. . a | ‘ , ook ah i ‘ ‘ ‘ : ker pa oe ; : ‘ ; th Spee | Vike Farid «,:; a5 a ayare £9 om ieewe meg et . + we bee : : 7 y _ : 2 ' ' 5 ‘ doe h , Pa bed het a paris tha ie oe O onace betle nad Wawiee rey . eehae . . rahe . chi ‘ : , ‘ . ia do» ° an . . 2 hot wba . oan ' . a | 4” rary : - ; : ee eee \ HS sl tars . ; -_ ere Le ane aa * © el ‘ Ce ie a 4 ” ve ¥ re POUT ea Oe pare ues Nearer ae eee ee es A4rurt soo ‘ . i . é 7 see ee fame es | ade ape ve . inves ¢ lie . i" ' 7 ee ee thane fie ey 5 7 : 112 Vas PE wh Wha te id dug ' ‘ ' we ay + 4h, are aes he eA ry mye oa : PER othe Liew pe aes xo : hee hs F ' ; os ‘ . ' ‘ t, P48 ; 1% 8 « Big ie . tae : : bes gia x 1 Se, ++ .t re ee ee oe wee artnet pemepe ‘ae utebae eon ee. cae ; ; Pass A , a a 5 chat ren : = A JOURNAL OF ye \ ITS DEPENDENCIES CALCUTTA: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY A, ACTON, AT THE CALCUTTA CENTRAL PRESS, 6, COUNCIL HoUSE sTREET. CONTENTS OF VVOL.. 13... LS S0. —:}:¢ — Nos. 1 to 3.— August. First List or tHe Brrps or THE SourH Kowxan, by G. W. Vidal see eo eee ee REMARKS ON soME SPECIES RECENTLY DESCRIBED BY Mz. Brooxs e Nores on GrocicHna INNOTATA, Blyth, by Henry Seebohm GEOCICHLA DIssIMILIs, Blyth ae Tus Breps of rue Western Hatr or rae Mazay Pentn- suLA, Third Notice Appitroxat Nores on some oF our INDIAN SronncHaTs ... AppirionaL Notes oN THe Birps or TENAssERIM, AND SPECIALLY ON THOSE OF THE THOUNGYEEN VALLEY, by Captain C. T. Bingham AS side THe “Game Birps or Invi,” ADDENDA ET CoRRIGENDA A Few Remarks on Scoa@nicota PLaTyuRA, by W. Edwin Brooks oe Nores on rae Nipiricatton oF CERTAIN Spectes IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF CHAMAN, S. AFGHANISTAN, by H. E. Barnes oes a Be On a new Species oF TRIBURA (Dumeticora), by Eugene W. Oates, and note on the same, by W. Edwin Brooks... Appitionaz Nores oN ALSEONAX CINEREO-ALBA OR LATIROSTRIS, AND ALSEONAX TERRICOLOR, by W. E. Brooks eae ose one Notrs— Rejected skins to be disposed of Suggested identity of Suya albogularis and 8. super- ciliaris aus oes Burnesia gracilis, distinct from B. lepida Abrornis jerdoni, wnguestionably a good species Sturnia blythi—zts real diagnosis Extended range of Goisakius melanolophus i in India Chetura caudacuta and ©. nudipes probably distinct Accipiter gularis, virgatus and stevensoni Hypolais pallida and rama Pas fie-discovery of Passer pyrrhonotus, Blyth The Indian Rubecula akahige apud Verreauz, is really the young of Niltava sundara ves Schoenicola platyura, further note: its identity with Catriscus apicalis suggested ove eee il Mr. Sharpe's supposed eggs ¥ Leptoptilus j ery doubtful sss eee Letters ro tHe EpiroR— Birds seen between Suez and FOr, —H.E. M. JAMES ase Young of Painted Snipe, swim well. —J. Davisow How the principles of natural (or unnatural) selec- tion are at times carried out —W. E. Brooks ... The Kurrachi Museum Palumbus is casiotis ; breeding of Msacus recurvirostris in Sindh.— C, SwinHoE Distinetness of Sturnia blythi ; an albinoid Bpecis men of Chrysocolaptes strictus,—E. A. Bururn... No. 4.—November. A History oF tHE Brrpds oF CerLon - bie Nore on Tripura Manpexti, by W. E. Brooks ae A sEconp List oF THE Birps oF Nortu-Eastern CacHar ScHENICOLA PLATYURUS oe BS ft _ PUFFINUS CHLORORHYNCHUS ie = ae STURNIA BLYTHI are oe ay MEeERGUS SERRATOR ow : ON AN UNDESCRIBED SPECIES oF " Puvxzoscorus, by W. Edwin Brooks Le ie see she LoPHoTriorcHIs KIENERI ae Birps Nestina oN THE HASTERN Narra—Apprrtons AND Axtrrarions, by 8. B. Doig ... att ove Nores— Difficulties connected with the nomenclature of some Asiatic Snipe ees he ove Acridotheres siamensis... Colours of the soft parts in the Mishmi iil speci- men of Ceriornis temmincki ces ase Chetura nudipes, again .. wee Prinia poliocephala not distinct Srom P. cinereo- eapilla; the latter possibly only a variety f P. socialis oo aon Gracupica nigricollis & Collocalia brevirostris, Mrclelland, ¢ good and distinct species Bed ah Reguloides viridipennis, Blyth Bee eae ~ Garrulax leucogaster, Walden ; Pica bottanensis, a penfeclty distinct species Sturnia incognita, in Tenasserim a5: ocr Acridotheres melanosternus, scarcely in my opinion a valid species eA Cyornis poliogenys, Hume i iii Pterocles coronatus, near Fort Jumrood uae Erismatura leucocephala, near Loodhiana, Punjab... LetrEers to THE EpIToR— Calornis tytleri and Chrysococcyx maculatus at Madras.— W. F. Dieue A A reply to Major Swinhoe.—E. A. Burner ot Birds Nesting in Southern Travancore.—T. F. BovgrDILLon Nidification of Graptocephalus davisoni, Hume.— Evaene W. Oates oe Nos. 5 & 6.—September 1881. Tue Brros or Giuerr, by Major John pe (a reprint, with Notes, from the Zbis) ... A Tentartve Caratoaue or THE Brrps oF THE Deccan AnD SoutH Manrarta Country, by valine B. A. Butler, H. M.’s 83rd Regt. : = a PassER PYRRHONOTUS, Blyth DvUMETICOLA BRUNNEIPERCTUS, Blyth, ‘by W. Edwin Brooks... Pegnis Tweepanit, Hume, vy J. H. eran: (Note ona Malayan species of Pernis distinct from P Cae chus) .. ae ae A List oF ‘Brrps OBSERVED IN THE NETGHBOURHOOD oF Cuamay, S. Arananistan, by H. EH. Barnes Novenrins.— Callophasis humie, Sp. Nov. ce Perdicula manipurensis, Sp. Nov. eee Appitionat Notes on tHe Nipirication oF Brirps IN British BurMa Nores, CHIEFLY OoLoGicat, FROM. Norru-Wuasr Crrzow, by H. Parker, O.E. Tue Brrps or THE LucKNow Cryin Drvisiow, by Geo. Reid (Part I) a. one eos NotEs— Pratincola insignis, from Condah in Oudh Additional species from N. E. Cachar coe Trochalopterum meridionale, of W. Blanford Letrzzs to THE Epiror— Albinoids.—W. F. Diqur des Painted Snipe breeding in December. '—A, Tomes INDEX .. eve on oct ae Page. 296 ib. 298 1b. 299 300 ot aad Bee ete alee De she bs es ib ehe near “ rare e Beste, if gy ize Bye PREFACE. ————_—e6s2e__- Tue lamentable delay that has occurred in completing Volume IX has been due to a variety of causes. In the first place, in consequence partly of urgent private affairs and partly of severe and long-continued sickness, my valued friend and collaborateur, Mr. W. Davison, has for the past twelve months been entirely unable to help me in any way, and it will pro- bably be next April before I can look for any further help from him in my museum. In the second place my explorations of Manipur involved my being on the move from December last year until the end of June of the present year. In the third place since my return this number has been kept back owing to an intimation from a valued contributor of his being about to despatch a long paper of unusual interest, which should, I considered, be published without delay. I have never received this promised paper, nor can I learn anything about it, and so am compelled to issue this number without waiting longer for it. ALLAN HUME. he STRAY FEATHERS. Vol. IX] AUGUST 1880. [Nos. 1 &2.¢0. Hirst Hist of the Birds of the South Bonkan, By G. W. VIDAL. Ir appears to be the orthodox custom that each contributor of a paper to Stray FraTuers should commence by offering profuse apologies for its incompleteness and imperfections ; should deplore all his sins of omission and commission ; should dis- claim all knowledge of his subject ; deprecate all criticism ; and, finally, in a paroxysm of modest confusion, throw the entire responsibility of his work on the devoted head of the Editor, without whose assistance and unremitting reminders, &c., &c., it never could have seen the light. All this goes without the saying, and in my case may be taken for granted. No account of the birds of the particular tract I am about to describe has, as far as I know, ever been published, excepting a chapter on the Ratnagiri species that I have lately contributed to the Bombay Provincial Gazetteer. Mr. Fairbank collected for a few weeks on the eastern frontier of Savant Vadi,* but he does not appear to have gone over the Ratnagiri Frontier intermediate between Mahableshwar and Savant Vadi. I have known the South Konkan Districts for seven years, having been stationed at Ratnagiri from 1869 to 1873, and again from 1877 to the present date. During the first period I made, from an ornithological point of view, little or no use of my time. I shot various birds—Waders, Scratchers and Swim- mers—which I had good reason to believe from experience and the teachings of veteran epicureans to be “ aves sapidissime in patind.” I also collected numerous ornate and bright-coloured specimens to be set up in England. I was invariably accom- panied in my annual wanderings by Dr. Jerdon, as personified in his ** Birds of India,’ and many an hour have I spent with his help in laboriously and often vainly trying to identify some nou-familiar species. But I should as soon have thought in those days of shooting and seriously examining a Drymaca or a Phylloscopus as of throwing stones at my grandmother. For the last three seasons only have I systematically collected all specimens, pretty or plain, clothed with bright silks or stuffs * Vide S. F., IV., 250, e¢ seq. 2 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. of russet brown, that came within reach. From these collec- tions, containing 242 species, the list has been mainly compiled. During the season of 1877-78 a collection was also made between Ratnagiri and Vijaydurg by Dr. James Armstrong of the Marine Survey. Dr. Armstrong very kindly gave me a list of the species collected:‘by him, including, in the case of the rarer birds, the localities at which they were obtained. I have 5.—Gyps bengalensis. 355.—Geocichla citrina. 63.—Syrnium indranee. 767.—Alauda gulgula. 151.—Palornis columboides. 796.—Turtur risoria. 166.—Chrysocolaptes sultaneus. | 952.—Dendrocygna javanica. ‘ 981.—Larus ridibundus. thus been able to add nine spe- cies noted in the mar- gin, which Ihave not myself obtained or preserved specimens of. _ [have also been able to add from his list, in the case of many other species, localities from which I have not collected specimens. In 1878-79 a further considerable collection was made at Ratnagiri, Sdvant Vadi, and other parts of the district for Mr. A. J. Crawford, C.S. Mr. Crawford was kind enongh to ‘allow me to examine his specimens from time to time, to catalogue them, and send them to Mr. Hume for verification. 16.—Falco chiquera. 267.—Hemipus picatus. 39.—Spilornis cheela, 282.—Chaptia enea. 98.—Cypsellus melba. 469,—Irena puella. 164.—Yungipicus nanus. | 471.—Oriolus indicus. 203.—Cuculus micropterus. | 307.—Larvivora superciliaris. 205.—Hierococcyx varius. 697.—Amadina malacea. 233.—Cinnyris minima. 738,—Carpodacus erythrinus. 253.—Dendrophila frontalis. 793.—Turtur meena. 265.—Upupa ceylonensis. 794,.—Turtur senegalensis. 852,.—Chettusia gregaria, T have thus been able to add to the list 19 other spe- cies which I have _hi- therto fail- ed to obtain myself. This makes the total number of species, actually collected and preserved, 269. ‘To these I have added six more, which, though not included in any of our collections, I have either shot in former years, or know, beyond all reason- able doubt, to occur. These species are as entered in the 6.—WNeophron ginginianus. * 4—Gyps indicus. 957.—Spatula clypeata. 911.—Porzana fusca, | 969.—Fuligula nyroca. clusion are stated in the list. 961.—Chaulelasmus streperus. margin. The rea- sons for their in- I have also added to the list four species recorded by Mr. 115.—Harpactes fasciatus. 145.—Tockus griseus. 119.—Herops swinhoii. 198.—Megalema malabarica. Giiicn ol avarie Vadk. # Vide p. 29. Fairbank from the eastern STRAY FEATHERS VOL.IX. MAP OF WEST COAST’ Scale 250Milessin fae Ypwy tir ite Nirvke ealear: Hf Cas mi Meng DT) DUA Wn A My “Ml | AN Migs yee - | Ayes We ANS w \S LANIES N SY S GZ I27INWS F% RS Ns) od NS wis BS we Sate Mui toahle¥Z spa ) RAJA wwe! 7) (OY in Ap es a dein ig 3 NF —_— An nw C7 aL Cie : sip i ava. »} rf iy pyyte Ke semitvig - = <= a Ma a \ Ve 7 oat gon ae \ 7 \ Il “tab ot) Viola wi Yyny, 3 co § i ud” Protea WA YY Ze hil 07 3 z ie ae mn Fil Z “| ti Pea | Boe pS =uetd Ss " Se WN Brey | ae | per’ FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 3 The Editor has added four species, three of them from the last batch of skins sent to him, viz. :-— 86.—Hirundo fluvicola. 698.—Amadina rubronigia. 845 gquat.—Agialitis asiatica. 992.—Sterna anaetheta. The inclusion of these additional species makes the grand- total of the birds entered in the list 284.* Of these, 266 have already been verified by the Editor. The remaining 18 species have been marked in the list with an asterisk. . With these necessary explanations I will pass on to the description of the tract to which the paper relates. Bounpariss.—The narrow strip of west coast littoral, which for the purposes of this Paper I have called the South Konkan,f includes the whole of the British district of Ratnagiri and the adjoining Native State of Savant Vadi. Its situation with refer- ence to other places on the west coast will be seen by a glance at the accompanying map. Roughly speaking it lies between the 16th and 18th degrees of North Latitude, and the 73rd and 74th degrees of Kast Longitude. For the last twenty- four miles of its course the Savitri river, one of the Panck Ganga, or five streams, which rise in the sacred village of Mahableshwar, forms the northern boundary of Ratnagiri, separating it from the territory of the Habsi or Sidi Chief of Jinjera. On the west the Indian ocean gives our tract a seaboard of about 160 miles, from Bankot or Fort Victoria on the north to Fort Terekhol, which, on the south, separates it from the Portuguese territory of Goa. Except at the north- east angle, where, for a few miles, the adjoining British district of Kolaba intervenes, the watershed of the Western Ghats, or Sahyadri mountains, forms a well-defined natural boundary on the east throughout the tract. This barrier is overstepped at one point only—the village of Gotne. At the south-east corner the Savant VaAdi State intervenes between the Ghats and the Ratnagiri district, leaving the latter a narrow tongue of land, running down the seaboard and diminishing almost to a point near Fort Terekhol. The extreme length of the tract is about 165 miles, and the breadth varies from thirty to forty-five miles. The combined area of Ratnagiri and Savant Vadi is 4,689 square miles, (Rat- nagiri 3,789 square miles, Sdvant Vadi, 900 square miles). The Ratnagiri district is throughout well populated. The census returns of 1872 shewed the large total of 1,019,136 souls, which gives an average of 268 to the square mile. In Savant * When complete the total will doubtless not fall far short of 350.—A. O. H. + The terms North and South Konkan are sometimes used to denote the parts of the Konkan north and south of Bombay, from the Tapti river to Karwar or Sadasivgarh : but the more usually accepted boundaries of the South Konkan are the Savitri riyer on the north and Terekhol or Terracoil, on the Goa frontier, on the south.—G, V. STRAY FEATHERS VOL.IX. MAP OF WEST COAST Scale 250Miles in u i 1}. R uy yAsHisHT aes Dean yy Rak fl ‘@.gunacan ae e a Ey Ean inl : ‘ : SF 13 a : \/ A, 4 SHASTRI R | he j a INA A gotre MW eC | | | | Pa | Pee eee IS Refer ences, Rainge weS tation Fuyures. derrote averag: iran Fadl 38 wn | inches | 5 pat 4 Hill F art. Se AND =~ SA’ ANT VADI ON THE ae ST poser Seale, 24 Miles =I Inch - BER Ne SS Se ———_— | O38 7654525 IN DIA ) eee vate MI Vidal's P. 2ENTRAL PRESS. 4 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. Vadi the population is more sparse, being at the rate of about 170 to the square mile. - Oe Asprct.—Reserving further statistics for the present, I will pass on to the chief physical features of the tract. In de- scribing any country the highest perfection of art is to convince the reader that he, no less than the writer, has been there. This I cannot expect to accomplish. People who have not . seen a country often describe it better than those who have. A peripatetic clergyman and preacher for the §. P. G., who had never so much as crossed the British channel, once deli- vered an eloquent lecture on South Africa, in a village school in rural England. After an hour of full and graphic deserip- tions of the scenery, the natives, and their manners and customs, he had fully succeeded in making his simple audience believe he had been a spectator of the scenes he described. Their disappointment was keen when they learnt that the lecturer was no more a traveller in ‘furrin’ parts than they themselves were. “Lor, Sir!”’ said an old crone at the close of the pro- ceedings, “us did think now as yu’d bean there yureself.”’ I have no doubt, if the truth were known, that this untoward revela- tion prevented the simple folks from contributing half as many halfpence as they otherwise would have done towards provid- ing pocket-handkerchiefs, umbrellas, tooth brushes, hymn books, and other articles, conventionally held to be necessary for the welfare of the heathen blacks. However, whatever my readers may be disposed to believe, after reading my descriptions, I am painfully aware of the fact that I have been “ there,” although this may not help me to paint very clearly the physical features which govern the dis- tribution of species. If you could steer a balloon straight enough from N.N.W. to 8.8.E. or vice versa, to traverse the whole length of the tract, and obtain a good bird’s-eye view of its configuration, you would see little else than a congeries of rugged hills too numer- ous to count, with every variety of contour, traversed in all directions by deeply cut precipitous ravines and valleys, through which the rivers and streams, flowing westwards from the Ghats, have, for ages untold, scoured their tortuous courses. Except in Savant Vadi, where the jungles have been jealously preserved, you would see betwixt sea and Ghats, from November to June, a monotonous succession of bare hill sides - and plateaus of black slag-like rock, almost wholly unrelieved by verdure, and would lament the short-sightedness of previous generations of rulers who sat still and looked on unconcerned, while this wholesale denudation was being gradually and surely effected. You would note, in pleasing contrast, the snug, well- FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 5 wooded groves which mark, like oases in a desert, the village sites and homesteads of a patient, thrifty, law-abiding population. You would see that while the valleys and alluvial banks of the rivers are the only really arable land the tract can boast of, picks and hoes have not been idle in bringing under culti- vation steep hill slopes and stony plateaus. Wherever the crumbling rock gives two or tree inches depth of free soil, there are sown, transplanted and reared, with infinite labour, slender crops of coarse hill grains. Wherever, on the sides or near the base of a rugged hill, a portion of the flood water that scours the slopes in torrents during the rainy season can be gathered and held, there you see rows of tiny terraced rice fields, levelled and banked in with infinite skill and labour. You would marvel at the minuteness of the work, while you admired the patience and care of the cultivator, and would moralise on the struggle for existence which the expendi- ture of such laborious toil on such unkindly _ soil betrays. Sir George Wingate, the father of the Bombay Re- venue Survey, when he first visited Ratnagiri profession- ally, placed on record his opinion that the cost of surveying the district would exceed the value of the fee-simple of the entire land, Exaggerated, of course, as this statement was, you would see at once from your balloon that a detailed field survey would be no light work. And, knowing the density of the population, you would at once rightly guess that nopart of the district can. produce food sufficient for the inhabitants. Large imports of grain are, indeed,an annual necessity, and in the poorer villages on the slopes and spurs of the Ghats which these imports fail to reach, the frugal hill peasantry, after exhausting their scanty stock of Harik (Paspalum scrobiculatum), (which, by the way, is rank poison unless specially prepared by steeping in cowdung and water,*) habitually subsist, for several months, 2. ¢., until the next harvest, on wild plantains, roots, and other jungle produce. _ The exports of local produce are few, and consist of salt fish, shell lime, fins and maws, of four or five species of sharks and saw fish, cocoanuts, coir fibre, and betelnuts. | The pressure of the population is relieved by an annual migra- tion of some 100,000 able-bodied men to Bombay and other places. Soon after the harvest is reaped, and the fair weather has set in,—leaving a slender store of grain (all that a rack-renting farmer and a grasping money-lender has left untouched) for the women and children, and the old and weakly of both sexes—they wend their way by land or sea to Bombay, returning again to * A party of Vaghir convicts who escaped, after a serious outbreak, from the Ratnagiri Jail, were caught, after a long hunt, in a state of utter collapse, brought on by eating raw Harik plucked from standing crops, 6 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH: KONKAN. their homes in May with their savings just in time to prepare their fields for the coming monsoon crop. Thus are both ends made to meet. Numbers also of the able-bodied males, Marathas, Kanbis, Mahars, and Chambhars, enlist in the native army and police, while the Konkani Brahmans, everywhere noted for their keen intelligence, find ready employment in the various public offices in the Presidency. ‘ Thus Ratnagiri, whichis the nursery of the Bombay Army and the home of thousands of pensioners of all grades, civiland military, pays its way, and, despite the poverty of its fields and pastures, manages to con- tribute its fair quota to the public revenues. Returning once more from the people to the land, you will note that riding, save on the beaten tracks, is a game not worth the candle; that you cannot get across country without encountering a succession of loose boulders, high field embank- ments, and sheets of slippery laterite; that to mount the hills you must have an animal who can walk up and down flights of stone steps and is as sure-footed as a moke. Pigsticking is, of course, animpossibility. No first or last spears have ever been won in Ratnagiri; noright-minded pig would allow such dangers to be encountered for his sake; soif chance should ever locate you in the South Konkan you will, if you are wise, get rid of your valuable Arab, as an odjet de luxe, and a source of constant anxiety. Ifyou must have a mount, you will, if the Cabul Field Force has left any, get a sturdy Deccan tat, slow and sure; or else will take to “Shank’s mare,”’ with the occasional variety for a long march of the country dooly, which, carried by means of cross bars on the heads of jungly rustics, who insist on keeping step, will shew you in perfection the poetry of motion and the doubtful “rapture of repose.” Or you will, after a few weeks of this sort of thing, avoid the land, and, “ all comfort scorning,”’ go from port to port in emotional coasting steamers, and creep in country boats up the tidal creeks. Lucky wil] you be if you reach your destination within twelve hours of the time youfondly appointed in your ignorance of tides and the ways of native boatmen. Horrors untold should your servants have neglected to bring an ample store of provisions. When becalmed and tidebound, you rock to and fro through the hottest hours of the, day, whistling for a wind that never comes, and singing anything but a peaceful lullaby. Sometimes the monotony is pleasantly relieved by your boat sticking hopelessly in the mud. The boatmen shew an agera- vatinge nonchalance, and pass round the hubble-bubble, but make no effort to extricate you. They told you there was no water, but you knew better. You had consulted a tide table, and there you are, and there you must stick for hours. ‘ar FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, q When the shades of evening are falling,a happy thouglit strikes — you. You will get that cranky little canoe launched with an outrigger tied on to make it steady, and with one man to paddle, and another to do nothing. You will take your gun, and steal up the lagoons on the sides of the creek through forests of man- groves and rushes, and expect, at every wind of its wriggling course, to put up a flock of Teal, Wigeon or Pintails. You recline in the bows with your gun resting on the gunwale, and despite all previous disappointments, you contrive to feel a glow of gentle