PREFACE 
I rear that the patience of those who have been 
awaiting this little book must be wellnigh ex- 
hausted, so long has it been in appearing. I 
began it two years ago, but had to put it aside 
during the last few months spent in India 
prior to taking furlough, on account of the 
heavy work the threatening famine entailed ; 
and when one is on furlough one only works 
at the rare times when there is nothing better 
to do! 
The object of this book is to enable people 
interested in our Indian birds to identify at 
sight those they are likely to meet with in 
their compounds and during their excursions 
into the jungle. 
There are several good systematic works on 
Indian ornithology, but the descriptions in 
these presuppose that the reader has the 
specimen in his hand and is able to examine 
it leisurely, feather by feather. To do this 
it is necessary to kill the bird in question 
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