Birds of the Indian Hills 



Indian skylark, the common kingfisher, the 

 pied crested cuckoo, the scavenger vulture, 

 the Pondicherry vulture, the white-backed 

 vulture, the shikra, the spotted dove, and the 

 little brown dove. 



The distribution of the avifauna of moun- 

 tainous countries is largely a matter of elevation. 

 At the base of the Nilgiris all the plains birds 

 of the neighbourhood occur, and most of them 

 extend some way up the hillsides. The 

 majority, however, do not ascend as high as 

 looo feet. 



At elevations of 3000 feet the avifauna of 

 the hills is already markedly different from 

 that of the plains ; nevertheless many of the 

 hill species do not descend to this level, at any 

 rate in the summer. 



It is, therefore, necessary, when speaking of 

 a plains bird as occurring or not occurring on 

 the hills, to define precisely what is intended by 

 this expression. 



That which follows is written for people 

 who visit the Nilgiri hill stations in the hot 

 weather, and therefore the birds described are 

 those which occur at elevations of 5500 feet 

 and upwards in the summer. Those which 

 visit the hills only in winter are either al- 