excitement. *‘Man never is, but always to be, blest.” Allof a sud- den the paddle stops. The boatman points mysteriously behind a bed of rushes, not twenty yards a head. He thinks you don’t grasp the situation fully, and proceeds to explain in a hoarse stage whisper, “ Sahib, badak hai!’’ in tones loud enough to disturb all the birds within half a mile. If he was within reach, you would kick him, but as he isn’t, you ean only shake your. fist, and look unutterable things at him. Luckily, as yet, his indiscreet croaking has not alarmed the duck. By emphatic signs you make him turn the boat close in shore, and proceed cautiously yard by yard. You speculate on the strength of the flock and the number of birds you will drop to “each barrel. You come nearer and nearer to the high sedge, and strain your eyes to see what lies behind. You are there, but no duck has yet risen or uttered a quack of alarm. You rise slowly to peer over the heads of the rushes, and decide rapidly that you will have a sitting shot with your first, and a blaze into the brown with your second, when up rise a couple of Pond Herons with a jeering “ quawk, and there is that fool of a boatman dancing and gesticulating with a grin of triumph on his face, and shouting “Maro! maro! like a fiend, and plainly expressing by his looks that he thinks you are an incomprehensible duffer for not shooting them. This is a damper. Of course there were no Duck, and you resign yourself to your fate with whatever composure you can. It is useless to argue, and you give the wretch a look of withering contempt, and go on as before. There is still half an hour of daylight, and after all there may be Duck ahead. You see a flock of Golden Plover on the mud banks, and you let them pass. A Blue Heron rises stiffly fifty yards ahead, followed by a Green Bittern, and a party of Whimbrel, and a trio of noisy Greenshanks. You surprise a party of Cormorants, larking in the water, and bobbing up and down like a lot of charity school children having their annual dip in the sea at Margate. A flock of White Ibis are grazing in the sedge, well within shot. Egrets, Sandpipers ‘and Kingfishers are everywhere, but 8 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. your thoughts are not for them. A Rail appears at the edge of the swamp, and before you have time to see what species it belongs to, scuttles back under cover. You know it is useless to try to find it, and the mud on the banks is too deep and black to be attempted without graver provocation. So you creep on through gullet after gullet, and begin to think it quite time you bagged something, and that a few of those Golden Plover you passed would have been better than nothing. In desperation you conceive wicked designs against that Pied Kingfisher who will keep flying backwards and forwards, but you relent when you see him hover so confidingly about five yards from the muzzle of your gun. Talking of Ceryle rudis reminds me of a story of a griffin who was always, according to his own account, shooting Snipe at impossible times and places :—‘‘ He never could understand,”’ he said, “‘why men said Snipe were so difficult to hit. He thought there was nothing easier. Of course they went off at a good pace, but you had only to wait till they hovered, and you generally hit them.” A few days afterwards it was discovered that this innocent had been for weeks clearing all the rivers of Ceryle rudis, in the fond and confident belief that they were “full Snipe.” What — he thought of the flavour of his game, history does not say. Well, you let off that “hovering” Snipe, and it is too late to land and beat the paddy fields you knew must lie behind that long embankment for real Snipe. At any rate you may as well shoot two or three good specimens of common birds before it gets dark. There are several Prinias flitting about in the thorny bushes close by, and perhaps you have not got them from this locality. You have given up the last faint hope of the Duck on this occasion. So you draw your full charges and substitute half ones, and no sooner is this accomplished, then you see something black in the water coming rapidly towards you. Is it a Snake Bird? No, by Jove! it’s an Otter. He comes within twenty yards—sees the boat—stops and looks at you with his head well out of water. You may never have such a chance again, but “ confound those specimen charges!” Half an ounce of No. 10, driven by a dram and a half of powder, would make no more impression on his sleek little head than a peashooter on a costermonger’s. While you fumble in your cartridge bag for an S. S. G., the Otter looks interested and amused; but just as you have succeeded in making the needful preparations for his immediate execution, the knowing little fellow gives a wink and a grin, and down he goes singing, “T’m a young man from the country, But you don’t get over me.” \ FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 9 Up he comes again after a short dive fifty yards the other side of you. As soon as you can get that idiot with the paddle to turn round you give chase. Down goes the Otter again. At last you get a snap shot forty yards off. Off goes your first barrel, and you see the shot strike the water in a wide circle round his poor devoted head. You hear the flapping of many wings, as, startled by the shot, up getsa large flock of Teal from a bed of green rushes, not twenty yards from the boat. You had passed them with- out disturbing them ten minutes ago. A lovely shot, but hardly worth taking with an S. S. G. Never mind! they will settle again, and you give strict orders to your man not to take his eyes off them till they are down. Besides, you know ycu hit that Otter, and are determined to bag him. But the leery brute had dived at the flash, and after a fruit- less search of some ten minutes, you see him a hundred yards ahead, quietly land on the mud bank, and. with a derisive snuffle, canter off, unharmed, into the mangrove swamp. So you give him up. After all what’s the good of an Otter? If you had got him, you would only have kept his skin, till, like everything else in this climate, moths and rats had destroyed it. But now your friend and admirer of the blind Baglas is quite sure that the Teal, after circling round several times, have settled somewhere in the main channel. So, after a circuitous route in and out of all sorts of winding channels, you at length emerge once more in the open river, and there, sure enough, are the Duck well in the middle of the stream with no cover within two hundred yards on either side of them. While you are debating whether you will go straight at them, as if you didn’t mean it, in the hopes of a long shot, you see another flock of larger birds, Wigeon or Pin- tail, close under the lee of the shore, not very far ahead. There is no time to be lost, for the sun “* Now sinks behind yon ridge, And the usual evening midge Is settling on the bridge Of your nose.” There are high rushes close to the waters’ edge, for the tide is half way in. So you determine to land and stalk through the slush. You mark the point opposite which the Duck lie and land, dropping all the loose cartridges in your pocket in the mud. As you do so, you tramp along some hundred and fifty yards in about as pitiable a condition as a fly in treacle, except that the mud doesn’t taste or smell quite so sweet as the syrup, and suddenly you come to one 2 x 10 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. of those horrible ditches with mud up to your calves and water up to your waist. However, there is no good stopping. In for a penny, in for a pound, and you flounder through and scramble up the other side. Unfortunately, this bog- trotting cannot be accomplished without noise. Each time you succeed in extricating a leg from the sticky mire, out it comes with aloud pop like a volley of soda water corks. So when you think you are all there, and cautiously raise your head over the rushes, you find the canny Duck have swum well out from shore, and that, instead of being within 30 yards of them, they have put at least double that dis- tance between you and them. There is no time for further manceuvring, so you blaze away merrily with both barrels, and if you are lucky, succeed in bringing down three birds, at least two of which are quite certain to escape. However, one Wigeon is better than nothing; and, with a sense of © partial success, you reseat yourself in your canoe, with your lees dangling placidly in the water, by which process you expect, in good time, to relieve yourself of the superincum- bent weight of some twenty pounds of clogging mud, and give the word for “home,” meaning that delightful yacht, with an awning of plaited palm leaves which keeps out the breeze and lets in the sun, and which is full of creeping things innumerable. On your way back to your mud-stranded home, you pause as you come across a clump of chipi trees in a mangrove swamp and hear a confused chattering. From all directions parties of Egrets, Herons, Crows, Cormorants, Ibis, Snake- birds and Mynas are arriving in quick succession to this common roost. Hach new arrival provokes angry remon- strances from those already seated, and the trees begin to groan under the weight. As you come closer, the noise is deafening. Still you can distinguish the different notes, and loud above all, the nagging “caw” of Corvus splendens. A solitary Pond Heron comes sneaking up unobtrusively like an amateur casual, and is immediately set upon by a combined force of rows and Cormorants. He makes a precipitate retreat and falls foul of some lange White Egrets, who resent his intrusion as an impertinence. After running the gauntlet for several minutes, he at length gets a footing on a modest perch, on the lowest branch of a tree, and escaping further observation for a time, curls himself up as small as he can, and tries to go to sleep. Twilight is departing, and you steal up, though not unob- served, under the dark shadow of the trees. You single out a particularly fine White Egret. You fire, and he falls, and FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 11 all the host rises simultaneously with frantic screams. You send the intelligent boatman to pick up the bird, with parti- cularly emphatic injunctions zet to hold the creature by its wings, and not to draggle it in the mud. After floundering about the slush, and apparently having an exciting shikar on his account after a wounded bird, he returns with a miser- able specimen of H. garzetta, wildly clutching both wings together with one hand, and with the other grabbing it firmly by the neck. Itis too dark to see anything more, and _ you paddle back to the boat disgusted, with a lively sense of the vanity of human wishes. The Wigeon are whistling around you, and you hear them rise close ahead, but you can- not see them, * For on the silent river The floating star beams quiver, And now, the saints deliver You from fleas.” I have been too garrulous already, but the above is an uavarnished picture of the sport you may expect on a Ratnagiri tidal creek in the cold weather, and of the birds you may see, except that you can only get Wigeon in any number on the Vashishti. You might have varied your programme by landing and shooting a few brace of Snipe; and if you had gone up the steep scrubby slopes of the hills that overhang the creek amongst the Corinda bushes (Carissas corinda), you would have flushed a few coveys of Perdicula asiatica, and if you had hit on the right place might have got a Peacock, especially if you had waited till he had gone to roost on the leafless bough of some ghostly silk cotton tree, and had stalked him through the thorny bushes and clinging undergrowth. You would have seen plenty of Bulbuls and Rock Robins, and several parties of Pyctoris sinensis, Malacocercus somervillit Drymeca inornata, large flocks of Merops viridis, numerous Honey-suckers and Ioras, and one or two Magpies, Orioles and Woodpeckers. In the gloaming you would have seen at least two kinds of Goat-suckers, (C. monticolus and asiaticus), and would have heard the weird sigh of Ketupa ceylonensis and the Huhu of Ascalaphia bengalensis; and on a tall mango you might have found a nest of Limnetus cirrhatus. But I cannot mention any more possibilities without prema- turely giving a catalogue of more than half the birds found in the district. Returning to the balloon, and once more looking all round, you would see that coursing would be almost as hopeless an amusement as pigsticking, that it would be dangerous to mau and beast, and cruel to dogs, not to mention hares and foxes. tn = 12 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. So you will break up your stud of greyhounds as soon as ever you are in orders for the South Konkan. If your weather-eye is open you will also see that a good rifle would be rather an unnecessary embarrassment, on the summit of the Ghats,a day’s journey from any camp in Ratnagiri or Savant Vadi; there are of course a few localities where bears, sambhar, and an occasional bison may be seen ; but the lowlands of the South Konkan hold no big game, and very little small. A few panthers rove about the country, and kill goats and dogs, and lie up by day in the thick temple groves, but they are hard to find, and the natives are unused to marking and tracking. Hyznas are found on the rocky slopes of the highest hills, and pig are plentiful in one or two localities on the hills, which overhang the creeks, where the jungle is still moderately thick, and in the hot weather habitually come down from the hills at low tide to wallow in the mangrove swamps. Four-horned antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis) range from coast to Ghats in suitable places, preferring open country and thin scrub to thick jungle, while barking deer (Cervulus mantjac or vaginalis) are found in the denser ravines and thickets at the base of the Ghats. Otters are plentiful on the coast and up the tidal creeks. Hares are scarce, and not worth the trouble of beating for. But though the larger mammalia are badly represented, reptiles of all kinds, from Cvrocodilus palustris to Calotes versi- color, are plentiful. Ratnagiri has the unenviable reputation of being the snakiest place in the Bombay presidency, not so much for the variety of species found there, as for the excessive abundance of that. wicked little Viper (Zchis carinata) . In 1862, within eight days, (December 2nd to 10th) 115,921 nominally venomous snakes, at least 90 per cent. of which were Jichis carinata, were destroyed at a reward of two annas a snake, and during the rainy months they are still more plentiful, or, to speak more correctly, more often seen. In October last, within ten days, upwards of a thousand of these little pests were brought to me, all alive and kicking, packed in earthen chatties, with loose cocoanut shells for stoppers. But as these are the pagesof Stray Featuers and not Stray Scales,” (an ophiological journal of the future), I will not trouble my readers further on the subject of snakes, but will refer them, if they care for further particulars of Echis carinata, to the Asian of the 28th October 1879. Luckily the “ Phursas”’ keep pretty close to their own homes under the large boulders on the rocky hills, and do not often enter human habitations. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 13 As you sail along you will see very little pasture, save coarse rank grass, and will note the absence of sheep, and the leanness of the stunted kine. Goats alone of the domestic animals contrive to pick up a decent subsistence, browsing contentedly on the few forlorn leaves that sprout through the crevices of the rocks. The few sheep that are brought down from the Ghats to the large towns rapidly deteriorate. Horses lose bloom and condition, and buffaloes give less and thinner milk. So when you visit the South Konkan you must make up your mind to be satisfied with a diet of fish and fowl, prawns, crabs, and oysters, and Alphonse mangoes during the season. Beef you will never get, and if wise you will avoid goat mutton. Coast Linz.—You will see as you proceed that the coast line is everywhere rocky and dangerous, more particularly so be- tween Malvan and Vengurla. Bold bluff headlands of black rock, bare and gaunt, jut into the sea in close, but irregular, succession. Behind these promontories, and scarcely discernible from the track of coasting craft, lie numerous snug bays and coves edged with white sand. In the more exposed portions of the bays © the sand is blown into low hills or dunes, covered with sea pinks (Spinifex squarrosus), and sand convolvulus (C. pes-capre) with here and there a madder bush and a rough fence to land- wards of screw pines (Pandanus odoratissimus), and other shrubs that flourish in a sandy soil. In places cocoanuts are grown in these drifts, but the attempt is not usually successful. The dunes shift so continually with the action of the coast currents and northerly breezes, that they ill repay the expendi- ture of capital. Years hence they will probably be covered with forests of Casuarina trees. In places where the hills recede, rich levels of alluvial silt, brought down by the rivers, are found, wherein are made good rice fields and productive cocoanut gardens. Every ten miles or so is a river or a backwater, large enough to forma safe port for a small native craft during the north-west breezes. There are, however, but few harbours open during the south- west monsoon. The water near shore has a good average depth, but the months of all the larger rivers, with the notable excep- tion of Vijaydurg, are blocked by formidable bars, which, at all times difficult to navigate, are during the rainy seasons impassable. The estuaries of the principal rivers are flanked by numerous sandbanks, where they meet the ocean’s wave, and further inland, with large stretches of mud flats and salt marshes. The tidal gullets and backwaters are fringed with mangrove swamps of varying extent, thickly covered with Bruguiera theedi and other Rhizophoracew, and peopled 14 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. with Herons, Egrets, Rails, Kingfishers, and Mud Fish. A larger area of land has, in these localities, been reclaimed by earth and masonry embankments, and converted into valuable rice fields and excellent Snipe grounds, although, owing to the soil being always impregnated with salt in these Kharvat lands, the coarser kinds of rice can alone be produced. _ The coast villages, which are situated either on beds of littoral concrete in all the sheltered nooks and bays, or in more marshy soil at the estuaries of the creeks, are very picturesque, if we except the clusters of filthy overcrowded fishermen’s huts, which are crammed together at each available landing place, with all the intermediate spaces blocked up by confused heaps of boats, spars, fishing tackle and putrid fish. The houses are built in one or two long lines following the contour of the beach. ‘The better sort are tiled and made of substantial late- rite, while the poorer are content with thatched roofs and walls of deep red mud. But rich or poor, each house stands in its own little plot of garden, densely shaded by cocoa and betel palms, and the white flowered Alexandrian laurel ( Calophyllum inophyllum) which grows so luxuriantly on the coast, and is so valuable for its oil, and the timber it yields for boat build- ing. Such villages, although the air is steamy and close under the dense shade, are a pleasing contrast to the dreary, treeless villages of the Deccan, with their colourless mud huts, and the hideous spectral walls which enclose them. Besides the above trees, there are found in more or less pro- fusion in all the maritime villages, mangoes, tamarinds, jacks, bhendis (TZkhespesia populnea), banyans, pipals, silk-cotton trees (Lombax malabaricum), coral trees (Lrythrina indica), wild mangostins (Garcinia purpurea), cashews (Anacardium occidentale), and more rarely jujube trees (Zizyphus jujuba), and feathery horse radish trees (Moringa pterygosperma) ; wild date trees (Phenix sylvestris), and the Palmyra palm (Borassus flabelliformis) are almost unknown throughout the tract, but the raimad (Caryota urens) is common in places. The cashewnut again is more abundant and more highly cultivated in the south of the tract than in the north; about Malvan and Vengorla it is indeed the commonest tree you see, being reared in extensive orchards. These well-wooded coast villages attract naturally a considerable variety of arboreal birds. Minivets (P. perigrinus), Drongo Shrikes (B. atra and longi- caudata), Babblers (4. somervillet), Bulbuls (O. fuscicaudata and M. hemorrhous), Orioles (O. melanocephalus), Magpie, Robins, Pipits (A. érivialis), Mynas (A. fuscus), Weaver Birds, Amandavads (A. striata), Coucals, Koels and Paroquets perhaps the commonest species met with, not counting Crows, FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. is Kites and Shikras. Outside these shady villages the coast line is bare and rugged, and the trees are few and far between, though here and there, where a sprinkling of crumbling red earth contrasts with the weather-beaten rocks, you see patches of stunted brushwood. The headlands which guard the approaches to the larger rivers are uniformly crowned, as indeed are all the larger’ hills and coigns of vantage inland, with the ruins of old Maratha forts. ‘There are as many of these grand old strongholds, as there are days in the year. The majority were either built, restored, or added to by the great Sivaji Bhonsle, two hundred odd years ago. Many have interesting histories attached to them, and some, such as Suvamdurg (the “golden fort) and Vijaydurg, are closely associated with British deeds of prowess in old times when the coast was overrun by the piratical Grabs and Gallivats of the Angrias and the Savants of Vadi. Two of these forts, Suvamdurg off “Harnai, and Sindhudurg off Malvan, are built on rocky islands separated from the mainland by narrow channels. Between Malvan and Vengorla are a number of rocks and reefs of all sizes, called the Burnt Islands, the wheos queimados of the Portuguese, one of which, lying some six miles from the nearest mainland, is celebrated as a breeding haunt of Collocalia unieolor. Swallows, Swifts, and Crag Martins (H. erythropygia, C. affinis, and P. concolor) are abundant about all the rocky headlands at the base of the cliffs, and travelling up the more open portions of the coast, you see, in addition to the usual shore birds, Gulls and Terns, behind almost every other boulder a Thamnobia fulicata and an occasional Blue Rock Thrush, while every now and thena grand old Sea Eagle (Haliaétus leucogaster) beats up the shore, and with a mighty rush plunges on an unsuspecting Hydrophis. Brahminy Kites, too, are common about all the coast villages, and are skilful crab- catchers and occasionally, but not often, you may see a Peri- grine. Intanp Tracts.