460 SOME OF THE FAMILIAR BIRDS OF INDIA. 
tric lamp. If the microscopist so manages his illuminating — 
apparatus that the field of the microscope resembles in color and 
intensity the azure blue of the sky on a clear day (and this is the 
condition which should always be aimed at), I do not believe the 
use of the method for any reasonable time will be found — 
injurious. I have recently found, when a sheet of plate glass 
backed with black velvet is substituted for the ordinary plane : 
mirror in any of the above arrangements, that while the brilliancy : 
of the light is much moderated, its desirable qualities arè — 
unchanged and it is still intense enough for the adequate illumi- 
nation of the highest powers. Those who find the light obtained 
from the ordinary mirror too brilliant may resort to this contriv- 
ance with advantage. ; 
SOME OF THE FAMILIAR BIRDS OF INDIA. j 
tia. AE = =o ph 
BY REV. H. J. BRUCE. 
Oxe is greatly surprised at the number of birds found in India: i 
Dr. Jerdon in his “ Birds of India,” published in 1863, descfibë 
ten hundred and sixteen species, and since that time the wa a 
been so much enlarged by new discoveries, that Mr. Allan 7 o 
in the second part of his “ Rough Notes,” announces pater a 
dred and sixty species as already acknowledged and wer 
It cannot be supposed that this number includes all the avi- p 
of India, Burmah and Ceylon; for new species are en > 
being discovered and added to the list as the number of obser” B 
is increased, and new localities are visited. nowy ; 
India possesses almost every variety of climate, from ery” Mee 
Himalayas on the north, to the arid plains and tabletin ae = 
tropical south. The variety of surface, too, is very pe 
and lakes or in the salt marshes, almost every 
those conditions which are best adapted to its n 
It is to be remembered also that this country form 
ature 
s the 
