1868.] N. W. Himalaya. 11 



At no groat distance to tho West from Wangtu bridge we meet, at an 

 elevation of about 6,000 feet, with the first noteworthy, sub-tropical plant, the 

 Eupliorbia antiqua, and about one mile from Rampoor at a height of about 

 5,000 feet we come across the first specimens of Ficus religiosa. On the same 

 tree we meet with the first specimens of the familiar Mina, Acridotheres tristis, 

 Temeneuchus pagodarum and other common Indian species of birds. Several 

 flowering trees and bushes attract the Arachnechthra asiatica, Piprisoma agile, 

 Sibia capistrata and others. In low brushwoods are found Pratincole* caprata 

 and fcrrea, Otocompsa leucogenys, Munia Malabarica, Rcguloides trocltiloidcs 

 and other familiar birds of the plains. Corvus splendcns and the noisy Milvus 

 govinda bring tho traveller from tho last groves of pine-trees under the shade 

 of a Ficus indica, or into a garden of Muste and orange trees. Such is the neigh- 

 bourhood of Belaspoor, which already possesses all the characteristics of a true 

 Indian flora and fauna and will, therefore, bo considered as the limit to which 

 my observations on the Himalayan avi-fauna of the Sutlej valley will apply. 



Thus the country, from which the materials for the subsequent remarks have 

 been obtained, extonds almost from the Tibetan frontier at Shipki to Belaspoor, 

 a distance of about 180 miles measured along the course of the river Sutlej ; 

 the direct line across the mountains being, however, only about 110 miles. 

 The provinces situated in that portion of the N". W. Himalaya are Kunawar, 

 Bissahir, the Southern portion of Kulu, and a few of the small hill states in the 

 neighbourhood of Simla. This area lies between the 3 1st and 32nd degree of 

 North latitude and very nearly between the 77th and 79th degree of east 

 longitude. The elevations vary on an average from one thousand to about 

 thirteen thousand feet, for scarcely any birds live in these parts of the valley 

 for a great length of time above the latter limit, though further to east in Tibet 

 the same are usually found at considerably higher elevation. With reference 

 to the arboreal vegetation to which we have so often drawn attention and which 

 forms such a prominent feature in the physical character of the country, we 

 may in general state that the avi-fauna referred to in the following pages, 

 characterizes the geographical range of the Himalayan Conifer trees, beginning 

 at low elevations, — about Belaspoor, — with the Pinus longifolia and terminating, 

 in the East of Kunawar, — with the Pinus Gerardiana and the Junipcrus excelsa. 

 The arrangement followed in the enumeration of the families and species is 

 that of Dr. JER DON'S BIRDS OF INDIA,' to the volumes and 

 page of which reference is given in Roman and Arabic numbers, respectively. 



/. Fam. YULTTJR1DM. 



The vultures, usually feeding on the carcasses of different animals, 

 which occasionally perish under the stress of the weather in crossing 

 high passes on the N. W. Himalaya ranges, are the two following ; 