—Above the beach, at the summit of the cliffs, you will see an irregular, but withal well-defined belt, of later- ite, running parallel to the coast, and stretching ‘inland for from fifteen to twenty or more miles. This part of the country is a series of raised peaks and plateaus, capped with sheets and boulders of the black slag-like Konkan laterite, and cut through by innumerable streams and watercourses. The dismal barren- ness of the uplands is, in great part, redeemed by the well-wooded fertile valleys which divide the table lands. Some of these ravines are mere rocky beds of mountain torrents, dry, save in the monsoon; but through the larger valleys wind the tidal rivers, leaving on their banks rich beds of alluvial silt for rice 16 +=FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. fields and cocoanut gardens. So abruptly does their course change from point to point that they appear like land-locked lakes, until the passing of a hill reveals the channel at right angles to its former course. The laterite resting uncomformably on the trap, covers a very large area of the South Konkan, and is in places of great thickness. It extends in one continuous sheet from Bankot to Malvan, the trap being exposed in the coast section, only in the deepest cuttings and at the baseof the cliffs. From Malvan south- wards and in Savant Vadi the laterite still crops up, but in irre- gular outliers; near the coast metamorphic rocks, granites and quartzites, not found north, are freely exposed in Malvan, Vengorla and Savant Vadi, relieving with their greyer tints the obtrusive reds and blacks of the laterite. But the latter is everywhere the prevailing rock, which givesatone tothe whole country. Whether the Konkan laterite is, as some assert, the product of decomposed trappean rock, or whether, as others argue, on apparently better evidence it is of purely sedimentary origin, is still a vexed ques- tion which the geologists must settle. It varies, however, much in its character, being harder and more compact to the north, and softer and more mixed with shales, clay, and conglomerate in the south. The best that can be said of it is, that although it doesn’t always cut quite like new cheese, it is, as a rule, easily quarried and cut into large slabs; and that though not always quite watertight, it is a cheap third-rate building stone, well suited to the needs of the population. But if the pillars of your verandah be made of laterite, be sure, unless you wish the first heavy shower of rain to stain everything within reach with a fast red brown colour, to have them coated with chunam, These laterite plateaus, which in some places are level, in others undulating, have a general elevation of from 200 to 300 feet, and a gentle but perceptible rise to the east. They are dreary, black, weather-stained wastes, monotonous to a degree, and indescri- ‘bably depressing to your spirits until you catch beyond them lovely peeps of wooded valleys and winding rivers in the ravines below. Throughout the greater part of the year there is no vegetation to be seen on the table lands but cactus bushes and a few stunted trees; but during the rains, asif by a miracle, all the crevices between the rocks are filled with a wealth of maiden hair and parsley fern, while caladiums, arums, lilies, (Gloriosa superba) and other plants and_ creepers springing up in all directions, convert these wilds into a botanists’ paradise. The “flame of the forest’? bursts into flower on all the slopes, while the purple larkspur and wild balsams cover the level uplands. Grass, coarse and rank, but refreshing in its greenness, sprouts everywhere. In all the FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 17 small basins or depressions which occur here and there on the tops of the laterite hills, you see diminutive rice crops, and wherever the crumbling of the laterite gives a few inches of stiff ferruginous soil, a few stalks of Nachni (Hleusine coracana), Vari (Panicum miliare), Harik (Paspalum scrobiculatum), and the golden-blossomed Til (Guizotza oleifera) may be seen. To rear these slender crops a vast amount of labour is expended. Soil is frequently brought from a distance to fill into the cavities of the rocks. All the dry brushwood and grass available is col- lected and burnt on the surface of the fields. Cow dung, goat’s dung, decayed fish, and any other manure procurable is added to the ashes. Then, after repeated ploughings and harrowings and brushings, the seeds are sown in a carefully prepared nursery, and the seedlings afterwards transplanted with incredible labour. On the steeper slopes, where ploughs are out of the question, and where men can scarcely crawl, the pick is used instead, and the seed sown broadcast, after the usual burning of grass and brushwood. Of course the same change, though to a lesser degree per- haps, is observed everywhere after the monsoon has set in. In the towns and villages the old laterite walls become covered with thick masses of ferns—the baked rice fields in the valleys are transformed into cool green terraces—the decidu- ous trees, leafless and withered during the hot weather, are again clothed with fresh verdure, while rills and cascades innumerable splutter down every hill side. The species of birds which abound most on the laterite table- lands near the coast are Spizalauda malabarica and Pyrrhu- lauda grisea. Doves (Turtur suratensis), Shrikes (LZ. erythro- notus), Buschats (Pratincola caprata and indica) are also com- mon, and of course Buchanga atra is everywhere. Courier, Plovers, Yellow Wattled Lapwings are found occasionally, and Stone Plovers rarely, while flocks of Golden Plover habitually resort to these stony uplands at high tide during the cold weather. Between the seaboard, where the laterite crops so plenti- fully to the surface, and the pure trap range of the Ghats, lies an intermediate belt where both trap and laterite are irregularly exposed. This portion of the country is less rocky than near the coast, and more undulating, while the hills are higher and less bare. The uplands are more generally cultivated, and the valleys are, on the other hand, less fertile ; as near the coast, the village homesteads, lying in the glades and hollows, are well wooded with mango, tamarind and jack trees. But the general aspect of the country is, during the dry season, hardly less rugged and sterile than the seaboard. 3 18 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. ‘The evergreen trees of the coast, cocoanuts, betelnuts and Alexandrian laurels are, toa great extent, replaced by deciduous trees, such as the “ Ain” (Terminalia glabra), the ‘“ Kinjal,” (Zerminalia paniculata), and in a few localities by puny teak (Tectona grandis). The burning of the grass and brushwood for ash manure on all the uplands and hill sides gives the whole country side a blackened and withered appearance, intensified by the leafless pollarded trees, which everywhere meet your eye. But even here there are dotted about plea- sant groves marking the shrines of some rustic deity, where, from ages past, no branch or stick has been suffered to be cut. These sacred groves are seldom of large extent, but often present a mass of luxuriant vegetation. Overhead are lofty trees, such as the Satvin (Alstonia scholaris) and the Bél (Marmelos egle), overgrown with creepers, ferns, and orchids, while numerous parasites, trailing in long, graceful festoons, join tree to tree with endless links. Below is a mass of tangled bush and scrub, dense thickets, penetrable only by one of two narrow paths which lead from either end to the rude temple which lies thus hidden in the inner depths of the rove. : Grand places are these groves for Woodpeckers of all sorts, Barbets, Ioras, Tits (Jd. aplonotus and Z. palpebrosa), Thrushes and Blackbirds (G. cyanotis and M. nigropilea), Blue Redbreasts, (Cyornis tickelli,) Green Pigeon, and many another birds. Wherever you see on hill side or valley a particularly thick patch of jungle, you may be sure it is a dévrdn or temple grove. Fortunately, they are pretty common, especially in the inland tracts. With the exception of about 2,000 acres of teak plantations near Dapuli, and a few small reserves in the Malvan sub-division, there are no forests worth the name throughout the Ratnagiri district, though a considerable area of sheet rock, and almost perpendicular trap scarp has, with a pleasant irony, been declared by the Government to be forest reserve. In Sévant Vadi, however, as before explained, the jungles have been very strictly preserved; and, although there is little timber of any value in them, the well-wooded hills and dales shew a refreshing contrast to the generally denuded condition of Ratnagiri. On the tops of some of the highest hills between Ghats and sea, there are, here and there, patches of evergreen jun- gle, where birds and plants, usually associated with the higher ranges of the Ghats, are found; but the earth-hunger, which over population causes, leaves but a small part of these hills to nature. On the steepest slopes up to the very scarp FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 19 the jungle is cleared and burnt by the hungry peasant. Their inaccessibility to man alone has hitherto preserved what trees and bushes still protect the head waters and gathering grounds of the South Konkan rivers. Tons and tons of soil are thus annually washed down the hill sides into the river beds, and so the tidal creeks, the chief highways of the district, sili up, and merchants grumble, as old-established wharfs and quays become, year by year, accessible only to boats of smaller and still smaller draught. In old days, when the South Konkan was undoubtedly a forest tract, large country erafts could work up with the tide, and load with ease, at many places, where now nothing but a flat-bottomed tub or a small canoe can approach. This is, as I hear, a native friend remark, “one of the baneful effects of civilisation.”” It is a drawback certainly, and only to be repaired by keeping steadily in view for many long years what a hich official used to call mysteriously “the higher objects of the Forest Department.” But on the other hand it must be acknow- ledged that, though much material wealth has been buried in the process, a howling wilderness has been transformed into a peaceful and fairly prosperous tract. Guat Ranex.—From all parts of the tract the scarp line of the Western Ghats bounds the eastern horizon, forming a con- spicuous inland cliff, varying from two to three thousand feet in height. The belt of lowland at the foot of the Ghats, broken up by the countless spurs and knolls, thrown out westwards from the main range, and intersected at every point by precipitous ravines and rocky river beds, is a rough bit of country to get over. The grand old hills rise almost sheer in places from base to crest like a giant wall, majestic and impreg- nable, in an endless vista of peaks, bluffs and headlands. The hills which form the main range are easily distinguish- able from any of the spurs that roughen the surface of the country from the western face to the sea. The forest on the lower slopes and at the foot of the range is seldom thick, except in the more sheltered gorges, or where small patches have been preserved round rude hill temples. On the higher slopes immediately below the massive scarps, where a goat ean searcely climb, and even the hardy hill peasant’ fears to tread, there are patches of evergreen jungle, where you may hear the cocks crowing, the loud call of the Green Barbet, the whistle of the “lazy school boy” (Myitophoneus hors- fieldi), the song of the. Shima, and the clear ringing notes of the Scimitar Babbler. But it is not till you reach the summit of the range, and cross the watershed into the high- lands or Konkan Ghat Mahta that you see thick and con- 20 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, tinuous belts of evergreen forests, and feel yourself fairly amongst the mountain fauna. ; A large area of the western slopes, inaccessible as they seem, is annually under cultivation, and burnt hill sides and withered saplings reveals, but too clearly, the ruthless work of axe and fire. But above all this amongst forests of Anjan (Memecylon edule), Jambuls ( Lugenia jambolana and salicifolia), Jasund (Antaris saccidora), Géla (Randia dumetorum), Hirda (Terminalia chebula), Wild Jack (Artocarpus hirsuta) and. other evergreens, you are alone with nature, in a very pleasant kind of way. And when you gaze from some giddy precipice on the steamy littoral below you, with its endless confusion of bare brown hills, stretching mistily to the west, its fire blackened fields, and its rivers like tangled threads; and when a glowing sunset reveals the far ocean as a faint streak in the dim horizon, and bathes the hills in liquid violet, you admire the grandeur of the scene, but devoutly hope, especially if the hot weather has set in, that you may never never return to that abyss of moistened heat below. The change from the languor of the Konkan to the bracing air of the Western Ghats is, in fact, “too awfully jolly.” The scenery of the Ghat range, as you climb the crests of any of the passes, is glorious, and with trailing mosses and orchids overhead, and Brachen and silver fern under your feet, you feel, if youare nota discontented misanthrope, witha liver, ora grievance, an ecstacy of exhilaration. On the other hand I must confess that as regards birds I have always been more or less disappointed in my rambles in the higher Ghat ranges. I could name at least a dozen species which I know to occur in the Western Ghats, but of which, time after time, I have failed to get the slightest glimpse. Perhaps one expects too much both in variety and abundance of species, but it 1s disappointing when you are particularly anxious to get a Harpactes fasciatus, a Dendrophila frontalis, a Xantho- lema malabarica, a Hemicercus canente, or an Irena puella, to see nothing but a few parties of Pyctoris sinensis and Alcippe potocephala, and many Pratincola caprata and other common species which you need not have climbed so high to get. The changes, in both animal and vegetable forms is, in fact, not nearly so great as you approach the higher elevations of the Ghats from the west or Konkan side, as from the east or Deccan side. There are very few species characteristic of the Ghat region which are not found on the western slopes, as well as on the crest of the range; and many of these birds, as the locali- ties entered in my list will shew, descend the Ghats and appear in wooded tracts near the sea. Onthe other hand very few, gu FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 21 if any, of the hill species ever descend eastwards to the dry Deccan plains. The western Green Barbets, the Spotted Dove, the Rose-headed Paroquet, the Jungle Myna, and the Red-whiskered Bulbuls, which are seldom if ever seen at any distance to the east of the main range, are yet more or less common throughout the sub-ghat littoral, from the sea to the Ghats. Numbers of similar instances might be quoted. The comparatively heavy rainfall of the Konkan, as compared with the Deccan, is obviously the true explanation of this difference in forms, As Mr. Hume pointed out. in his article in Srray Fratuers (Vol. VIL, p. 502) “ the average rain- fall is the most potential factor in determining the distribution of species where birds are concerned.” The whole of the Konkan, from the coast to the summit of the Sahyddri Range, falls within the moist zones of 70 inches and upwards rainfall. The eastern slopes and spurs of the great Ghat range, before reaching which the rain clouds have spent their fiercest force, belong to the intermediate zones, wherein the rainfall ranges from 50 to 70 inches. The dry zone, of between 15 and 30 inches rainfall, is reached a few miles east of the main range, where the spurs subside into the Deccan plains. The Ghats are crossed at intervals by steep mountain passes, the least precipitous of which are passable by pack bullocks. During the last twenty years much has been done in improv- ing the communication of the district. At three of these passes in the Ratnagiri and Savant Va4di districts good cart roads have been made. The Kambharli Ghat road brings the old port of Chiplun on the Vashishti river in direct communica- tion with Karad and the cotton districts between Sattara and Kolapur. The Phonda Ghat road places Kolapur and Nipani in communication with the Ratnagiri ports of Rajapur, Vijaydurg, Devgad and Malvan, while the Ambola Ghat road provides an easy outlet from Belgaum to the coast. at Vengorla. During the fair season there is an active traffic along all these roads. Cotton, food grains, molasses, ghi, gall nuts, oil nuts, turmeric, chillies, tobacco, and other produce of the Deccan passes over the Ghats, to be shipped at the nearest Ratna- girl ports for Bombay and the Malabar Coast, while by the reverse route piece goods and metals are carried from Bombay to the Deccan districts. Ordinarily no food grains are sent eastwards, but during the famine of 1876-77 about 90,000 ions of grain were poured into the affected tracts of the Deccan. A fourth cart road passing over the Amba Ghat direct from Kolapur to Ratnagiri is now under construction, and the new road from Mahableshwar to Mhar, at the head of the Savitri river, con- nects the Northern Ratnagiri districts with Sattara. 22 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, All the principal towns in Ratnagiri are situated either on the coast or at the heads of the tidal creeks. Chiplun, Raja- pur and Vengorla are, however, the only towns having any considerable trade. To return to the configuration of the country once more, and: - for the last time, you will no doubt wonder, as you see the ocean on one side and the great Sahyddri Range running parallel to it, as a huge inland cliff, whether the sea has receded from the Ghats, or whether the denudation of the Konkan has been accomplished by rain and rivers alone. Geologists, as far as I can learn, are still in doubt on the point, _ and the true history of this little portion of the earth’s crust still remains to be written. As the subject is important I cannot do better than quote Mr. Blanford. He says*:—“ It is impossible to see this cliff (the Sahyadri Range) without specu- lating on the possibility of its origin being due to marine action. A depression of about 1,000 to 1,500 feet would leave the crest of the Sahyadri everywhere, at least 500 feet above the sea, with a few spurs jutting out of capes, and such plateaux as Matheran remaining as islands; all the lower hills would be covered. It is true that in India at the present day sea cliffs are rare and exceptional, but this fact is due to the circumstance that the large quantity of detritus, brought from the interior by rivers, tends to protect the coast. As the drainage from the crest of the Ghats is eastwards, no rivers, and only very small streams, would have run into the sea from the Sahyadri, and cliffs would neces- sarily have been formed. Of course any marine denudation of the Konkan must have taken place at a sufficiently distant date for the surface of the country and the form of the cliffs to have been greatly modified by subierial denudation, after the period of elevation above the sea. “There are two difficulties to be accounted for in supposing that the Sahyadri scarp is an ancient line of sea cliffs. One is the circumstance that if the Konkan was beneath the sea, whilst the cliffs were being cut, marine deposits must have formed to a considerable extent; none of these deposits have, however, hitherto been detected. The other difficulty is the irregularity of level at the base of the scarp. As the surface of the sea is uniform in height, it always cuts back a line of cliffs from a horizontal coast line. Further research is necessary before it can be stated either that marine deposits are wanting in the Konkan, or that no trace of an original shore line can be detected; and it is certain that both marine * Articles on the Geology of portions of the Bombay Presidency, written for the Bombay Gazetteer, 1878, FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 23 deposits and the line of coast would tend to be rapidly obli- terated in a country where the rainfall isso heavy as it is along the western face of the Sahyadri range. Such a scarp, as that of the Sahyddri, might probably be formed by fresh water denudation alone, for somewhat similar cliffs may be traced north of the Nerbudda, along the edge of the Malvan plateau, and there is no reason to suppose that marine denu- dation has aided in their formation. The chief peculiarity, indeed, in favour of a marine origin in the case of the Sahya- dri scarp is its approximate parallelism throughout so great a distance with the present coast line. “‘There is, however, one curious circumstance which tends strongly to suggest that the cliffs of the Konkan are of marine origin. Upon all the precipices of the Sahydadri, and on the steep sides of Matheran, and probably on other plateaux, a kind of mollusc is found so closely resembling in shell, animal, and habits one of the Lit¢orine, or periwinkles of the Indian coast, that it is difficult to believe that the two forms have not the same origin. The Sahyadri shell (Cremnoconchus sdhyddrensis) differs, in fact, from such forms as Littorina malaccana, chiefly in having a greenish epidermis like other fresh-water mollusca. The Ltéorina lives on the face of the rocks above high water mark, where the spray of the sea only reaches if occasionally, and it frequently remains dry and torpid for weeks, perhaps for months at a time. Cremno- conchus similarly remains attached to the dry rock for more than half the year, and is only recalled to active lifein the rainy season, when water trickles down the cliffs. It is far from improbable that the Cremnoconchus is the altered descendant of a Littorina which inhabited the cliffs of the Western Ghats when they were washed by the sea. Besides Cromnoconchus, two other species of the same genus exist, all like the type, confined, so far as'is known, to the cliffs of the Sahyadri range and its immediate neighbourhood. “Whichever view be adopted, whether the denudation of the Konkan be ascribed to rain and streams, or to the action of the sea, supplemented by subierial (fresh water) agencies, it is clear that all this low ground has been carved out from the original Deccan plateau, which must, originally, have extended westward to the neighbourhood of the present coast. A thickness of at least 4,000 feet of rock, and pro- bably considerably more, has been removed by one agency or another from the surface of the Konkan Valleys.”’ Mr. Blanford, it will be seen, does not commit himself to either view. It may not be uninteresting to note here the popular Hindu tradition as to the origin of the Konkan. 24 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, Vishnu, in his incarnation of Parasram, had, with boundless generosity, given away, little by little, all the land in the Deccan to pious Brahmans, till he had no spot whereon to rest his head. He then went to the edge of the Sahyddri cliff, which was then washed by the sea, and called on Varuna, the god of the ocean, to yield him up a space of dry land. Varuna, who had a grudge against Parasram, refused ; and the latter determined to use his miraculous power, and compel the ocean to recede, so he took his bow and arrow and shot a shaft into the sea, with the command that the waves should retire to the spot where the arrow fell. Originally he intended that the arrow should travel for 40 koss, or about 100 miles, but this intention was partially frustrated by the craftiness of Varuna. Shortly before this episode, the ocean deity had taken compassion on a carpenter bee which had fallen into the sea, and had carefully restored it to dry land. On divining Parasram’s intention Varuna at once bethought him of the bee, and pressed it the night before the day fixed for the miracle, to bore a hole through the string of Parasraém’s bow. The grateful bee accepted the office with alacrity, and performed his task so well, that when the eventful moment came, the string snapped, and the shaft, instead of flying 100 miles, fell within about 50 miles of the cliffs. To this point, and no further the waves receded, and Parasram took up his abode in the narrow strip thus reclaimed, and. called after him in Hindu books Parasram Khéter. His head-quarters were at the village of Pédhe or Parasram on a high hill overhanging the Vashishti river, nearly opposite the town of Chiplun. This place is also celebrated as the birthplace of the powerful sect of. Chitpavan or Konkani Brahmans. No detailed account of the numerous hills is necessary for the purpose of this paper. Here and there, detached from the main Ghat range, are hills almost rivalling in height the Sahyadri scarp, but they are few and far between. Close to Khed, at the north-east angle of the district, are three isolated hills of considerable height, rising in a line parallel to the Sahyadri chain, and separated from it by a narrow valley. These are the hill forts of Mahipatgad, Somargad, and Rasal- gad. All are strongly fortified, and the first faces Makarandgad, the well-known saddleback of visitors to Mahableshwar. Mandangad, to the north of Dapuli, fourteen miles from the sea, though of lower elevation, is a conspicuous land mark for many miles round, and its higher slopes are fairly covered with jungle. The only other hill worth mentioning is Machal, lying close to, but detached from, the Ghats by a narrow gorge, east of Ratnagiri, Unlike most of the Konkan hills, which are FIRST L{ST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 25 capped by narrow ridges, Machal is crowned by a broad’ open plateau, some 2,500 feet above the sea. The following table shews approximately the elevations of some of the localities where collections have been made :— Approximate Elevations. Dapuli _—s ws» ~~: 800 feet. 6 miles from coast. Mandangad _... 