is founded on collec- 

 tions and* observations made during the greater part of two cold 

 seasons, and of one hot one spent in the Wardha valley and its im- 

 mediate neighbourhood. I was in hopes of returning to the district 

 and adding to the list by procuring a larger number of the Bap- 

 tores, Grallatores and Natatores, especially the two latter, to which I 

 have paid very little attention, but as this is at present impro- 

 bable, I give the list as it stands ; first, because it contains, I believe, 

 most of the birds of which the distribution within India is import- 

 ant, and which are common in the neighbourhood of Chanda, and 

 secondly, because the portion of the "Wardha valley in which my 

 collections were made is a country of considerable interest in re- 

 ference to this question of distribution, it being a spot where 

 northern and southern forms are equally abundant, and close to 

 the boundaries of three of the subdivisions into which I believe 

 that the fauna of India proper may be divided.* 



The tract of country in which I had opportunities of collecting 

 comprises both banks of the Wardha and its tributary the Pern 

 Ganga, and consists politically of part of Chanda district in the 

 Central Provinces, of South East Berar, and a small tract of the 

 Hydrabad territory. I have included all the birds found in the 

 Chanda district between the Wardha and Wain Ganga. A strip 

 of land varying from a few hundred yards to about 1 miles in width 

 on each side of the river Wardha is open and for the most part culti- 

 vated, beyond this the greater portion of the country is covered 

 with forest jungle. To the west in Berar, this jungle, resting upon 

 trap, or on the limestones and shales of the Vindhyan series for 

 the most part, is in general low and scattered, but still consisting 

 principally of trees, not of mere bushes. On the east or Chanda side 

 of the Wardha, where the rock is principally sandstone, the trees 

 • See J. A. S. B. 1870, Vol. XXXIX, pt. II, p. 336. 



