Birds of Lxicknow. 471 
Mr. George Reid. Shortly before his death he gave me 
permission to make whatever use I liked of his writings. I 
have taken full advantage of this privilege^ and numbers 
of Mr. Reid^s notes will be found incorporated in the 
following pages. 
Following the general custom^ I have prefaced my paper 
with a map of the ''^old'^ Lucknow Civil Division (Plate XII.). 
The present Division is very much larger^ but I have retained 
the old boundaries, because both the late Mr. Reid and 
I have done the greater part of our collecting within its 
confines. 
The historical associations connected with Lucknow are 
so great that it seems almost superfluous to explain its 
position, yet, in order that my remarks may be as complete 
as possible, I may state that it is situated between 26° 6' 
and 27° 19' North latitude, and between 80° 6' and 81° 80' 
East longitude, with an average height of a little more than 400 
feet above sea-level. " The entire length of its south-western 
frontier is washed by the waters of the sacred Ganges ; its 
north-eastern by the waters of the Gogra, beyond which lie 
the districts of Gonda and Bahraich ; on the north and north- 
west it is bounded respectively by the districts of Sitapur 
and Hardoi; while its eastern limits impinge upon the districts 
of Fyzabad and Sultanpur." 
The three districts which make up the " old ■'^ Division, 
and to which alone, with few exceptions, reference is made 
in these pages, are those of Lucknow proper, Unao, and 
Barabanki, covering a total area of some 4480 square miles, 
with a population of roughly 600 to the square mile. The 
rural population consists principally of Hindus, with a 
sprinkling of Mahoniedans and Thakurs. The Mahoraedans 
are chiefly congregated in the larger towns. In consequence 
of the dense population the fauna is limited and somewhat 
artificially distributed. At the time that Reid wrote, the 
cultivated area was 2520 square miles, the remaining 1960 
being taken up by usar plains, dhak-jungle, jheels, groves, and 
village sites. In the last twenty years, however, much land 
has been reclaimed and laid under cultivation — excellent^ no 