1,800 ,, yes Ratnagiri Hort cs S00" 5; Coast. ’ ” » Bavda é. 33200 |, Ghat range. Manbet sot BSOOK 45 Do. amile or two east of watershed. Dajipur + 1,600 ,, | Khind at top of Phonda Pass. Phonda «» 2,000, Top of ghat. Miurshi «. 2,200 , Top of Amba ghat. Savant Vadi .. + 355 ,, ~ 17 miles from coast. ~ Rartnratt.—I subjoin a table showing the average rainfall for the last ten years at each of the registering stations in the dis- trict. As a general rule it will be seen that the rainfall, all other conditions equal, is heavier or lighter according as the station is further from or nearer to the Ghats. The exceptions are Sévant Vadi and Mandangad. The proportionately higher rainfall of the former, is, I believe, sufficiently accounted for by the heavy jungles which surround it ; while Mandangad, although nearer the coast, has a much greater elevation than any of the other inland stations from which observations have been recorded. AVERAGE RAINFALL.— Coast. Stations— Gahagar ove ee» 76 inches. Ratnagiri eee twee LOL a Devgad 200 £5 AVS * Malvan ae if 44 3 Vengorla eee edt) St hy Inland Stations— Mandangad_... ... 133 inches, 15 miles from coast. Dapuli wes eA We cay Pe $ i Khed exes” eee 130 ”? 18 59 ” 99 Chiplun we w. 126) \4,, 1 24 pit sey 3 Sangameshvar ... aap lUee oR ed A seth as Lanje | eee vee 127 20 ” ” ” Rajapur eee vale EN Wy spat eleho a cae yw ee a Savant Vadi ... coe LAY eet (Toa pe Sia ys: The humidity of the Ratnagiri station is relatively great. According to the formula used by the Meterological Reporter, the average means at 10 hours in 1878 was 64°75 per cent., and at 16 hours or 4 p.m. 69°66 percent: Thermometer readings at Ratnagiri from 1871 to 1878 shew the mean annual temperature to be 81°55’, and the range between the greatest and least monthly means 9°12’. The mean annual témperature of Dapuli from 1871 to 1877 has been recorded 76°21’, ot rather more than 5 degrees lower 4 26 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. than Ratnagiri. The temperature at Vengorla in the south is -wery slightly in excess of that of Ratnagiri. On the sea coast, and for some miles inland, as far as the see breeze penetrates, the climate is very equable though ener- vating and relaxing, extremes of heat and cold being never felt. Further inland, and at the foot of the Ghats, both days and nights during March, April, and May are oppressively hot. The sea breeze passes high over head, and the heat is further intensified by the refraction of the great trap scarp of the Sahyadri Range. DistRIBUTION.—The total number of specimens as yet collected is toosmall, I am afraid, to warrant any definite conclusions as to the distribution of the various species within the limits of the small tract under notice. I have, however, entered in the list. the exact localities at which the various species have been either shot and preserved, or found breeding. The entry of these localities does not necessarily denote that the species is restricted to these specified places. I have endeavoured, as far as I can, in my remarks regarding each species, to give all the information I possess as regards its distribution, But in the case of the rarer species, this information is necessarily meagre and inconclusive. In order to show the distribution as clearly as is possible I have divided the tract into three longitudinal belts. In the first I include all the places on the sea coast or its immediate neighbourhood where speci- mens have been collected. The second division I call the central inland belt extending from a line drawn parallel to, and about eight miles distant from, the coast to the foot of the Western Ghats. The last belt includes all the area from the summit tothe base of the Ghats. For convenience of reference I append a key to all the localities mentioned in the paper, arranged in order from north to south, according to these three divisions. By the aid of this key and the accom- panying map the position of any locality mentioned can be at once fixed. The characteristic features of each belt are also briefly summarised. In the list of the species all the coast localities are printed on the left hand side of the page, those of the inland central belt in the middle, and the places in the Ghat range on the right, so that it can be seen at a glance in which parts of the tract from east to west any species has been obtained. : After some consideration I thougtt this would be the best plan, since narrow as the tract is in comparison with its length, its physical features vary more from west to east than from north to south. This arrangement will show, though imper- fectly, the wertical range of the species according to elevation, from the sea level up to about 2,500 fect. There are, for FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 2 instance, many forest-loving species, which are not as a rule found outside the Ghat region. They keep to the evercreen jungles on the slopes and spurs of the mountains, rarely cross- ine the belé of low and comparatively bare plain country which intervenes between the foot of the range and the Ghats. Where such species are found near the coast their presence is usually to be accounted for by continuous belts of jungles stretch- ing from the spurs of the Ghats westwards to the sea. To the north of Ratnagiri no such jungles are found, and consequently the species most characteristic of the hill region are there rarely found near the coast. In the south, throughout the well-wooded Savant Vadi State, such links occur, and many of the hill species there find their way to the coast at Malvan or Ven- gorla. The most prominent instances of this are, JALyiopho- neus horsfieldi, Pitta brachyura, Petrophila cinclorhynchus, Alcippe potocephala, Pomatorhinus horsfieldi. All these species have been found on the coast either at Malvan or Vengorla, but have not been found west of the Ghat range in the country north of Ratnagiri. Other Ghat species, such as Pericrocotus jlammeus, Hypsipetes ganeesa, and Criniger ictericus, although not found anywhere on the coast, descend the Western Ghats to Savant Vadi, to a point intermediate between the sea and the foot of the range. To make the distribution perfectly clear, however, it would be necessary to divide the district into two or more lateral zones from north to south; but my collections from the south have not been sufficiently exhaustive to make such a division so useful as it otherwise might be. It is, however, worthy of note that of the 284 species entered in the list, the following 18 species have as yet only been obtained at the extreme south of the tract, in the Savant Vadi forests or the neighbouring districts of Malvan and Vengorla. 39. Spilornis cheela. 216. SRhopodytes viridirostris. $1. Ninox lugubris. 239. Diceum concolor. 98. Cypsellus melba. 253. Dendrophila frontalis. 103. Collocalia unicolor. 269. Volvocivora melaschista. 118. Merops philippinus. 281. Buchanga cerulescens. 130. Halcyon pileata. 285. Dissemurus paradiseus. . 202. Cuculus sonnerati. 286. Chibia hottentotta. 208. Cacomantis passerinus. | 287. Artamus fuscus. 213. Coccystes coromandus. 469. Irena puella. Several of these no doubt occur to the north of Savant Vadi, and their having escaped notice elsewhere may of course be accidental ; but I believe that the Savant Vadi jungles, and their outskirts will be found to be the northern limit, on the west coast of Cypsellus melba, Collocalia unicolor, Merops 28 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN.- philippinus, Rhopodytes viridirostris, Dendrophila frontalis, Disse- murus paradiseus, Chibia hottentotta, and Irena puella, to which may be added Harpactes fasciatus, Merops swinhow, Xantho- lema wmalabarica, recorded by Mr. Fairbank from Sdvant_ Vadii—(S. F., IV., pp 254, 255.) _ Conversely there are many species entered in the list, which, although comparatively common from Ratnagiri northwards, have not yet been recorded from the south of the tract. This is in great part due, no doubt, to the meagreness of our collec- tions from the south as compared with those made in the north. It is, however, possible that some of these species reach their southern limit, somewhere in the northern half of the tract. _ With these remarks, which I fear will have tired out all possible readers long ere they have reached the end, I will now go on with the list of species found, and will only add in conclusion, the saving clause or declaration invariably attach- ed to official bills, “ errors and omissions excepted.” Key to places entered in the map from north to south. SEABOARD. Headlands bare and rocky. Bays fringed be- tween cliffs and sea with dense gardéns of cocoa and betel palms. LHstu- aries bordered with mud - flats, salt. marshes, and thick mangrove swamps. At the’ summit. of the cliffs rugged and bare hills, and rocky. plateaus. Valleys deeply cut and more or less tree covered. Cultivation in most part restricted to valleys and alluvial deposits on banks. of tidal rivers, Bankot. Kelshi: Ade. Anjarle. Harnai. Suvamdurg Fort. Dabhol. Anjanvel, Pévé, 6 miles inland. Guhagar. « Pachéri, 6 miles inland, Ratnagiri. Vijaydurg. Dévgad. Malvan. Vengorla, CENTRAL INLAND BELT. Hill sidts bare or clad ‘with thin scrub and pol- larded trees, except in Savant Vadi, where the forests are strictly con- served. Valleys fairly wooded and village sites everywhere well shaded with mango, jack, tamarind, banyan, pipal, cashewnut and _ other trees, Country more un- dulating than near the coast, and less rocky. Moahapral, Mandangad. Palgad. Dhamni, Dapuli. © Khed.. Lavel. - Chiplun. Aroli. Sangameshvar. Vandri, Niyli. Lanje. Rajapur. Vaghotan.. Fanasgaon. Kankavii. Dhamapur. Sévant Vadi. Guat RANGE. From base to water- shed. Country broken up by countless spurs and’ deep ravines. Jungle thick and evergreen on sheltered slopes, and in the valleys, thin on the sides exposed to the S. W monsoon. - Durga Vadi. Gotne. Dévrukh. Mirshi. Bavda. Manbet, Kasarde. Phonda, Dajipur. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH’ KONKEAN, : 29° List of Species. 2. Sean calvus, Scop. Ratnagiri. a ef Wee MEST awe, SO Malvan. | ; Rare. Dr. eae got. a specimen from Ratnagiri, and I have one from Malvan. 4.*—G@yps indicus,t Scop. Common, especially in the large. coast villages; but I have, found no breeding places in the district. 5.*—Pseudogyps bengalensis, Gm. The common Vulture of the South Konkan breeds from: - October to January. Nests are usually found in mango or silk cotton (Bombax malabarscum) trees. Asa rule not more than’ one nest is seen on each tree, -but. E once found within a few fect of each other on the same tree a nest of this oe anid of Neophron ginginianus. Res 6.*—Neophron ginginianus, Lath. | Rather scarce, both on the ‘coast and inland. I have seldom seen more than one pair in any .one place below the: Ghats. Above the Ghats in Sattara it is, I think, the commonest of all the Vultures. The only two nests I have found in this district contained two young ones each in January, and were both built in forks of mango trees. 8.—Falco peregrinus, Gm. Suvamdurg Fort. | Gotne. _ Vijaydurg. . Rare. Its favourite haunts are the perpendicular scarps of the Sahyadris, and the ruined island forts on the coast. 16.—Falco chiquera, Daud. Ratnagiri. | Fees | The only. pair I have yet seen in the district were shot at Ratnagiri in October 1878. The species is common in the Deccan plains, but doesn’t appear to descend below the pilots except on rare occasions. 17.—Cerchneis tinnunculus, ‘tye. Ratnagiri. Palgad, Malvan. Savant Vadi. + The species here referred to is most likely to be Gyps pallescens, No. 4 bis, of the aati List, Unfortunately no specimens have been sent for identification.—Ep,, 8 . - 30 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, Common in the cold weather throughout the tract, especially on the more open and undulating plains. 93.—Astur badius, Gm. Kelshi. Savant Vadi. Dévrukh. Ratnagiri. Malvan. Common everywhere about villages and groves of trees. Breeds in March and April. $1.—Hieraetus pennatus, Gin. Guhagar. | Palgad. | Qist January 1879, Male.—Length, 19; wing, 15; tail, 8; tarsus, 21; mid toe and claw, 23.. 16th March 1879, Male-—Length, 204 ; wing, 154; tail, 9; mid toe and claw, 24; irides golden ;, cere’ yellow. Rare. I have not seen it in this district, except at the loea- lities mentioned. 35.—Limnaetus cirrhatus, Gin. Kelshi. » Mahapral. Guhagar. Mandangad. Pévé. _Palgad. Ratnagiri. Dhamni. Dapuli. Khed. lst May 1878, Adulé Male.—Length, 254; wing, 16; tail, 114 4, 15th February 1878, Adult Male.—Length, 28; wing, 16 ; tarsus, 4; mid toe and claw, 3 18th January 1879, Adult Male.—Length, 254; wing, 164. 21st February 1878, Young Female.—Length, 294; expanse, 49; wing, 152; tail, 114; tarsus,4; mid toe and claw, 3; (breast almost pure white.) Trides from pale straw colour to deep yellow ; bill black ; cere and feet yellow; the breast markings vary considerably. In young birds the breast is pure white, or with a few faint central streaks or spots at the sides and on the flanks. In adults the white breast is more than half covered by large dark brown lozenge-shaped spots. Between these phases of plumage every gradation is met. The shade of the upper plumage similarly varies from pale rufescent brown to dark hair brown.* A young bird which I took from the nest on the Ist April 1879, apparently about five weeks old, had the feathers of the back and upper parts pale wood brown with whitish margins ; the head was paler still and slightly rufescent; the white * See also the Editor’s remarks, S.F., IV., 336. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 31 margins of the feathers widening towards the forehead which was grisly white; the irides were in this bird pale bluish grey; the cere as well as the bill was black, and the legs were pale chrome yellow; the breast and under parts were pure white, save a few brown streaks at the sides and on the flanks ; the crest was half developed. This is the commonest Kagle in the district, but I have found it more abundant to the north than to the south. It ranges from the Coast to the Ghats, keeping to well-wooded tracts at all elevations, I have seen it strike at Bush Quail, and unsuc- eessfully chasing Green Pigeon from tree to tree. I have also seen it in the act of killing a small viper, drawing itself up to its full height with its head back, and its crest lowered like the ears of a vicious horse, and its feet well to the front, clawing and striking the snake with great vigour, but keeping it at a safe distance from any vulnerable part. I have heard also of one having been seen attacking a mongoose, but I cannot vouch for this. On taking a nest from a tamarind tree close to a house on the sea beach at Guhagar, I was told that the old birds had carried off successively four young kittens from the premises. The Crested Hawk Eagle breeds in this district from December to April, January being the favourite month. The nests are large, and comparatively deep stick structures, loosely -put together with the twigs hanging down untidily. They are always profusely lined with green mango leaves. They are built very high up, as a rule, in forks of trees; any large tree serves the purpose. I have found nests in banyan, tamarind, wild fig (Ficus glomerata), and bél trees (Gigle marmelos) ; but the great majority were in mango trees. The old birds make no attempt to defend their nests. Out of 82 nests examined, none contained more than one egg or one young bird. The average of 25 eggs measured gives a length of 2°63 with a breadth of 2°04. The largest eee measured 3 X 2°1, and the smallest 2°25 x 1°85. In shape they vary greatly,-but the usual type is a moderate oval, pointed at the smaller end. The colour is a dull greenish white, sometimes unspotted, and sometimes faintly streaked at the larger end with reddish brown. The texture is comparatively smooth, but devoid of all gloss. The lining is, of course, pale green. 39.—Spilornis cheela, Lath. | Savant Vadi. | A single specimen was obtained at Savant Vadi. It appears to be replaced throughout the district, at all events north of Ratnagiri, by the smaller form S. melanotis, Jerd. $2 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 39bis.—Spilornis melanotis, Jerd. ~ Guhdgar. Mandangad. oo Palgad. i Aroli. Vaghotan,, “Sth December 1879, Male.—Length, 21; wing, 173. : 18th December 187 7, Female. —Length, 27; expanse, 57 ; wing, 184; tail, 12; tarsus, 41 mid toe ae claw, 23 ; hind toe and claw, 24. _ 24th January 1879, Female.—Length, 26; wing, 17. _ Cere, orbital: skin and legs yellow ; ; irides orange ; bill bluish, black at tip. Gian north of Ratnagiti, but less often seen than Tiroats tus cirrhatus. Frequents ‘damp ground, and may often be seen perched on low trees near muddy rice fields, watching for frogs. Ihave seen sometimes three or four together thus engaged occasionally, but more rarely it is found in the dry uplands and j in hill side jungle. The only eggs of this species I have, were taken from two nests on the 18th and 20th March, ‘They measure, respectively, 2°75 by 2°25, and 2°65 by 2°12, and are broad white ovals slightly pointed at the small end, streaked all over with reddish Earns and with a confluent cap of the same shade at the large en 40.—Pandion haliaetus, Lin. Vijaydurg. | Chiplun. ? | .. Common in the cold weather on the coast, and up the large tidal rivers. 43,—Haliaetus leucogaster, Gi. _ Bankot. ' ‘Guhagar. Ratnagiri. ~ Common throughout the sea board, occasionally strays a few miles inland up the lar ger creeks, but is most often seen about the fishing villages at the estuaries. When once paired, these Eagles make the tree, on which they have built their nest, their. permanent head-quarters all the year round, returning to the tree after each foraging trip with great recularity, and using the nest as a larder and a. refuse pit for fish and snake bones and other waste food. Once when the young birds of the season had long since left FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 33 the nest, I found a half-eaten fowl in it freshly killed. At night they roost, whether breeding or not, close to the nest. The young are very soon driven off after they are able to shift for themselves. They breed in October, November and December. The ear- liest ege I have was taken on the 21st October, and the latest, hard-set and just ready to hatch out, on the 16th December. All the nests I have seen, about twelve, have been in trees. They are gigantic platforms, built of strong thick sticks fully five feet in diameter, with a comparatively slight depression in the centre. The same nests are used, year after year, a few sticks being added each year by way of repairs. There is a well- known nest on the fork of two horizontal branches of an old banyan tree, overhanging the massive walls of the ruined island fort of Suvamdurg. I first saw this eyrie in 1869. How ancient it was then I don’t know, but ten years later, in October 1879, it had two fresh eggs init. At this particular place the old birds are very wild and wary, but where, as fre- quently happens, they build in large trees in the midst of houses and cocoanut gardens, they become very familiar and are not easily disturbed. Their loud, clanging note, when close over head, is almost deafening, and is audible at the distance of a mile or more. - In all the nests that I have taken, containing single eggs, the eggs have been fresh; and wherever the eggs were hard-set, or there were young birds, the number was two. The eggs are greenish white, unspotted, and rather smooth but with no gloss, with a pale green or eau de nil lining. The average of six egos measured gives a length of 2°81, and a breadth of 2-07, the largest ege measuring 3 by 2°06 and the smallest 2°71 py 2°04. ; 48.—Butastur teesa, rank, i tleat | Lanje. Scarce. Only found as yet at the places indicated which are midway between the sea and the Ghats. 51.—Circus macrurus, 8. G. Gm. Palgad. | Dapuli. 5th February 1879, Male.—Length, 173; wing, 133 ; tarsus, 3. 31st January 1879, Female.—Length, 19; wing, 147; tarsus, 3; tail,’9. Common from October to April on all the more open parts of the tract. Ratnagiri. 5 34 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 54.—Circus eruginosus, Lin. - Malvan. | Dapuli. | Rare. Not observed elsewhere. 14th February 1879, Male—Wength, 203; wing, 16; tar- sus, 3%. 3rd March 1880, Male.Length, 19}; wing, 152; tail, 93; tarsus, 32; mid toe and claw, 24; cere, irides and feet yellow; bill blue black. The only specimens obtained were shot on the edges of wet paddy fields. 55.—Haliastur indus, Bodd. Kelshi. Palgad. Harnai. Bankot. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Common about all the large rivers both inland and on the coast. No food seems to come amiss to it. Day after day from a seaside bungalow have I watched a pair of these birds catch- ing crabs on the rocks at low tide. Swooping down they seize the crab, and bearing it aloft, pick the shell clean and drop it. On the wing, Ihave also often seen them hawking on the dry rocky uplands, when the southern Crown Crest and the litile Finch Lark (P. grisea) have young broods, and have more than once seen them pounce on these unprotected fledgelings. Breéds from the middle of January to the end of March. Prefers cocoanut trees on the coast, and mango trees inland. Deserts its nest on the slightest provocation. 56.—Milvus govinda, Sykes. Kelshi. Palgad. Ade. Khed. Guhagar. Abundant everywhere. Swarms at all the fishing villages on the coast and at inland towns, such as Khed, where there is a constant traffic in putrid fish. Breeds from January to March. 60.—Strix javanica, Gm. ' Mahapral, Palgad. Khed. Not common, but I have seen it at Ratnagiri as well as at the localities given above. ae I found a nest with four young ones, in a hole, high up in the wall of a house at Khed. Ikept two of the young ones who were FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 35 very wild and vicious. One, who was shut up in a cage with a young Syrnium ocellatum, quite as large and nearly as old as itself, killed and ate a large portion of its cage fellow one night. After this exploit I packed it off with other young Owls to the Victoria Gardens at Bombay. . 63.*—Syrnium indranee, Sykes. | Fanasgaon. | T have not found the Brown Wood Owl myself, but I saw a single specimen in Dr. Armstrong’s collection, which he had got at Fanasgaon, twenty miles inland from Vijaydurg. 65.—Syrnium ocellatum, Less. Palgad. Aroli, - Not common, but occurs here and there in the northern dis- tricts in mango clumps and well-wooded village homesteads inland. I have not yet seen it on the coast. Three nests were found in January with two young birds or two eggs in each, all in hollows of mango trees. The four young birds which I kept for some weeks were, when first taken from the nest, white all over with black pencillings, with no rufous colouring. They were very gentle and good tempered, except with dogs and strangers; but the wing bones, whether from want of properfood or not, I cannot say, were exceedingly brittle, and before they were six weeks old each bird had had at least one of its wings fractured or dislocated. Cockroaches, lizards and grasshoppers were their favourite food. Cooked meat they ate, if hungry, but didn’t much care for. Notwithstanding their damaged wing bones they were very active, and would climb up tent ropes, using their beaks like parrots. 69.—Bubo bengalensis, Prank. Kelshi. Palgad. Ratnagiri. Dhamni. Rather common on the rocky hill sides overhanging the tidal creeks. Two nests were found in January, both in fissures be- tween steep boulders on the sides of hills. In one nest there were five, and in one only two young birds. One of the nests faced due east, a fact worth mentioning, as Captain G. F, L. Marshall (vide “Nests and Eggs,” page 62) has pointed out that (in Northern India) these birds almost invariably select a cliff facing westward. The young thrive well in confinement, but are deci- dedly bad tempered. 36 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS oF THE SOUTH KONKAN.: 72.—Ketupa ceylonensis, Gm. Kelshi. Palgad. | Guhagar. Khed. Ratnagiri. 9th January 1878, Female.—Length, 23; expanse, 48; wing, 16; tail, 8i; tarsus, 84; mid toe and claw, 3. 25th February 1878, Female.