210 On the Birds of tie Goona District. [No. 4, 



The climate gradually increases in moisture south of Gwalior, and 

 at Goona the rainfall is from 40 to 50 inches. Though the 

 hot weather may be said to be comparatively mild, the draught is 

 sufficiently great to burn up all herbaceous plants, except those grow- 

 ing near water. The rains extend from the middle of June to Sep- 

 tember, and towards the end of that month the cold weather birds 

 begin to appear. 



Cultivation is the exception in these regions. Here and there all 

 through the jungle are scattered small hamlets, each with its little 

 patch of cultivation, but on all sides of these oases there stretch 

 thousands of acres of grassy plain and bushy downs, over the remoter 

 parts of which even the village buffaloes and goats never stray. 

 Grain-feeding birds are therefore not numerous, and the country is a 

 bad one for small game. 



The prevailing trees and bushes are JButea frondosa, Acacia Catechu, 

 Buchanania latifolia, AEgle Marmelos, a Diospyrus and several species 

 of Zizyphus, with Garissa Garandas in the moister valleys ; and the 

 prevailing grass is that known as " spear-grass," a term including 

 several species of Apluda and Andropogon. I always found that 

 spear-grass gives cover to extremely few birds of any kind, and indeed 

 I was often struck by the scarcity of animal life in the jungle gener- 

 ally. Near villages there are Tamarind, Peepul, Banyan, and Mowa* 

 trees, but there are very few gardens. 



The subjoined list includes the names of 21 Raptorial species. Of 

 the two larger carrion-feeders given the Black Vulture (Otogyps calvus) 

 and the Common Brown Vulture (Gyps Bengalensis)—ihe former is 

 by far the more common, and the latter does not occur at all during the 

 hot weather. Of the predatory species that arrive in the cold weather, 

 the first to come are the various species of Circus, and Ealiastur 

 Indus. Circus cyaneus, Linn., a bird which in India does not usually 

 extend to the plains, is inserted on the strength of a single female bird 

 which I shot near the Parbutty river early in December. Towards 

 the end of October, Poliornis teesa arrives in large numbers, and is by 

 far the commonest bird of prey during the cold season. Previously to 

 October, I did not observe the tawny eagle (AquOa fulvescens) but 



* Bassia latifolia, from the flowers of which a spirit is distilled. 