—Length, 21; wing, 16; tail, 8; weight, 3$lbs. Common both on the coast and inland, wherever there are shady groves and large trees near water. Apparently less com- mon towards the south of the district. Nine nests found from January to March, all in hollows or depressions of mango trees, one or two eggs or young birds in each. One abnormally long egg I have measures 2°55 by 1°87. These Owls also do well in captivity, and are quiet and tractable. I kept one until it was nearly a year old, when I made it over to the Victoria Gardensin Bombay. It never once, by night or day; uttered the dismal and unearthly sigh of its species, but like other Owls, when alarmed, it snapped its mandibles and hiss- ed like an engine blowing off steam. It liked fresh raw meat, mice and small birds, apparently, quite as well as fish. 74sept.—Scops brucii, Hume. | Khed. | 9th - January 1879, Female.—Length, 83 ; wing, 63. Irides, straw yellow. I got asingle specimen at the locality mentioned which I failed at the time to discriminate. I have not found it else- where. 75quat.—Scops malabaricus, Jerd. Pévé, Palgad, Ratnagiri. Dapuli. Malvan. Khed. Vengorla. Savant Vadi. Measurements in the flesh :-— Four Males.—Length, 74 to 8 ; wing, 53 to 63; tail, 23. Four Females.—Length, § to 84; wing, 52 to 6; tail, 23 to 23. Bill horny ; feet fleshy grey; irides from light yellow in the _young birds in the greyer plumage, to deep orange in the adults in rufous plumage ; the tarsal feathers are unbarred, and the fourth quill exceeds the third by one-eighth of aninch. _ The above measurements, which were carefully taken, corre- spond as near as possible with-those given by Mr. Hume in his Scrap Book, page 402. | FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. au The Malabar Scops is common in the north of the Ratnagiri district, but less so as far as my present experience goes in the south. It is entirely nocturnal, but its low, subdued call after nightfall easily betrays its haunts. I have found it in holes of trees in houses, and in nooks in dry wells. All the nests, six in number, I have found were got in Jan- uary and February, in holes of mango and jack trees. Three appears to be the maximum number of eggs. In two instances two hard-set eggs were found. None of the nests contained any lining but rotten tonchwood. One nest within ten feet of the ground contained three hard-set eggs, on which the female was sitting. The male, who was caught in a similar hole in an adjoining tree, made no attempt whatever to claw or bite, but submitted to his fate with great meekness. The eggs are in shape and size almost exactly similar to those of Carine brama, but they are decidedly more glossy, and have a more creamy tinge. a average dimensions of seven eggs measured were 1:34 1:13. ii Sharpe, it will be remembered, unites this species with Scops bakhamoena, Penn. The very large series of it that, thanks to Mr. Vidal and others, I now possess, enables me to assert positively that, unless a vast number of other species, which he retains, are also to be suppressed, malabaricus must be retained. The rich, rufous, buff tint which always charac- terizes the adults of this race, distinguishes them ata glance from the widely-spread bakhamoena. It is far more difficult to separate them from many specimens of both lempigi (I mean the Malayan lempigi) and lettia. But if, besides my proposition, above quoted by Mr. Vidal, that rainfall is the most important factor in this part of the world in determining distribution, it be further admitted that where a species (in many families at any rate) occurs in both a scanty and a heavy rainfall region, the inhabitants of the former are pale (often silvery), and of the latter dark (and generally rufous), and that the size of races is influenced by these conditions also, then I should have no difficulty in uniting, not only bakhamoena and malabaricus, but a great many other supposed species—just as we do now unite the pale and silvery and dark and rufescent forms of Syraium nivicolum and. Glaucidium brodii, from the N. W. Himalayas on the one hand and Sikhim on the other. And this, although the ex- traordinary difference in colour in the two races of the former is so persistent, that during more than ten years Mr. Man- delli never succeeded in getting a pale specimen in Sikhim, and I never succeeded in getting a dark or at all rufous one in the North-West. 38 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. — But until it be generally admitted that the striking differ- ences in colour and toa less extent in size, due to differences in rainfall, are not of specific value, (and at present hundreds of species have been founded on such differences), Ws must, I think, retain malabaricus as a distinct species.—A. O. H 76.—Carine brama, Tem. Vengorla. Palgad. Phonda. Lanje. Dhamapur. Rare to the north of the tract, but comparatively common to the south about Vengorla. Two nests found in January and February, one in an “ain” tree (Terminalia glabra), and one ina cocoanut tree, in one four hard-set eggs, and in the other two fresh eggs. Two other nests | in February with, in each, three fresh eggs. 16th January 1879, Female.—Length, 84; wing, 63; tail, 3; tarsus, 17. Irides yellow. 78.—Glaucidium malabaricum, Bly. Kelshi. Dapuli. Dévrukh. Vengorla. Khed. Kasarde. Chiplun. Lanje. Rajapur. Vaghotan, Fanagsgaon. Savant Vadi, Sex. Length. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Soft parte. | | Four Males| 7ito8i | 5 to5i3; | 23 to38 1 Feet greenish yellow to green; ——-———| cere greenish ; bill greenish hor- 1 ny; irides yel- low. oes ee me | Four Females} 8 to 8i | 535 to53i| 2 pia Rather common throughont the district in well-wooded parts. Calls loudly by day as well as night. I have seen one, in the full blaze of the sun, make a ‘sudden dash out of a tree at a Phylloscopus I had shot, and which was fluttering slowly to the ground. My shikaree brought me two fresh eggs with the parent birds on the 14th Apri il. Dr. Armstrong also got a nest in March with three eggs, scarcely distinguishable, as far as I could judge, from those of Carine brama, in size, shape, tone, or texture. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 39 Note—The specimens sent to Mr. Hume from Kelshi and Khed in the north of the district were, I thought, referable to G. radiatum. Mr. Hume, however, pointed out that they were intermediate in form between radiatum and malaba- vicum, but nearer to the latter, though almost as close to radia- tum. Ihave not been able to detect any marked and constant differences between these skins and others subsequently obtain- ed to the south of the district, or again between these and other skins in Dr. Armstrong’s and Mr. Crawford’s collections. Individuals certainly vary a little. The light bars on the back and rump in some pale to a dingy white, while in others they retain a tinge of fulvous. In some the tarsal plumes are creamy yellow, unbarred in front, and with a few dusky spots at the sides; in others they are strongly barred with dusky and pale rufous. In some the tips of all the tail-feathers and the outer webs of the outer feathers are sullied with faint rufous, while in others they are pure white. Similarly the rufous tint on the head, neck, breast, and hind neck varies in warmth and intensity in individuals, but it would, I think, be quite impos- sible to separate any of the skins in my present collection from north to south. Comparing the Ratnagiri skins as a body with a specimen sent me by Mr. Hume from Raipur as a typical radiatum, the former are certainly more warmly tinted throughout. The transverse bars of the head, nape, and hind neck are slightly narrower, and more rufous than in radia- tum; there is less white about the scapulars in the Ratnagiri’ skins; the black bars of the tail-feathers are, as a rule, deci- dedly deeper in hue, contrasting more strongly with the white ones; the primaries also are more distinctly marked and barred than in radiatum, the rufous being richer in hue and the dark parts a shade deeper; the throat and breast are also more rufous, and the barring of the abdomen and lower parts is narrower, and more regular than in radiatum. These are all the distinctions I can make out. In size they are identical. In fact, the radiatum looks like a washed out and faded copy of our Ratnagiri birds. Mr. Hume, in his Scrap Book (p. 411), notes the difference in tint between radiatum from the north, and the same species from the south of India, the northern birds being more rufous, and the southern more grey. I cannot help thinking that ultimately it will be found that malabaricum is inseparable from radiatum as a species, the warmer tints of the former being due to climatic causes only. A humid climate, such as the Konkans and Malabar has, as will I think be admitted, a general tendency to darken and impart a deeper hue to the plumage of birds, the fur of animals, and even the pigment which underlies the human ~~ ee 40 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. _euticle. Many instances of this might be quoted. The Editor, after examining the first batch of skins I sent him from this district, was struck by the comparative darkness and brilliancy of the plumage of many of the species. In particular the specimens of Perdicula asiatica were said to be “so dark as to be almost a distinct species.” Of course this and other similar instances do not prove that the two Glaucidia are one and the same species. Before G. malabaricum can be suppressed still closer connect- ing links must be found than even these Ratnagiri birds afford. But that such links exist seems highly probable, and I hope that Mr. Hume will be able to get a sufficiently large series of representatives of this genus from all parts to enable him to settle the point authoritatively. Since writing the above, [ have read an article in the Nine- teenth Century of January 1880, on the “ Origin of Species and Genera,’ by Mr. A. R.. Wallace, which contains some remarks bearing very closely on the point above discussed. In reviewing the work of Mr. 7. A. Allen in Eastern North Ame- rica, and his elaborate observations as to the variations between individuals of the same species, as to tint, distributions of colours, and markings, &c., Mr. Wallace remarks :— ' “Colour also varies greatly in correspondence to latitude and longitude. Dark coloured birds are said to become blacker towards the south; in others the red or yellow bands become deeper ; while in those transversely banded the dark bands become broader and the light ones narrower. Those with white spots or bands have them smaller in. the south, and sometimes lose them altogether. These differences are some- times so great that the extreme northern and southern forms might be considered distinct species, were it not for the perfect gradation of intermediate types in the intervening localities. There is also an increase of intensity of colour from east to west, as exhibited by the same or by closely-allied representa- tive species inhabiting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts respec- tively. In the desert plains of the interior, however, the colours are paler than on either coast.”’ The great variation in forms in India with reference to physi- cal conditions—a subject which opens out a vast field of inquiry hitherto but imperfectly explored—will no doubt furnish a close parallel to the case of America. Picus mahrattensis, whose breast assumes a darker hue on tke west coast, is a striking instance of intensification of colour from east to west. The case of Perdicula . asiatica, noticed above, is another good illustration, while a good example of similar change from north to south is furnished by Acridothera tristis, Lin., of India, which becomes the doubtful -FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 41 ‘species A. melanosternus, Legge, in Ceylon. Careful observation ‘will, no doubt, disclose scores of similar instances. _ [The above quotation shows, 1 think, how entirely even ‘the greatest ‘authorities have failed to grasp the point I have -so often urged, viz., that the variation in depth and intensity - of colour has nothing to do with latitude and longitude, but depends on rainfall. If they could (or would) only realize this, they would perceive that it explains at once an enormous “tail of the variations in tint, which have puzzled ornitho- logists. Ir 1s NOT A QUESTION OF EAST OR WEST, NORTH OR SOUTH ; IT IS THE AVERAGE RAINFALL AND AVERAGE HUMIDITY THAT MAINLY DETERMINE INTENSITY OF COLOR, IN THE ADULTS OF ‘NON-MIGRATORY, BUT WIDELY EXTENDED SPECIES. To return, however, to this particular species. This Glaucidium is avery good instance of the variation in color due to differences in the amount of rainfall, Take a specimen from Allahabad, where the rainfall is under 40 and the ‘atmosphere normally dry, and you have radiatum without a trace of rufous. Take another from Anjange in Travancore, ‘where the rainfall is very heavy and the atmosphere always humid—painfully soto my feelings—and you have malataricum with the entire head and upper back densely overlaid with chestnut rufous, and with the rest of the plumage, especially the wing-lining, tinted in many places with the same hue. Between these two forms, almost exactly mid-way as regards coloration, lie all these Ratnagiri birds, of which Mr. Vidal has procured me a huge series. Precisely similar to these are specimens from Kalodoongi, at the foot of the Kumaon Hills, where the average rainfall and humidity are almost precisely the same as in Ratnagiri. | But one point has to be noticed, It would appear that it is only, as time runs on, that moisture operates to darken and intensify plumage to its fullest extent; the birds of the year, whether of Scops malabaricus, Glaucidium brodii (in Sikhim), Syrnium nivicolum, (in Sikhim), or Glaucidium malabaricum, are invariably much paler, and less rufous than the adults, and the older the birds grow the more deeply colored they become in the heavy rainfall tracts, while in the scanty rainfall, and a fortiori desert regions, they become paler as they advance in years. | Wallace says: “ Dark colored birds are said to become blacker towards the south,” and so they do, if that south kappens to be a well-watered region; but it is just the contrary if it be a dry and desert locality. Greater southing, greater heat, per se in no way affect color—dry heat pales, damp heat intensifies. 6 ‘42 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. ‘Light, of course, operates as an auxiliary, and ‘intensifies the action of humidity, or the converse; and the palest and the ‘darkest forms will be found in tropical deserts and tropical ‘swamps. I donot think that heat has anything directly to say to the matter, but as practically in nature greater inten- sity. of light for the year round is accompanied by a higher ‘average temperature, it may often appear to be a factor, and indirectly, in. so far as in well-watered regions it increases the humidity of the atmosphere, it no doubt isso. But the primary cause of these variations in tint is, I believe, a difference in ‘the average rainfall and average humidity of the atmosphere. Generally the two go together, but by no means invariably. ‘In Simla the rainfall is over 60 inches, often much more; but during the major portion of the year the atmosphere is dry to ‘a degree, and the birds are pale. Again, there are many localities in the Terai where the rainfall scarcely exceeds 40, where, owing to perennial swamps, fed by the distant-wooded hills, and the high average temperature, the atmosphere is always more or less laden with moisture, and there the colours of birds are more intense. But it is useless to pursue this question further here. Suffice it to say that the Ratnagiri Glaucidium is radiatum, only half transformed by increased moisture into malabaricum.— A.0. H.] 81.—Ninox lugubris, Tick. | Vengorla. | 22nd February 1880, Male.—Length, 11; wing, 83; tarsus, 13; tail, 5. Cere green; bill dusky with pale tip; feet yellow; irides golden. . _ Single specimen obtained in a cocoanut garden. — I had some difficulty in fixing this bird, and I may be wrong in calling it lugubris. The tail is pale grey, tipped with dirty rufescent white—one of the characteristics, according to Mr. Sharpe (vide 8, F., IV., 285 ) of lugubris. But the head is not grey but dark brown and concolorous with the back as in scutulata. The axillaries are as in Jugubris, barred white and brown. I have no other specimens to compare it with, but it evidently cannot be classified according to the points given by Mr. Sharpe. _ [his must be accepted as Zugubris, but Mr. Vidal’s remarks are correct; the diagnosis given by Mr. Sharpe often fails ; from many parts of the country forms are sent quite interme- diate between lugubris and scutulata, and the more I see of these Nino, the more I incline to the belief that they will have hereafter to be extensively “lumped.” —A. O. H.] . FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 43 $2.—Hirundo rustica, Zin. Ratnagiri. | | Came to Ratnagiri in large numbers in November 1879. IL have not seen it elsewhere, but may have overlooked it. . 84.—Hirundo filifera, Steph. Ratnagiri. | Khed. Pévé. Seen also at Malvan and Dhamapur in the south, and Bankot in the north. Nowhere common, though associating in consider- able flights. 85,—Hirundo erythropygia, Sykes. Harnai, Mahapral. | Palgad. Common and generally distributed. Breeds in the hot wea- ther on the cliffs and under eaves of houses. [86.—Hirundo fluvicola, Jerd. |] Dhamapur. | ; A single specimen of this species killed at» Dhamapur, 12th February 1880, was contained in Mr. Vidal’s last batch of specimens, sent with this paper.—A. O. H.] 90.—Ptyonoprogne concolor, Sykes. Bankot. Kelshi. Harnai, Pévé. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Common on the coast, and fora few miles inland. I have found nests on the cliffs in February, March and April, and under the eaves ofa bungalow in August. 98.--Cypsellus melba, Lin. | Savant Vadi. | Our specimens were got from Savant Vadi. Hitherto I have not seen the Alpine Swift north of Malvan, nor have I shot it within the limits of the Ratnagiri district. But between Malvan and Vengorla, and for many miles inland, numbers are to be seen every evening at sunset, flying very high, and all apparently travelling southwards. I have not found any roost- ing or breeding places in these parts. Are they bound for the falls of Gairsoppa in North Kanara, where, as we know from Jerdon, they roost and congregate? Captain Butler tells me that C. melba passes over Belgaum (75 miles east of Vengorla) in 44 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, hundreds, every evening flying due west, and every morning flying due east. This confirms Jerdon’s statement “ that such of these Swifts as have been questing at great distances from their roosting haunts, fly first towards the coast, and then make their. way along the sea side, picking up stragglers from other regions on their way to the cliffs of Gairsoppa, or other similar precipices. 100.—Cypsellus affinis, J. Z. Gr. Suvamdurg, Ratnagiri. Common throughout the seaboard. Nests found in February and April in clusters on the island fort of Suvamdurg and the rocky cliffs on the coast. Once in May I found and caught a pair of these Swifts, apparently roosting only, in a mud retort- shaped nest under the eaves of a bungalow, which was evidently the handiwork of Hirundo erythropygia. 102.—Cypsellus batassiensis, J. Z. Gr. Bankot. Ratnagiri. | Seen also in large numbers at Malvan and Vengorla. I only know at present of two Palmyra palms ( Borassus flabelliformis ) in the whole district, one at Bankot and one at Malvan. At Bankot, in April, I saw a pair of these Swifts flying out of the solitary Palmyra but found no nests. At Malvan, in January and February, I saw numbers flying in and outof the leaves of the one tree there. They must have had nests, but the tree was very high, and I could get no one to climb it. There are no Palmyras at Ratnagiri, and as the species is common there, about the cocoanut and betelnut gardens, it is probable that, as Mr. Davidson noted in Mysore, (vide S. F., VII., 172), they nest here in betelnut, if not in cocoanut palms also. There are certainly fifty times too many birds at Malvan to find accommo- dation in the one Palmyra palm, though it is evidently a favou- rite haunt. 103.—Collocalia unicolor, Jerd. Vengorla Rocks or Burnt Islands. This species, as Jerdon says, is found at one of the group of rocks which lie between Vengorla and Malvan, some five or six miles from the mainland, and breeds there regularly every year. The right to collect the nests is annually sold by auction, and realises on an average about Rs. 30. Two trips are made by the farmer—the first towards the end of February, FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 45 and the second about the first week in April. The first harvest yields about 14lbs., and the second from 28 to 42lbs. Either the yield was overstated by Jerdon, or else the number of birds has greatly diminished since he wrote ; half a hundredweight is now the maximum outturn. . None of the nests I gave ever got from the Vengorla rocks are pure white. In April 1878 I sent my shikaree, to bring nests, eggs and birds, and he returned with specimens of all three. The birds were all Collocalia, and the nests all mixed with grass and feathers, the saliva being pure only where the nest is attached to the rock, and on the rim of the saucer. The nests vary a good deal in size and shape. They are very shallow, seldom deeper than half an inch, and have a diameter of about two inches. Externally the saliva, freely mixed with grass and feathers, is smooth and coagulated. Inside the cup it forms a net-work of fine shreds. They look at a little dis- tance exactly like deep oyster shells with one side flattened, the saliva, where it is smoothed down, having a pearly appearance. As this batch of nests was collected about a week after the farmer had paid his last visit to the rocks to the season, and had presumably left no nests worth taking, and as the natives, who ought to have known, persisted in saying that pure white nests were to be had at the first take, I could come to no definite conclusion about the matter. However, in February 1880, I sent my man again to the rocks, with the farmer’s people. They were there for three days, and returned on the 28th with about 12 or 14lbs. of nests which I exa- mined. These nests were undoubtedly jirst nests, as not a single egg had been laid. Ali were quite as impure and mixed with grass and feathers as those I had got in the preceding April, when there were eggs or young birds inevery nest. The farmer still held out that white nests are sometimes got. Of course it is possible that a few pairs of spodiopygia may breed in the same cave, but none of the specimens got were of this species, and I think it is highly improbable that they occur. Determined to sift the matter as closely as possible, | sent my shikaree again with the farmer’s people for the April take. He spent three days on the rocks, from the 7th to 9th April, and returned with about two dozen of the purest and comparatively whitest nests that were found on this occasion, as well as eggs and specimens of Collocalia. The nests were a/l mixed with grass and feathers precisely as before. The evidence, therefore, is now pretty complete, and shews conclusively that this Collocalia does not make pure white nests at any rate in this locality. The Vengorla nests are all des- patched to Goa in the first instance, but I have not yet ascer- 46 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN: tained their ultimate destination. Commercially, they. must: rank asa very third sort commodity. The nests I got in February were literally swarming with common bugs. . The rock is very difficult to get at. It can only be approach-. ed by a small boat on account of the reefs, and owing to the constant swell during the north-west winds, a landing can only be effected at night, and even then with difficulty. The caves: where the Swiftlets breed opens on a narrow ledge of rock, with a steep drop into the sea, which cannot be climbed from below. To get to the cave you have to scramble up the cliff from the landing place, and be lowered on to the ledge some forty or fifty feet by ropes. Hitherto I have shirked any personal investigation of the mysteries of the cave. From the, description given to me it appears to run in about 30 or 40, yards from the sea. The entrance is said to be about 20 to 24 feet broad, and the height of the cave to be from 40 to 50 feet. The nests are glued to the rocks close together at a height of from 10 to 20 feet from the ground, and are always out of hand’s reach. My shikaree, who collected about seven dozen egos, fresh and hard-set, said he never found more than two in a nest. Whether the birds remain at the rocks all the year round I cannot find out for certain. They were there in large numbers, in December 1879. The farmer says that they leave the rocks, in the south-west monsoon, and come for shelter to the cliffs on the mainland which may or not be true. It is certain, however, that no one has ever yet visited the rocks during the monsoon.. Even the lighthouse people on an adjoining rock are com- pletely cut off from all communication with the mainland from June to September. This inaccessibility is especially un- fortunate, as Mr. Hume, on visiting the rocks in January 1875 on his trip to the Laccadives and West Coast, found con- vincing evidence in the shape of fragments of eggs, &c., that, they are a regular breeding place for Terns, and perhaps: some of the larger Laride. It is singular that Mr. Hume found no traces during his visit of the Swiftlets, no birds and no fragments of nests. Did he visit all the rocks? I cannot help: thinking he must have overlooked the particular haunt of the Collocalias. Last December my shikaree—the same man who had brought me nests, eggs and birds in the preceding year, and must know the species well—visited the rocks and reported. that there were hundreds flying about. Nor does the con- tractor seem to make a clean sweep of all the nests, as last year I obtained several perfect ones, as good as any he hes, since shewn me, after he had paid his last visit to the island for the season. I fancy Mr. Hume must have gone to the wrong. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 47 cave, more especially as he mentions the presence of the Pigeons, which, I am told, do not inhabit the same cave as the Swiftlets. [I certainly failed to find this smaller cave, but I rowed all about amongst the larger rocks, and failed to see a single Swiftlet. Had there been a dozen even about the rocks at the time I visited them (February 4th) between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.M., the whole of which time I spent either rowing in amongst or clambering over the rocks, I must have seen them. But it has to be noted that Jerdon tells us that he similarly, at Pigeon Island, failed to see a single bird; but was told by a native that they would return by 8 or 9 p.M., which native that night actually caught numbers of the birds on their return, so that my failure to see any may have been due solely to their being away in quest of food. Mr. Vidal’s investigations are important. It will be remem- bered that the Marquess of Tweeddale united the present species unicolor, and the species I identified as spodiopygia, (and other equally distinct species according to my view) under the name, at one time, of franezca, at another of fuciphaga. As explained, 8. F., I, 294, I did not consider the name fuciphaga, which refers to some species of * cauda rotundata” applicable to any known species. This, however, was a matter of no moment ; the real point at issue was the specific distinctness of the two forms above referred to. To me it seemed impos- sible for any one who had watched the two in life, or who even carefully examined a good series of both, to doubt this fact ; but as an additional proof of the distinctness of the two I asserted that in every instance in which we had found them breeding, the nests of wnicolor had been composed of moss, grass feathers and the like, cemented together by saliva, while those of spodiopygia were snowy white and entirely composed of saliva: But the flaw in this argument admittedly was, that I had only obtained the nests of unécolor far inland, in the Nilghiris and other hills of Southern India, while I had only procured those of spodiopygia on the sea coast or on islands. It might be that wnicolor, when living in similar situations, would assume the different tint of plumage and whitey brown rump of spodiopygia, and also construct the pure white nests. But now here on the Vengorla rocks, miles out at sea, we have unicolor absolutely identical with specimens from the Nilghiris, and practically identical with those from the Himalayas (though there is just a shade of difference in the colour of these last), and constructing nests mixed with straw and feathers, precisely similar to those that they make hundreds of miles inland. ‘48 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. Whatever opinions may be formed as to the correct scientific titles for the two forms, it seems to me impossible for any one to dispute henceforth their specific distinctness.—A. O. H.] 104.—Dendrochelidon coronata, Tick. Mahapral. Durga Vadi. Mandangad. K4sarde. Fanasgaon. Savant Vadi. 13th April 1878, Male.—Length, 94; wing, 63; tail, 54. Generally distributed from Coast to Ghats. Nowhere abundant, 107.—Caprimulgus indicus, Lath. Guhagar. Dévrukn. Vengorla. | | Less common than asiaticus and monticolus. I shot a female measuring, length, 11; wing, 74, ina thick temple forest at Guhagar, perched at 9 A.M., on the branch of a tree some 25 feet from the ground. 112.—Caprimulgus asiaticus, Lath. Guhdagar. | Dham pur. | Malvan. Vengorla. ~ Common, especially in gardens on the Coast. 114.—Caprimulgus monticolus, Frankl. Kelshi. Palgad. Malvan. Dapuli. Khed. Common here and there in scrub jungle, but is not generally distributed. 115*.—Harpactes fasciatus, Forst. | Savant Vadi. | Mr. Fairbank (S. F., IV., 254) records this species from “the woods of Savant Vadi in the Konkan.” I was dis- appointed in not coming across any specimens. 117.—Merops viridis, Zz. Kelshi. | Ratnagiri. Abundant everywhere. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 49 117.—Merops philippinus, Zin. Dhamapur.* Savant Vadi. Confined to the south of the district. I found it common about the summer rice fields irrigated by the Dhamapur tank. . 119.*—Merops swinhoii, Hume. | Savant Vadi. | ) Recorded from the “ sides and bases of Goa and Savant Vadi hills” by Mr. Fairbank (S. F., IV., 254). I did not obtain any specimens at Savant Vadi itself, which is intermediate between the sea and the base of the hills. 123.—Coracias indica, Zzn. Khed. Chiplun. Aroli. S4vant VAdi. Tolerably common inland in well-wooded country, but very much less so near the coast. Breeds in March. 127.—Pelargopsis gurial, Pearson. Malvan. Rajapur. | Dhamapur. Rare. Has also been seen at Ratnagiri, but not as yet north of that place. [This Pelargopsis on the West Coast has the entire cap, nape and ear coverts, a really dark brown, very different to the pale (in some cases whitey) brown, of specimens from most other parts of India. The two forms are quite as distinct as several that Mr. Sharpe has admitted in his famous work as separate species, but I believe he himself considers that in any future revision of the genus a good deal of “ lumping’ will be neces- sary.—A. O. H.] 129.—Halcyon smyrnensis, Lin. Ratnagiri. Mahapral. Malvan. Mandangad. Vengorla. Generally distributed but not common. Avoids large tidal rivers, and prefers secluded jungle streams. Often found in dry jungles at some distance from water. 130.—Halcyon pileata, Bodd. Malvan. | | As yet I have only got two specimens of this Kingfisher at the locality specified. Jerdon notes its occurrence at Telli- * Capt. Bingham tells me that he has found this species not uncommon about Vengorla in January.—Ep., 8, F. 7 50 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. cherry. I can find no other récord of its occurrence on the West Coast. | 18th January 1880, Female.—Wing, 42; tail, 34; bill, 23. ' Bill red’; irides brown; legs and feet red with dusky bars. 132.—Halcyon chloris, Bodd. ; Kelshi. _ | | .. Ratnagiri. ; _ Hitherto obtained only at the places named, though I have seen it on the Vashishti river, midway between the two (vide S. F., VII., 168, and VIII., 414). At both places I found it scarce. It frequents the thick mangrove swamps which fringe the estuaries of the creeks, and feeds at low tide on the mud flats. 134.—Alcedo bengalensis, Gm. : Ratnagiri. Vos cas | Exceedingly abundant everywhere, and more especially so on the tidal creeks. 136.—Ceryle rudis, Zin. Ratnagiri. | Khed. | Common throughout, but appears, as a rule, to prefer fresh to tidal waters. 140.—Dichoceros cavatus, Shaw. Dévrukh. Manbet. 6th November 1879, Male.—Length, 50; wing, 20; tail, 17; tarsus, 3; bill from gape (straight), 94; perpendicular height of casque and bill, 4; length of casque, 63; breadth of casque, 32 ; from base of casque to tip of bill, 14. Irides, deep crimson ; legs and feet fleshy grey. Found along the base and on the slopes of the Sahyadri range, extending as far north as Khed, north latitude, 17°45’, where in years gone by I have shot it, and probably much further. Although not often seen far from the Ghats, it occasionally strays towards. the Coast, and I have on several occasions seen it at Dapuli, within five or six miles of the sea. At DévrukhI saw a great number feeding on ripe’ banyan berries, and I once shot one with a snake, a young dhaman (Ptyas mucosus) in its mouth. I have found no nests, but have been told that it breeds at Poladpur, in the Kolaba dis- trict, twenty miles north of Khed. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 51 141.—Hydrocissa coronata, Bodd., Aroli. Dévrukh. Fanasgaon. Kasarde. Sort Parts, o © 3 | 3 gy) |e e/38| =e kee: Inid Legs and | @ ular ski oe a\3\8 es. Fact ular skin. iM = f=] el ce! a a S Pelle \eia leis S.| o& | 37 |135 | 14} 43 | 92 | 72 | Orange Red.| Grey. | Kid White. a e jo} G 2.1 8 | 34) 13/132 | 3: | 62 | 63 | Brown. Grey. | Kid White. Found inland in the belt of wooded country at the foot of the Ghats. Does not extend, I believe, as far north as D. cavatus, nor is it found near the Coast. [These may be considered typical examples of coronata, as they are precisely similar to those from the Malabar Coast further south. Comparing a large series of these western birds with an equally large one from Raipur and Chota Nagpore on the east, I find that these latter have the casques even more compressed, and in birds of like age advancing further along the culmen to the point. I can detect no other constant difference.—A. O. H.] 145.*—-Tockus griseus, Lath. { Savant Vadi. | In his “ Popular List of the Birds of the Maratha country,” compiled for the Bombay Gazetteer, and published at the Government Central Press in 1876, Mr. Fairbank mentions having obtained this species at Savant Vadi, 148.—Paleornis torquatus, Bodd. Pévé,: Dhamni. Ratnagiri. Savant Vadi. Plentiful, but somewhat locally distributed. Less common than P. purpureus. 149.—Paleornis purpureus, P. L. 8. Mill. Bankot. Dapuli. Ratnagiri. Savant Vadi. | Generally distributed and very plentiful. 52 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE: SOUTH KONKAN, 151—Paleornis columboides, Vig. - | | | Bavda. . Appears to be restricted to the Sahyadri forests, and the western slopes of the Ghats. Dr. Armstrong procured it at Bavda, and it is tolerably common near Mahableshwar. 153.—Loriculus vernalis, Sparrm. Ratnagiri. Dapuli. Rajapur. Savant Vadi. “Plentiful here and there both on the Coast and inland, but rather locally distributed. 160.—Picus mahrattensis, Lath, Bankot. Dhémni. Kasarde. Kelshi. Khed. Pévé. Vaghotan. Savant Vadi. Generally distributed, but rather scarce. This, says Mr. Hume, is the darker breasted West Coast race. 9th March 1878, Male.—Length, 73; wing, 4; bill at front, 2, Inides red. [This is another species, the depth of colouration of which varies all over the country according to the comparative average humidity of the locality. Comparing some of the richest and ae i they might well be considered distinct species. —A. 0. H. 164.—Yungipicus nanus, Vg. | Savant Vadi. | \Bavda, 2,000 feet. Restricted to the Ghats and the heavy forests at the base, such as Savant Vadi. [I identified these specimens, only a little further south. Y. gymnopthalmus occurs on the Ghats, and [ had expected to find this species, and not nanus, in Ratnagiri.—A. O. H.] 166.*—Chrysocolaptes sultaneus, Hodgs. Ratnagiri. | | One or two specimens were got by Dr. Armstrong at or near Ratnagiri. I have not yet met with the species. (This is not at all likely to be su/taneus ; it will -most proba- bly prove to be strictus, Horsf. (=delesserti, Malh. apud auct.) vide S. F., VIII., 154.—A. O. H.] 167.—Chrysocolaptes festivus, Bodd. Ratnagiri. Vaghotan. Kasardes ~ | Fanasgaon. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 53 Rare. The specimens, with the exception of one I got at Ratnagiri, were all got by Dr. Armstrong. Ihave not seen the species north of Ratnagiri. 179.—Micropternus gularis, Jerd. Pévé. Mandangad. | Guhagar. Savant Vadi. I obtained in 1878, at Mandangad, at the extreme north of the district, a single specimen (female), which I sent to Mr. Hume as gularis, and which he passed as such without com- ment. In 1879 I sent three specimens (one male and two females) from Guhagar and Pévé, thirty miles south. These, Mr. Hume said, were intermediate between gularis and phe- oceps, but nearer the former. On comparing the Mandangad specimen again with one from Pévé, which most nearly approximates to gularis, I find that the throat feathers of the former are slightly darker, but the difference is barely per- ceptible. This species also appears, therefore, to be inter- mediate and not typical gularis. To settle the point a large series of .skins is necessary, but unfortunately the bird is decidedly scarce. It may prove ultimately that gularis is not a good species. Mandangad, 1st May 1878, Female :—Length, 935; -wing, 5; tail, 23. [Two specimens obtained by Dr. Armstrong in the Ratnagiri district are, like those mentioned above, far from typical, having the gular stripe very light colored, the feathers scarcely darker than those of the breast. But I have already (8. F., V., 472 e¢ seg.) shown that the species of this genus vary greatly from district to district, and we must,-I think, accept the Ratnagiri birds as-gularis.—A. O. H.] 181.—Brachypternus puncticollis, Malh, Guhagar. Palgad. Ratnagiri. Dapuli. ‘Malvan. Chiplun. Aroli. Nivli. Lanje. Rajapur. Fanasgaon. S4vant Vadi. ~The commonest Woodpecker in the district, and generally distributed. These birds are true puncticollis, and were de- scribed by Mr. Hume as the most typical birds of the species he had seen. 54 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN: 193bis—Megalema inornata, Wald. Guhagar. Nivli. Ratnagiri. Rajapur. Found in well-wooded villages on the Coast, but perhaps “more common inland and at the foot of the Ghats. 194.—Megalema viridis, Bodd. | | Dévrukh. _ 7th November 1879, Mate.—Length, 9 ; wing, 4; bill at front, 8. Our only specimens as yet have been got from Devrukh, a well-wooded village at the foot of the Ghats, where it is common, but it no doubt ranges all down the Ghat line. 197.—Xantholema hemacephala, iil. Kelshi. Khed. Ratnagiri. Savant Vadi. Abundant everywhere. Breeds in February. 198.*—Megalema malabarica, Bly. | Savant Vadi. | Recorded from the Savant Vadi forests by Mr. Fairbank (S.F.,IV., 255). I failed to obtain any specimens. 201.—Cuculus poliocephalus, Lath. | | Dévrukh. 5th November 1879, Male-—Young bird. Length, 93; wings, 52; tail, 5; bill at front, 3; bill from gape, nearly 1 ; tarsus, 3. Irides brown; orbits, legs and feet yellow; bill black, pale below ; yellow at gape; wings reach, to within two inches of tail. A single specimen obtained. Does not entirely correspond with Jerdon’s description. There is no trace of a green gloss. The outer tail feathers have white spots on both webs. The chin, throat and breast are spotted with white, ashy and rusty, and the head is spotted with white, but possibly I have not discriminated the species correctly. [It is a young bird and an indifferent specimen, but I believe it has been correctly identified.—A. O. H.] 202.—Cucuius sonnerati, Lath. Malvan. Vengorla. | 21st February 1880, Female.—Length, 94; wing, 42; tarsus, 2; tail, 44; bill at front, 2; from gape, 1}. Trides brown; legs greenish grey; bill dusky ; tail feathers not tipped with white; orbits grey. Single specimen obtained at each of the localities noted. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 55 203.—Cuculus micropterus, Gould. Ratnagiri - | | A single specimen obtained at Ratnagiriin October. 205.—Hierococcyx varius, Vahl. |] Savant Vadi. | Dévrukh. Rare. 208.—Cacomantes passerinus, Vahl. Vengorla. | | 21st February 1880, Male-—Length, 84; wing, 43; tarsus, #; tail, 435 bill at front, 3; from gape, 1. Irides red ; legs and feet brownish yellow ; bill black, red at gape; under tail coverts ashy, almost concolorous with breast, but slightly paler. 25th February 1880, Female.—Length, 84; wing, 4,°, ; tail, 43; tarsus, {; bill from gape nearly 1 inch; at front, #. Soft parts as in the male. This specimen had the under tail coverts pure white. Only two specimens obtained. 212.—Coccystes jacobinus, Bodd. | | Dévrukh. | Rare. Has been seen also at Dapuli and on the summit of the Amba Ghat in the Kolapur district. 213.—Coccystes coromandus, Lin. | Savant Vadi. | A single specimen procured. 2nd Sanuary 1880, Male-—Wing, 63; tail, 9. 214.—Eudynamys honorata, Lin. Ratnagiri. | Dapuili. | Malvan. Khed. ~ Common in well-wooded tracts from Coast to Ghats. 216.—Rhopodytes viridirostris, Jerd. Malvan. | | 24th January 1880, Male.—Length, 16; wing, 5}; tail, 94; tarsus, 14; bill at front, 1. Bill green; orbital skin pale whitish blue ; irides red; legs and feet dark green. Rare. I found a few pairs in thin bush jungle on a hill side near Malvan, on the Coast. Not observed elsewhere. The Shey is rather smaller, the wings measuring from 5,°, to 54 inches. 56 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH 'KONKAN. 217.—Centrococcyx rufipennis, 77. Kelshi. Dapuli | Dévrukh. Pévé. Khed. Common. “True rujipennis,’ writes Mr. Hume, “ with . Ler ae / the black interscapulary region. 219.—Taccocua leschenaulti, Less. Pévé. | Man dangad. Durga Vadi. Malvan. | Ist May 1878, Female.—Length, 173; wing, 6; tail, 9; tarsus, 14. Irides brown. Rare. Found in hill side jungle. I obtained a nest with a single fresh egg on the 8th April. The nest, a thick loose cup of sticks and leaves, was in a fork of a jambul (Eugenia jam- bolana) tree, about 12 feet from the ground. The egg cavity, about six inches in diameter, and very slightly depressed, was profusely lined with green jambul leaves.. The egg is a dull glossless white oval. The specimens obtained at Pévé and Malvan were found some five or six miles inland. 226.— Asthopyga vigorsi, Sykes. Kelshi. Mahapral. Gotne. Ratnagiri. Dapuli. Bavda. Rajapur. Savant Vadi, Bavda, Distributed from the Ghats to the gardens on the Coast, but scarce. 232.—Cinnyris zeylonica, Lin. Kelshi. Mahapral. Pévé. Palgad. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Malvan. Common and generally distributed. Nests found with eggs in January, March, April and September. 233.—Cinnyris minima, Sykes. | Savant Vadi. | Bavda, Found sparingly on the western slopes of the Ghats. Com- mon in the Savant Vadi forests. - 234.—Cinnyris asiatica, Lath. Kelshi. - Khed. Pévé. Lanje. Savant Vadi. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 57 Common in hill side scrub jungle, and garders throughout the district. Nest found in April. 235.—Cinnyris lotenia, Lzn. Kelshi. | Ratnagiri. Rare. 238.—Diceum erythrorhynchus, Lath. Pévé. | | Durga Vadi. Ratnagiri. 4th April 1879.—Length, 33; wing, 14; tail, 3; tarsus, 53 bill, 3. Bill fleshy ; tip dusky; rides brown; legs dark plumbeous (unsexed specimen.) Rare. Appears to replace D. concolor north of Ratnagiri. 239.—Diczeum concolor, Jerd. | Savant Vadi, Common at Savant Vadi, where, I thiate it replaces D. ery- throrhynchus. 240.—Piprisoma agile, Tick. Dham4pur. | Déyrukh. Savant Vadi. Rare. 253.—Dendrophila frontalis, Horsf. ] Savant Vadi, | A single specimen obtained. 254.—Upupa epops, Lin. Ratnagiri, Palgad. Dévrukh, Dapuili. Vaghotan. Common in the cold weather in groves of trees. 209.—Upupa ceylonensis, Rezch. Less common than U. epops. 207.—Lanius erythronotus, Vig. Ratnagiri. | Khed. Common everywhere. 58 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN.' 260.—Lanius vittatus, Valenc. Palgad. Bavda. Manbet. | Dajipur. 16th January 1879, Female.—Length, 74; wing, 34; tail, 34. Irides dark brown. Rare. Not found on the Coast. 265.—Tephrodornis pondicerianus, Gm. Ratnagiri. Mahapral. Malvan. Mandangad. Vandri. Common, as also at Savant Vadi. Nest found with three hard-set eggs on the 18th February, low down in a mango tree. Nest a very neat compact - cup of grasses and fibres, woven throughout with spiders’ webs. Bges greyish white, with brown and inky purple spots. 267. oe picatus, Sykes. Rajapur. | Savant Vadi. Rare. I have not myself found the little Pied Shrike; but there were a few from each of the localities named in Mr, Crawford’s collection. 268.—Volvocivora sykesi, Strick. Kelshi. Mandangad. Guhazar. Khed. Ratnagiri. Rajapur. Vengorla. Savant’ Vadi. Not common ; only found in well-wooded parts. 969.—Volvocivora melaschista, Hodgs. | Savant Vadi. | Rare. Only two specimens obtained. 270.—Graucalus macii, Less. Kelshi. Khed. Guhagar. Rajapur. Common. Breeds in February and March. 272.—Pericrocotus flammeus, Forst. Lanje. Durga Vadi. Rajapur. Devrukh. Savant Vadi, Marshi. Kasardi. Common at the foot of the Ghats, and the well-wooded parts of the central belt. Not found on the Coast. , ee le Te 4 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 59 276.—Pericrocotus perigrinus, Lin. Kelshi. { Khed. Ratnagiri. | Savant. Vadi. Malvan. ; Common every where. [This is the richly colored form which occurs in all humid regions, strangely different from the pale races of the semi-de- sert tracts. See also 8. F., V., 179.—A. O. H.] 278.—Buchanga atra, Herm. Pévé. Mahapral. | Ratnagiri. Abundant. Breeds in May, 280.—Buchanga longicaudata, Hay. Ratnagiri. | Khed. | Very common about all well-wooded villages from Coast to Ghats. 281.—Buchanga cerulescens, Lin. | Savant Vadi. | Very common in the Savant Vadi jungles. I have not yet found it in the Ratnagiri district, but Dr. Armstrong had a specimen which he got somewhere between Ratnagiri and Savant Vadi. 282.—Chaptia znea, Vierll. | Savant Vadi. | Bavda. Very rare. Not observed elsewhere in the district. 285.— Dissemurus paradiseus, Zin. Vengorla. | Savant Vadi. | Three Males.—Length, 22 to 25 (to end of outer tail feathers) ; wing, 6 to 63; tail to end of middle feathers, 6 to 62; tail to end of outer feathers, 14 to 18. Three Females.—Length, 22 to 24; wing, 6 to 64; tail to end of middle feathers, 6 to 63; to end of outer feather, 14 to 16. Does not extend north of Sdévant Va4di, where it is rather common. A nest was found in the first week of April. 286.—Chibia hottentotta, Zin. | Savant Vadi. | Four Females.—Length, 11 to 12; wing, 6} to 63 ; tail, 6 to 52; bill at front, 14; tarsus, 1. . 60 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. Not uncommon in the forests of Savant Vadi, which appear however to be its northern limit. — 987.—Artamus fuscus, Viel. Vengorla. | | Rare. Not observed elsewhere in the district. 288.—Muscipeta paradisi, Lin. Kelshi. Khed. Guhagar. Dhamapnr. Ratnagiri. Savant Vadi. Generally distributed. Scarce near the Coast. Plentiful in the Savant Vadi forests. One specimen, a white male, has three uropygial feathers, twelve inches long ! 290.—Hypothymis azurea, Bodd. Bankot. Mandangad. Ratnagiri. Khed. Lanje. Savant Vadi. Scarce, except at Savant Vadi, where it is comparatively common. 293.—Leucocerca leucogaster, Cuv. Guhagar. Dapuli. Ratnagiri. Khed. Malvan. Very plentiful on the Coast and central inland tracts. Appears to replace LZ. aureola. The latter may occur in the Ghat range. I have not hitherto found it on the western slopes, but have perhaps overlooked it. 997.— Alseonax latirostris. Ratnagiri. Khed. Vaghotan. Dhamapur. S4vant Vadi. Rare in the north, and comparatively common in the south of the tract. 301.—Stoporala melanops, V29. Kelshi. | Savant Vadi. | Déyrukh. Ratnagiri, Vengorla. Common in the Savant Vadi and Ghat jungles, but scarce near the Coast. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE ‘SOUTH KONKAN. 61 306.—Cyornis tickelli, Bly. Guhagar. Palgad. Ratnagiri. Dapuli. Savant Vadi. Not uncommon in the cold weather in well-wooded places. $23 bis.—Erythrosterna parva, Bechst. | Khed. | Dévrukh. Searce, but is seen now and then in the cold weather, Leaves early before the breast of the male turns red. 342.—Myiophoneus horsfieldi, V729. Vengorla. Vaghotan. Dévrukh. Fanascaon. Bavda. Savant Vadi. Kasarde. 5th November 1879, Female.—Length, 11; wing, 52; tail, 4; tarsus, 13. Vengorla is the only locality on the Coast in which I have met this species, but it is tolerably common in the Ghat range, and in the southern central belt, in suitable localities. 345.—Pitta brachyura, Lin. Malvan. Fanasgaon. | Durga V adi. Dhamapur. Dévrukh. Found rarely in gardens near the Coast, and more commonly in the Ghat jungles. Scarce in the north, more common in the south of the tract. 351.—Cyanocinclus cyanus, Lin. Kelshi. Khed. Ratnagiri. Not very com=xon, but solitary individuals are always to be seen in the cold weather on the rocky cliffs by the sea side and on the stony hills inland. 393.—Petrophila cinclorhyncha, Vig. Vengorla. | Saévant Vad. | Bavda. Very common about Savant Vadi in the cold weather. It is also common about Mahableshwar on the north-east of Ratnagiri. It appears, like many other forest-loving birds, to stick to the Ghat range throughout the northern and barer parts of Ratnagiri, and to approach the Coast only in the south through the well-wooded jungles of Savant Vadi. 62 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 354.— Geocichla cyanotis, Jard and Selb. Bankot. Dapuli. Dévrukh. Anjanvel. Khed. Pévé. Savant Vadi. Guhagar. Malvan. Common in gardens and scrub jungle throughout the tract. Breeds during the rainy months. The nests, which I have not taken myself, have been described to me by Mr. A. Jardine of Dapuli, who has collected a large number of these Thrushes’ eggs, as follows: —‘ The nest is made of roots, twigs, and grass, with a good deal of mud. The egg cavity is about five and half inches in diameter, and from two to three inches deep. The nest is generally placed in the fork of a tree low down. The highest I ever saw was about fifteen feet from the ground in a kinjal tree, but they are mostly found in mango trees. When the Thrushes have young, they will not let anyone go near the nest, but come flying at you, and peck like fun.”’ The eggs vary greatly in colour and markings, presenting two or three very distinct types. 399.—Geocichla citrina, Lath. Amongst a lot of skins from Ratnagiri and Burmah, which Dr. J. Armstrong kindly gave me, I found a single specimen of G. citrina. It was not ticketed, but the sex and date were endorsed on the paper cone in which it was wrapped. From the date (5th January 1878) the specimen must have been got somewhere in the Ratnagiri district, where Dr. Armstrong was then working, unless by accident the cover has been changed. As G. citrina occurs at Amherst, whence several of the birds in the same box had been collected, I at first thought it possible that some mistake had been made. A few days afterwards, however, I met Dr. Armstrong, and he assured me that he had got both G. cyanotis and G. citrina, while in the Ratnagiri district, though he could not remember the exact localities, and further that he had never got a single specimen of citrina at Amherst. There can, therefore, be no doubt as to the occurrence of this species in the South Konkan. It must, however, be very rare. I have never seen it myself, nor does Mr. Fairbank appear to have got it anywhere on the western Ghat range from Khandalla to Goa, nor is it entered in Messrs. Davidson and Wenden’s list. On the other hand, its occurrence — Konkan is noted in a list* compiled by Major J. H. loyd. * Natural History of the Konkan, Printed at the Government Central Press, Bombay, 1876, + FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 63 359.—Merula nigropilea, La/r, Kelshi. Mandangad. Dévrukh. Pévé Dapuli. Bavda. Ratnagiri. Khed. Phonda. Malvan Fanasgaon. Savant VAdi. Common everywhere in groves and gardens, both on the Coast and inland. 355.—Pyctoris sinensis, Gm. Kelshi. Palgad. Dévrukh. Malvan. Fanasgaon. Mirshi. Kesarde. Common here and there in hill side bush jungle in small parties. . 389.—Alcippe poiocephala, Jerd. Malvan. Dhamapur. Savant Vadi. I have not seen this species north of Rajapur. But as it is common, according to Dr. Fairbank, at Mahableshwar, it is probable that it occurs throughout on the western slopes and bases of the Ghats, and does not approach the Coast except through Savant Vadi. 398.—Dumetia albogularis, Bly. Guhégar. | Rajapur. © | Scarce throughout the tract. Its distribution is probably similar to that of Alcippe poiocephala. Ihave found it plenti- ful at Mahableshwar, but did not see a single specimen in Savant Vadi. 399.— Pellorneum ruficeps, Sws. Kelshi. Mandangad. Savant Vadi. Met with in small parties here and there, like D. albogularis, but is scarce and very locally distributed, away from the Ghat range. 404.—Pomatorhinus horsfieldi, Sykes. Malvan. | | Durga Vadi. Réjapur. | Vengorla. 27th December 1878, Male.—Length, 9; wing, 32; tail, 4; tarsus, 1; bill at front, 12. Common at: Mahableshwar and along the Ghat ranges. I have not found it near the coast in the north of the district ; i 64 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. but like many other species it makes its appearance on the sea board through the jungles of Savant Vadi. 435.—Malacocercus somervillii, Sykes. Bankot. Dapuli. Mirshi. Guhdgar. Khed. Manbat. Ratnagiri. Rajapur. Vaghotan. Savant Vadi. 3rd February 1879, Two Males.—Length, 10; wing, 4 and 4. Trides yellowish white. Abundant. As far as I have yet observed remains typical from north to south. Breeds in the rainy months. 446.—Hypsipetes ganeesa. | Savant Vadi. | Dévrukh. Rare. Not found away from the Ghat range except at Savant Vadi. 450.—Criniger ictericus, Strick. | Savant Vadi. | B&yda. Scarce, though associating in moderate sized flocks. Distri- bution similar to Hypsipetes ganeesa. 452.—Ixus luteolus, Less. Vijaydurg. Malvan. Vengorla. This species is so rare in this district that I cannot ascertain its precise distribution. As yet our only specimens have been obtained on the Coast to the south of the tract, and I have also found some near the sea at Goa. It appears to avoid the Ghat range, as Mr. Fairbank, although he found it near the Gatprabha river, in the Belgaum district, did not come across it on the hills of the Goa frontier (S. F’., IV., 258). 460 bis.—Otocompsa fuscicaudata, Gould. Kelshi. Savant Vadi. Ratnagiri. Very common throughout in bush jungle, gardens and groves. 462.—Molpastes hemorrhous, Gm. Kelshi. | Ratnagiri. - | Abundant everywhere. Breeds in April and again in September. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 65 463.—Phyllornis jerdoni, Blyth. Kelshi. Mahapral. Mirshi. Pévé. Fanasgnon. Kesurde. Ratnagiri. Savant Vadi. Common and generally distributed from Coast to Ghats. 468.—Iora tiphia, Lin. Kelshi. Palgad. Guhagar.’ Khed. Ratnagiri. Vandri. Lanje. Both forms, tiphia and zeylonica, are common throughout the tract. Breeds in March and April. 469.—Irena puella, Lath. | Savant Vadi. | ; Very rare. A single specimen was obtained by Mr. Crawford’s shikaree at Savant Vadi. 470.—Oriolus kundoo, Sykes. Ratnagiri. Mandangad. Dévrukh. Khed. Savant Vadi. Found sparingly. Not so common as O. melanocephalus. East of the Ghat range, in Sattara, kundoo is the common species, while melanocephalus is very rarely seen. 471.—Oriolus indicus, Jerd. | | Dévrukh. Very rare. Single specimen obtained. Dr. Fairbank has also recorded it from Savant Vadi. 472.—Oriolus melanocephalus, Len. Kelshi. Mandangad. Dévrukh. Ratnagiri. Khed. Malvan. Savant Vadi. Very common everywhere, from the Coast to the summit of the Ghats. It is gradually replaced east of the Ghat range by QO. kundoo. This is evidently the species which Mr. Fair- bank (S. F., IV., 259) calls ceylonensis,* and states to be found in the Konkan and on the western declivities of the Sabyadri from Khandala to Goa. * The name CRYLONENSIS was applied to the southern form, but the name melano- cephalus was also originally applied to this, though later usually restricted to the northern one. But asa matter of fact, as anyone may prove who takes the trouble to examine a really large series from all parts of the empire, the two forms are not spe- cifically separable, and Capt, Legge’s proposed name for the northern form must be suppressed.—Ep., S, F. 9 66 ‘FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 475.—Copsychus saularis, Zn. Kelshi. Dapuli. Ratnagiri. Khed. Very common throughout. Breeds in May and June. One nest I found with four eggs in the hole of a tree was lined profusely with the dry leaves of the Casuarina tree. 476.—Cercotrichas macrura, G7. Rajapur. Savant Vadi. Pa Rare. Seen also at Devrukh under the Ghits. Not found near the Coast, but I have seen so few that I cannot determine its exact distribution within the district. 479.—Thamnobia fulicata, Lin. Bankot. Khed. Kelshi. Pévé. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Common everywhere on the bare and rocky hill sides and about villages. Breeds in March and April, in crevices between the boulders, or rocky hill sides. 481.—Pratincola capratus, Lin. Pévé. Khed. Savant Vadi. Very common inland, and under the Ghats in serub-clad hill sides. Less common on the Coast. Breeds in April. 483.—Pratincola indicus, Bly. Ratnagiri. Palgad. Dapuli. Khed. .- Fanasgaon. Common in the cold weather in open country. 497.—Ruticilla rufiventris, Viedd0. Palgad Chiplun. lL A cold weather visitant, and decidedly rare in the Sout Konkan. 507.—Larvivora superciliaris, Jerd. | | Gotne. A single specimen obtained in the Ghat jungles by Mr. Crawford’s shikaree. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN,. 67 514.—Cyanecula suecica, Lin. | Palgad. ; | Only seen on one occasion on the banks of a grassy nullah, 515.—Acrocephalus stentorius, Hemp. and Ehr. Malvan. Khed. Vengorla. | | Rare. 516.—Acrocephalus dumetorum, Bly. Kelshi. Chiplun. Pévé. Savant V4di. | Guhagar. Ratnagiri. ‘ Common in the cold weather in trees and hedges. 530.—Orthotomus sutorius, Penn. Bankot. Khed. Pévé. Ratnagiri. Common in gardens and hedgerows. 16th March 1878, Female—tLength, 44; wing, 13; tail, 12; tarsus, ?; bill at front, 4. Irides reddish yellow. 534.—Prinia socialis, Sykes. Pévé, | bi bit Rare. I have only found it in the locality mentioned, amongst some thorny bushes in a mangrove swamp. 538.—Prinia hodgsoni, Bly. =p: « «<= Hei pagtt. Mandangad. Dévrukh, Pévé. Palgad. _ Common in mangrove swamps, reeds, hedgerows, thickets, and bush jungle throughout the district. Breeds during the rainy months. 539.—Cisticola cursitans, Frank. | Khed. | Found sparingly in open grass: country in the cold weather. | 543.—Drymeeca inornata, Sykes. Kelshi. Palgad. Pévé. _ Common throughout the tract. 68 FIRST LIsT OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 544 bis.—Drymeeca rufescens, Hume. Bankot. | Palgad. _Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Found here and there in bush and serub jungle, but not so common as D, inornata. One specimen (unsexed) measured :— Bene 635 wing, 23; tarsus, 2; tail, 34. Irides brownish yellow. 546.—Drymeeca neglecta, Jerd. | Khed. ] A single specimen obtained in January in long grass on the banks of a nullah measured (unsexed ) :-— Length, 6; wing, 24; tail, 22; tarsus, 3. Legs fleshy pinkish in front, yellowish behind; bill horny above, fleshy below; irides yellowish brown. 553 bis.—Hypolais caligata, Lichst. | Khed. | A single specimen only procured in long reeds close to a hot spring. \ 559.—Phylloscopus nitidus, Bly. Ratnagiri. | | Common at Ratnagiri, where several specimens in bright plumage were got in October. . 560.—Phylloscopus viridanus, Bly. Pévé. Khed. | Dhamapur. Appears to be equally common as nitidus. But I have shot very few specimens, and did not at first discriminate the two species. 563.—Reguloides occipitalis, Jerd. Ratnagiri. | | Dévrukh. Not common as far as my present limited observation of the species goes. 589.—Motacilla maderaspatensis, Gm. Kelshi. . | Ratnagiri. : Not very common; more often seen on the Coast than inland. og FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 69 591 bis.—Motacilla dukhunensis, sie Malvan. | Khed. Common inland in the cold weather ; a: common near the Coast. 592.—Calobates melanope, Pall. Bankot. | Ratnagiri. Occurs near the Coast in the cold weather, but is not very common. 593.—Budytes cinereocapilla, Sav. Kelshi. 1 | This, or an allied form, is common in rice fields throughout the tract in the cold weather. But the only specimen I preserved was rather doubtfully accepted by Mr. Hume as cinereocapilla, 595.—Limonidromus indicus, Gm. Vengorla. | Rajapur. | Q1st February 1880, Male.—Lencgth, 63 5 3 wing, 3°55 tail, 28 ; tarsus, ? ; bill at front, 3. Rare. 597.—Anthus trivialis, Zin. Khed. Dhamapur. Common in groves and gardens. If maculatus occurs I | have hitherto overlooked it. 600.—Corydalla rufula, Vievll. Pévé. | . Mahapral. | Common in rice fields and grassy plains. 631.—Zosterops palpebrosa, Tem. Khed. Savant Vadi. : Seen occasionally in thick groves and forests in small parties» but is decidedly scarce. 648.—Machlolophus anlonothe: Bly. Guhagar. Mahapral. Ratnagiri, Khed. Savant Vadi. Not uncommon in’ well-wooded parts, either on the Coast or inland, Always found in small flocks. I was astonished on 70 «FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKANy one occasion to see one of these sprightly little tits catch and dispose of a huge hairy caterpillar, tearing it up piecemeal. 660.—Corvus macrorhynchus, Wagl. Guhagar. Dapuli. Khed. Oppressively common. Divides the land with splendens. Breeds from March to May. 663.—Corvus splendens, Vzevll. Guhagar. Mahapral. Pévé. Dapuli. Aroli. Sangameshvar. More numerous on the whole than macrorhynchus, though in some villages the latter has a monopoly. Has two broods, the first in March and April and the second in November and December. 674.—Dendrocitta rufa, Scop. Kelshi. Palgad. Pévé. Dapuli. - Ratnagiri. Common about all well-wooded villages from Coast to Ghats. Breeds in April. 684.—Acridotheres tristis, Lin. Palgad. Dapuli. Rajapur. » Plentiful in certain places, but not nearly so common or so widely distributed as fuscus. 7th February 1879, Female.—Length, 10; wing, 52; bill at front, 2. Irides brown, with white spots. 686.—Acridotheres fuscus, Wagl. Bankot. Dapuli. Kelshi. Anjanvel. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. ’ Exceedingly common. Breeds in May. The irides of all I have seen were pale slate blue. A male measured :— Length, 93; wing, 5; tail, 3. 687.—Sturnia pagodarum, Gm. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Malvan. Scarce. ‘FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. i 16th March 1879, Female.—Length, 8; wing, 44; tail, 235 tarsus, 1. Irides pale yellow ; bill blue at base, yellow at tip ; legs yellow; orbital skin bluish white. 688.—Sturnia malabarica, Gm. Kelshi. Savant Vadi. Pévé. Ratnagiri. Common at times in certain localities, but capriciously distributed. The head is always grey, and never white as in blythi.* 690.—Pastor roseus, Lin. Bankot. ~ Palgad. Dévrukh. Kelshi. Dapuli. Common, though not seen in such immense flocks as in the Deccan. Always to be seen on silk cotton trees when in blos- som, picking insects out of the flowers. 694.—Ploceus philippinus, Lin. Ratnagiri. | Mahapral. | Very common, especially néar the Coast. Roosts in large flocks in the stunted bushes growing in the tidal swamps. Breeds about August and September. On the Coast the nests are usually found on cocoanut trees. While inland the bér (Zizyphus jujuba), the khair (Acacia catechu), and bamboos are favourite sites. Moults in October. 697.—Amadina malacca, Lin. Ratnagiri. | | I found a small party of black-headed Munias at Ratnagiri At aeaegeg in a mangrove swamp. I have not seen them else- -where. [698.—Amadina rubronigra, Hodgs, Two specimens of this species, collected by Dr. Armstrong in the Ratnagiri district, were contained in the last batch of skins sent for identification. A. O. H.] . 699.—Amadina punctulata, Ln. Palgad. Khed. | Common inland. I have not observed it near the Coast. * Althougn I expressed a disbelief in the validity of this species (S. F., VI., 391), Capt. Butler assures me that Iam wrong, and has promised to procure me specimens z the oe S. blythi, which, from his description, I have apparently never seenm— p, 5. F. 72 ¥IRsT LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 701.—Amadina striata, Lin. Kelshi. Dapuli. Ratnagiri. Dhamapur. Common everywhere in gardens and jungles. Ihave found numbers of old nests used as roosting places, but have never succeeded in getting any eggs. 703.—Amadina malabarica, Lin. | Palgad. | Scarce. I found a nest on the 20th January 1879 in hill side jungle in a bér (Zizyphus jujuba) tree. The nest, a round globe, was made externally of very dirty coarse grass, with a very small opening at the top on one side. The nest inside was also shabby, but the lining was of finer grass, and for ornament there were a few Green Paroquets’ feathers. Two old birds were sitting on four eggs. I got one bird, and while I was waiting for the other to return a lizard got into the nest, and within five minutes succeeded in destroying three of the eggs, breaking two and making away with a third. 706.—Passer domesticus, Linn. Bankot. Ratnagiri. Comparatively scarce, though found in most of the larger towns and villages. A considerable. colony inhabits the old island fort of Suvamdurg, breeding in holes in the walls far away from the haunts of man. 711.—Gymnoris flavicollis, Frankl. Palgad. Rajapur. Khed. Seen in small flocks in the cold weather, but not common. I don’t think it is a permanent resident. 721.—Euspiza melanocephala, Scop. | Khed. | Ratnagiri. A rare and uncertain cold-weather visitant. 738.—Carpodacus erythrinus, Pall. | Chiplun. | A pair were obtained at Chiplun in the cold weather. I have not seen it elsewhere in the district. . 758.—Ammomanes pheenicura, /rankl. Pévé. | Dapuli. | ee ee a a a ee FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 73 Very uncommon. I have only found it at the places specified. +760.—Pyrrhulauda grisea, Scop. Ratnagiri. Dapuli. Guhagar. Pévé. Very common in the more open country, in fields and rocky table lands. Breeds in October, November, and again in April. The nests are tiny cups of grass, lined with tow and shreds of wool, probably pilfered from the blankets of the cowherds. I have never found more than two eggs in a nest. This species is very abundant on the rocky laterite plateau on the summit of the cliff at Ratnagiri. Here it builds its nest on the bare surface of the sheet rock. The nests are not hollowed out, but are built in all round with a little wall or embankment of loose gravel and detritus. There is no attempt at concealment, but as asort of landmark, and perhaps with an idea that it gives protection, a small stone, from four to six inches high, is invariably found at the side of the nest. In fields, and wherever the soil admits of being dug up, a small hollow is scooped out, or else a natural hollow, such as a hoof mark, is chosen, but in these situations also I have always observed the small protecting stone. 765 bis.—Spizalauda malabarica, Scop. Kelshi. | Palgad. | Ratnagiri. Abundant in the fields and uplands. Sings loudly on the wing as well as when on the ground. October is the month in which the majority breed, but I have also taken eggs in November, and young birds in January. Possibly it has two broods. Three is the maximum number of eggs laid. The nests are moderate sized cups made of grass throughout, coarse exteriorly and finer inside. They are sometimes placed like those of P. grisea on the bare rock and sometimes under cover of grass or standing crops. 767.*—Alauda gulgula, ? . This species was obtained by Dr. Armstrong somewhere to the south of Ratnagiri, and he shewed me several specimens. I have not met with it myself. 773.—Crocopus chlorigaster, Bly. Kelshi. | | Common throughout wherever there are large groves of trees in secluded situations. Feeds on pipal and banyan berries, and the fruit of the Zizyphus jujuba. 10 74 | FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 775.—Osmotreron malabarica, Jerd. | Savant Vadi. ff Rare. In days gone by I have shot them also near -Chiplun, but did not preserve any specimens. I have not found them near the coast. --786.—Palumbus elphinstonii, Sykes. | | Durga Vadi. © A single specimen procured. Is not, I believe, uncommon in,the Ghat forests throughout the range. 788.—Columba intermedia, Strick. Vengorla Rocks. | Chiplun. | Not at all common, the ordinary Konkan fare of coarse hill grains being too meagre for its voracious appetite. A large colony inhabits one of the Burnt Islands or Vengorla rocks, and a few are found about the island fort of Suvamdurg, and about the large inland towns, living m the temples. Here and there, along the Ghat range, a few are also found about the rocky scarps. There is a story, which I give for what it is worth, that the Vengorla rock Pigeons lay up during the fair season a regular granary for monsoon consumption. The very strong south- westerly winds, which prevail from June to September, make it very difficult for the Pigeons to return to the rocks after a trip to the mainland for food. It is said also that every year, at the end of. May, the native boatmen plunder the Pigeons’ godowns and carry off several maunds of grain. But I have never yet been able to verify the story. 793.—Turtur meena, Sykes. | | Gotne. This species is common at Mahableshwar in the cold weather, and I presume extends throughout the range. It can, however, scarcely be called a Konkan species, as it does not appear to descend the western slopes. Our only specimen was got at Gotne, the only piece of land in the Ratnagiri district which lies east of the Sahyadri watershed. 794.—Turtur senegalensis, Linn. | Savant Vadi. | Gotne. '. Very rarely found below the Ghats, though very common in the Deccan, Has only been obtained as yet at the places specified. ee ee ee ea FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 17) 795.—Turtur suratensis, Gm. Bankot. . Khed. Pévé. Ratnagiri. The common Dove of the district, abundant everywhere from Coast to Ghats. Nests with eges taken in October, January and April. 796.*—Turtur risorius, Lin. Lo | | Phonda. ' Very large flocks of the ashy Ring Dove visited the district in the cold weather of 1877-78, the year succeeding the Deccan famine. Dr. Armstrong got some specimens in that year from the Phonda Ghat, but unfortunately I did not preserve any. Their occurrence was, I now think, unusual, as I have not seen one in the two succeeding seasons although I have kept a sharp look-out for them. The dry plains in the central belt in the northern portion of Ratnagiri, in the neighbourhood of Dapuli, were covered, with them in 1877-78, in December and January, and I fancy they must have been driven down to the Konkan in search of food, after the previous year’s drought above the Ghats. 797.—Turtur tranquebaricus, Herm. | Khed. | Very rare. I have only seen one pair in the cold weather of 1877-78 at the locality given. . 798.—Chalcophaps indica, Zin. Pachéri. | | Rare. I have not seen the species alive, and owe the only two specimens I have to the kindness of a friend. They were shot about six miles from the Coast near the north bank of the Shastri river. 803.—Pavo cristatus, Liz. * Kelshi. | pe Lhave nothing to add to the note at page 89 of Vol. I of the Game Brrps oF InpIA, which is as follows :—“ In the Rat- nagiri district Pea-fowl are found here and there in suitable localities. Near the Coast they affect the steep slopes that overhang the large tidal creeks, if well clad with trees and bushy undergrowth. Going up these rivers in a boat Pea- Fowl may often be seen and heard about sunset, as they come down to the river banks to feed before roosting. Inland they resort to large temple forests, with luxuriant undergrowth, 76 FIRST LiST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. hillside jungles, and well-wooded ravines. They are also found sparingly in the Sahyadri forests, both on the summit and the western and eastern slopes. “Tn no part of Ratnagiri are Pea-Fowl kept in a state of semi-domesticity as they are in other parts of India, ana they are consequently wild and shy wherever found.” * * * “In the jungles and forests Pea-Fowl eat various fruits and berries, such as the wild fig (Covillio glomerata) and the korinda ( Carissa carandas).”’ Pea-Fow! are also plentiful in Sévant Vadi, where their plumes are largely used in decorating hand-screens and mats, made of the roots of the kaskas grass. The feathers are collected in the jungles by the villagers and find a ready sale in the market. 813.—Gallus sonnerati, Tem. | Savant Vadi. | Common in the forests on the top of the Sahyadri, but scarce on the western slopes, which alone are included within Ratnagiri and Savant Vadi limits. Very rarely strays towards the Coast, but is sometimes found on high hills between the Ghats and the Coast, and detached from the main range by deep valleys. 814.—Galloperdix spadiceus, Gm. Kelshi. Dhamapur. | Savant Vadi. Common on the western slopes of the Ghats; and found sparingly in thick hillside jungle and temple groves through- out the tract. 829.—Coturnix communis, Bonn. | Khed. | Scarce and very uncertain in its arrival, A very few may be flushed in the cold weather in the fields of Pigeon Pea and Dolichos on the alluvial banks of the large rivers, and a few in grassy uplands; but a large bag can never be made. Coturnix coromandelica, Gm. Kelshi. |. Lavel. | Rain Quail are also very scarce indeed. Now and then a few brace are bagged in the cold weather in crops and grass, but it is seldom worthswhile beating for them on specula- tion. Ihave never seen or heard any during the rains, but my observations at this time of the year have always been limited FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 77 to the Ratnagiri station and its immediate neighbourhood, and I am unable to say whether they are permanent residents or not. 826.—Perdicula asiatica, Lath, . Bankot. Mandangad. Durga Vadi. Kelshi. Palgad. Guhagar. Vaghotan. Malvan. Very common in hillside scrub throughout the district ; appears to replace P. argoondah entirely. Comes down from the hill sides to drink and feed in the stubbles on the banks of streams at sunset. I found a nest with two fresh eggs on the 17th January 1879. The eggs were much pointed at one end. These are of a pale cafe au lait tint. Dwarf Partridges roost, huddled together in the open, but generally close to some bush. Natives, after marking them down for the night, return after dark with a lantern, and by throwing a net over the place frequently secure a whole covey. [These Ratnagiri specimens are most richly and deeply tint- ed, presenting a striking contrast to those procured in the dry regions of the N. W. Provinces.—A. O. H.]. erage 832.—Turnix taigoor, Sykes. ' Guhagar. Palgad. | Malvan. Khed. Not very common, but is occasionally flushed in crops and thin hillside scrub. 835.—Turnix dussumieri, Tem. | Khed. ot Searce. Probably only a cold-weather visitant. 839.—Sypheotides aurita, Lath. Lavel. Chiplun. | Florikin rarely pass the Ghat barrier which divides the Konkan from the Deccan. In seven seasons spent in the Ratnagiri district I have only seen two birds at the places indicated. One was flushed while beating for Quail out of a crop of pulse, and the other in long rank grass. I have also heard of one having been obtained at Dapuli. 840.—Cursorius coromandelicus, Gm. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Scarce. Restricted, as far as my observation goes, to the bare laterite plateaus which stretch for about ten or twelve miles inland from the Coast, 48 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 842 bis.—Glareola pratincola, Lin ‘Ratnagiri. | oe 22nd August 1879, Male.—Wing, 84; tails, 5, forked for upwards of an inch; bill at gape nearly 1; tarsus, 1}. The occurrence of these Swallow Plovers at Ratnagiri is, I think, exceptional. The only occasion on which I have seen them was on the date above given, when I secured one out of a pair, which were hawking about on the bare table-land above the Ratnagiri station. [ This specimen was sent as G. orientalis, but it is unmistak- ably G. pratincola, with the deeply-forked tail and the white shaft to the first primary. This is quite a young bird, but the fork is already over 1°75. This species breeds in Lower Sindh, whence I have numer- | ous specimens, kindly collected for me with the eggs by Mr. Doig, and this specimen may be a straggler thence, or may have been blown over from Africa. This is the first time that G. pratincola has been observed within our limits outside of Sindh. There is some difficulty in distinguishing specimens of Glareola wpratincola, with imperfectly developed tails, from those of G. orientalis. ; In Volume II, page 284, the difference between the two species was said to consist in— ) (1), the greater degree to which the tail is forked, the exte- rior tail feathers in pratincola projecting from 2:0. to 2°5 in- ches beyond the central ones, while in orientalis they scarcely project an inch; (2), in the conspicuous white tippings to the short secondaries in pratincola, which is wanting in orien- talis; (3), in the wing in pratincola being longer. than in orientalis. Now where the tail is fully developed the first is an in- fallible diagnosis; the second, broadly speaking, holds good, but I have now come across specimens of pratincola in. which the white tipping is very inconspicuous, and others of orientalis in which there is a trace of this. As for the third it may hold good on an average of specimens, and the wings in pratincola run up to fully 8 inches, while I do not think that in orientalis they ever exceed %°60 inches, and they are generally considerably smaller, but I have several pratincola in which the wing is under 7°50 inches, so that as a diagnosis the length of the wing is useless. The following additional differences wil] aid in distinguish- — ing the two species; (a) the shaft of the first primary in orientalis is brownish white, in some lights almost quite brown, while in pratincola it is nearly pure white, probably quite a. a a a FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 79 ‘pure in fresh specimens; (0). the black throat band (in adults) is distinctly broader and more strongly marked in orientalis ; (c) there is more black (again in adults of course), in front -of and under the eye in orientalis; (d) there is a more pro- nounced rufous tinge on the breast and upper abdomen of adults of orientalis; (e) the upper plumage is of a slightly darker shade, and there is generally a more marked: rufous tinge on the back of the neck of orientalis; (f) the red of the gape, which is present in adults of. both species, extends ‘more on to the lower surface of the lower mandible in pratin- -cola than in orientalis. Bearing in mind all these points there ought to be no difficulty in separating specimens of the two species, even ‘where the tails are imperfect.—A. O. H.] 844.—Squatarola helvetica, Zin. " Malvan. | , 23rd January 1880, Male.—Length, 114; wing, 73; tail, 33; tarsus, 12; bill, 14. Irides brown; bill black, pale horny ‘at base. ; I have‘only seen Grey Plover hitherto at the locality named. 845.—Charadrius fulvus, Gm. Bankot. . Kelshi. Ratnagiri. ; - Common in the cold weather on the mud and sedge banks of the tidal creeks and wet paddy fields. At high tide, when the mud flats are covered, these Plovers congregate in largish flocks, and after circling round a few times often fly inland to the dry plains and uplands where they pass their time till the receding tide again leaves their feeding grounds accessible. They arrive early and leave late as compared with other migrants, and at one time I thought it possible that a few stayed to breed on the laterite plateau above the Ratnagiri station., On the 16th April one year [ saw Golden Plover there in almost full breeding plumage, and on the 2nd September following shot yourg birds apparently too weak to have come along journey. But I have since ascertained, beyond reason- able doubt, that no Plover do remain during the rains at Ratnagiri. [845 quat.—Aigialitis asiatica, Pall. — Amongst. the specimens forwarded to me for verification by Mr. Vidal was one identified by him as Agialitis geofroyi, shot at Ratnagiri on the 10th of October 1879. The slender 80 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. bill and the very broad, unbroken, whitey-brown breast-band at once attracted my attention and closer examination, and a comparison with specimens sent me by Mr. Harting proved that this bird was really a young individual of Mgialits asiatica. This is the first authentic instance of the occurrence of this species within our limits. The nearly allied vereda has been once procured at the Andamans (vide 8. F., I., 83) ; but, so far as I know, there is no reliable record of the present species having been previously obtained in the British Asian empire. It will be found fully described in 8. F., VII., 438. Dresser says : “ This species inhabits Western Asia, stragalinge rarely into the Western Palearctic region; and in the winter season is found in Africa as far south as the Cape of Good Hope” and Harting says, after mentioning that it was first discovered by Pallas about the Salt Lakes in the southern deserts of Tartary: “Its usual line of migration appears to be by the Red Sea shore and Abyssinia to South and South-West Africa.” And as Severtzoff found it breeding throughout Russian Turkestan, and it has been met with on the Caspian, in Palestine, on the north coast of Egypt and the Gulf of Suez, we might believe that this, the western form, migrated from Siberia to the Cape of Good Hope just as the larger eastern form, 4. vereda, migrates from Northern China to Australia. In the case of both species stragglers would be dropped here and there along the route, and individuals wander right and left of the route, a stray asiatica turning up at Heligoland and a stray vereda at the Andamans. But it would seem from what Heuglin says about meeting with this species in full breeding plumage in April and May, and the young in autumn in the swamps of East Kordovan, on the lower portions of the White and on the Blue Nile, in the beds of the rain torrents of the province of Kalabat and along the shores of Lake Tana in Abyssinia, that it breeds in Africa also, the mere so that he adds that it has been observed in June by others. The migration of this species is, therefore, by no means so clear and distinct as has been thought, and at present we can be by no means sure whether this Ratnagiri bird is an African-bred one blown over from the Red Sea, or a Siberian or Turkestan- bred one, which in its migration to the south-west has taken a easterly course. The present specimen is a young one, the whole plumage of = upper surface narrowly fringed with pale buff or reddish white. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 81 The dimensions of the séiz are as follow :— Length, 8:4; wing, 5°5; tail (from insertion of feathers), 2°2 ; bill at front (from margin of feathers), 0°87; bare portion of tibia, 0°75; tarsus, 1:42. The tarsus is short. Ina very similar but somewhat older bird, killed on the 4th January at Ofjimbuigne, Damara land, it is 1°5 full, and in an adult 1°6 nearly. I say nothing further here as to the diagnosis of this species, because there are now nine species of Mgialitis known certainly to occur within our limits, and I propose to give separately a rough key by which these species may be readily distinguished in the plumage in which we usually meet with them.—A. O. H.] $46.—Agialitis geoffroyi, Wagl. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. | 16th March 1879, Female.—Length, 8}; wing, 53; tarsus, 13; bill, 1. “Rare. The only specimens I obtained were amongst mixed flocks of mongola and cantiana. 847.—Aigialitis mongola, Padi. Guhagar. Ratnagiri, | Malvan. 6th March 1879, Female.—Length, 73 ; wing, 5; tarsus, 12; bill, ? at front. Legs plumbeous; feet and toes darker; bill, orbits, and irides black. Very common in the cold weather on the Coast and on the banks of the tidal creeks. 848.—Aicialitis cantiana, Lath. Guhagar. | | 6th March 1879, Female.—Length, 62; wing, 44; tarsus, 1. Legs light plumbeous ; feet darker ; bill black, yellow at base ; orbits black; irides brown. 4éh March 1879, Male.—Length, 64; wing, 44; tarsus, 14, Not so common as mongola. 849.—Migialitis dubia, Scop. Guhagar. Mahapral. Dévrukh. Vengorla, | 5th March 1879, Female.—Length, 7 ; wing, 43; tarsus, 1. Legs yellow; bill black, yellow at base; orbits yellow ; irides dark brown. Generally distributed from Coast to Ghats, though scarce inland. 1 have frequently seen these Plovers in pairs towards ll $2 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. the end of April and May, and although I have not found their nests believe them to be permanent residents. $52.—Chettusia gregaria, Pall. Ratnagiri. | | A young male, wanting the black on the breast. One of a party of three was shot on the table land above the Ratnagiri station, on the 31st October 1878, by Mr. Crawford’s shikaree. I have not seen it elsewhere in the district. 855.—Lobivanellus indicus, Bodd. Bankot. Khed. Pévé. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Abundant everywhere, usually in pairs, but sometimes in large flocks. Breeds in bare stubbles on the banks of the rivers in March and April. 856.—Lobipluvia malabarica, Bodd. Kelshi. , Fanasgaon. Ratnagiri. Scarce. A pair is now and then seen on the dry laterite table lands near the Coast, and on the plains of the central tracts, but one may travel many miles without seeing the species. 859.—Gidicnemus scolopax, S. G. Gm. Ratnagiri. | Dhamapur. | Rare. For many years I had never once seen or heard of this species in the district, and should have been prepared to assert confidently that it did not occur. But in bird collecting unexpected discoveries are always being made. Last year Mr. Crawford’s shikaree shot a single bird, the only one he saw, on the rocky table land above the Ratnagiri station, at the latter end of the monsoon. This year 1 came across three or four pairs on a bare rocky plateau on the outskirts of a dense jungle which flanks one side of a large tank at Dhamapur, in the south of the district. 860.—Strepsilas interpres, zn. Malvan. | | I have only come across the turnstone as yet on one occa- sion. Out of a small party of four or five my shikaree got a single specimen at Malvan in April 1880. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 83 862.—Hematopus ostralegus, Lin. Kelshi. Ratnagiri. | | Scarce. A few are to be seen in the cold weather at the estuaries of the principal creeks, but they seldom travel more than a mile or so from the Coast, and are very wary and shy. The 2nd October is the earliest date on which I have noticed them. 870.—Gallinago sthenura, Kuhl. Mahapral. | Mandangad. Pintail Snipe come in, in considerable numbers, in October and November. The earliest date on which I have shot them is the 2nd October, and the latest the 16th April. The supply varies very much according to seasons. I am inclined to think that, as a rule, the best times are those succeeding years of lightest rainfall. After an exceptionally heavy rainfall in 1878, the highest indeed on record, both this and the next species were decidedly scarce, as indeed were many other migratory aquatic birds. It may be, as I suggested in a paper in “ Stray Freatuers,”’ Vol VILI., p. 175, that the rainfall having been everywhere proportionally heavy, the birds were arrested in their southerly flight. Or it may be, possibly, that the inundated area being everywhere larger after heavy rains, the birds are more scattered and appear to be in smaller numbers. The result to the sportsman, however, is the same, and only small bags are made. Snipe-shooting in Ratnagiri can seldom be had before the first or second week in November, after the monsoon rice has been harvested. Even then the birds are so scattered and uncertain in their choice of grounds that a great deal of heavy walking is necessary to make a moderate bag. The best grounds are the low-lying kharvat rice fields, on the banks of the tidal creeks, and reclaimed from the salt water by earthen embank- ments. But in shooting over such grounds it is well, if possible, to choose your time so as to have two or three hours of the highest tide; for all round the paddy fields are acres and acres of mud swamps with stunted thorny bushes, in which many of the birds lie at low tide until they are driven up to the fields by the flood. These mud swamps, intersected by numerous deep channels and full of pit-falls and sticky black slush, are too nasty walking to tempt even the most enthusiastic sports- man. Bntas the Snipes themselves are driven from these pestilent strongholds by the tide there is happily no necessity to venture into them. ‘he best Snipe-shooting is to be had near the Coast in the vicinity of the large rivers. But inland 84 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. there are many snug little grounds formed by terraced rice fields at the foot of the hills, and here and there a low-lying tank, where the monsoon water, rapidly receding, leaves an cozy bed of rushes and sedge, where a few Pintails are always at home. December and January are the best months for Snipe- shooting, as by that time the superfluous rain-water has all evaporated, and the birds are concentrated in all their regular legitimate haunts, whereas earlier in the season the area of wet ground is so large that there is no knowing where to look for them. 871.—Gallinago gallinaria, Gm. Kelshi. 1 | Equally distributed and equally common with sthenura. I have kept no accurate record of the numbers of each species I have shot, but I usually find, after a day’s shooting, about as many common Snipe as Pintails in the bag. Sometimes the Pintails preponderate, probably because they are not so often missed, for although the two species cannot perhaps be discri- minated with certainty on the wing, the Pintail has, I believe, a steadier and less erratic flight. 872.—Gallinago gallinula, Zin. Kelshi. | | One or two are usually flushed in the larger Snipe grounds, but the Jack is not very common. 873.—Rhynchea bengalensis, Lin. Ratnagiri. | Khed. | Common here and there in patches of reeds and grass in semi-reclaimed rice fields, sometimes flushed in pairs, and sometimes in large wisps of from a dozen to twenty or more birds. 877.—Numenius lineatus, Cuv. Kelshi. Curlew come in September and leave about the end of March. The earliest arrival I have noted is the 31st August. They are found about the estuaries of all the principal creeks, on the mud banks and spits of sand. Occasionally in the early part of the season they are seen a few miles inland, feeding on open grassy plains, where the ground is still damp and soft after the monsoon rains, FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 85 878.—Numenius pheopus, Lin. Ratnagiri. | | Malvan. Equally common with Curlew in the same __ localities, but is, as far as I have been able to observe, much later in arriving. 880.—Machetes pugnax, Lin. Ratnagiri. | | I shot a solitary Ruff in winter plumage on the mud flats at Ratnagiri, on the 22nd September 1879. Ihave not seen the species before or since. He measured as follows :—Length, 121; wing, 72; tarsus, 2 nearly; tail, 23; bill at front, 1§. Irides brown; legs greenish. 882.—Tringa subarquata, Guild. Ratnagiri. | | 30th October 1879, Male.—Length, 8; wing, 5; bill, 14 at front ; tarsus, 1}. Large flocks of Curlew Stints come in to Ratnagiri in October 1879, and I have since seen them in considerable numbers at Malvan ; but strange to say I have never seen any in previous seasons, although they are doubtless regular winter visitants. 884.—Tringa minuta, Leis. Ratnagiri. | | 17th October 1879, Female.—Length, 53; wing, 4; tarsus, 2; bill at front, 2. Like the Curlew Stint, I saw numbers of the Little Stint at Ratnagiri throughout last October, but had never seen it in previous seasons. The earliest date on which I first observed both species was the 22nd October. 888.—Calidris arenaria, Zin. Malvan. | | I shot a Sanderling at Mélvan on a sand bank in January 1879, amongst a large and motley flock of Ayiliatis mongola and cantiana and Tringa subarquata. It was a female mea- suring— Length, 73; wing, 43; tarsus, 1; bill, 1. Bill black; leas dusky grey. This is the only occasion on which I have seen the bird. 86 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 891.—Rhyacophila glareola, Lin. Kelshi. | | . Scarce. Very seldom seen on the banks of the creeks, but more often by the margins of reedy tanks. 892.—Totanus ochropus, Lin. Mahapral. | | Palead. More common than Rhyacophila, but still comparatively scarce. 893.—Tringoides hypoleucus, Lin. Bankot. | | Excessively common in the cold season, and generally distri- buted from Coast to Ghats. 894.—Totanus glottis, Zin. | Mahapral., | Common in some years and scarce in others. Keeps as a rule to tidal waters. 897.—Totanus calidris, Lin. Kelshi. | l Common on some of the larger rivers, but not universally distributed. 7 898.—Himantopus candidus, Bonn. | Dhamapur. | Rare. I shot a pairof Stilts in February 1880, on a large tank at Dhamapur, and have scen a pair at Kelshi at the estuary of the creek. These are the only occasions on which I have noticed the species. 901.—Hydrophasianus chirurgus, Scop. | Chiplun. | 8th December 1878, Female.—Length, 13; wing, 8; tarsus, 21; mid toe and claw, 2; hind toe and claw, 2. Irides yellow. Not common. There area few reedy and deserted tanks scattered about the district in which small parties of these pretty Jacanas are occasionally found in the cold weather and in winter plumage. 903.—Fulica atra, Lin. | Chiplun. | The Bald Coot was very plentiful on the Vashishti river some years ago, and on many of the tanks about Chiplun. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 87 Latterly they have almost entirely deserted their old haunts. For two years not a single Coot was to be seen. This year, 1879-80, which has been a moderately good season for all aquatic birds, 1 found a few pairs again established on the Vashishti. 905.—Gallinula chloropus, Zin. | Chiplun. | I shot a pair of Water Hens in a tank near Chiplun last year. One or two are usually to be seen on any secluded pond over- grown with lilies and sedge. 907.—Erythra phenicura, Penn. Kelshi. Muhapral. Savant Vadi. Common throughout the tract, both in the mangrove swamps that fringe the larger creeks, and in irrigated garden lands. Breeds during the rains. 910.—Porzana bailloni, Viezil. Ratnagiri. {| Chiplun. | Flushed occasionally in Snipe grounds and on the margins of tanks from Ratnagiri northwards. Hitherto I have seen no specimens to the south, but don’t doubt its occurrence there also. 911.*—Porzana fusca. I am rather doubtful as to the propriety of entering this species in a list which, if inaccurate, is worse than useless. One day, however, I saw, while passing in a canoe by a narrow tidal gullet through a mangrove swamp at Ade, a little Red- cheeked Rail, which I felt sure must have been Porzana fusca. As I was at the time intent on following a wily Otter I let it pass. Returning shortly afterwards the little skulker was nowhere to be found, and as usually happens when one par- ticularly wants to verify a doubtful point, I have been unable to find the species again. 913.—Hypotenidia striata, Lin. Pévé. Chiplun. Malvan. | 30th March 1879, Male.—Wing, 42; bill, 12; tail, 14; mid toe and claw, 1#. Irides red; legs greenish; bill dusky above, reddish below. I passed several years in the district before I came across this species. Last year I found a small colony in a mangrove 88 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. swamp on the Vashishti, and this year have shot one in some swampy land near Malvan. Rails are always troublesome birds to find. The large area of mangrove swamps throughout the Coast section should attract and keep a number and variety of Rails, but somehow, if they occur, they manage to keep in wonderfully close hiding. 920.—Dissura episcopa, Bodd. | Mahapral. | Scarce near the Coast, more common inland beyond the limit of the tidal waves, but everywhere uncertain in its occurrence. It is one of many species which the large rivers of the Deccan seem to attract in much greater numbers than do the streams of the sub-ghat littoral. 923.—Ardea cinerea, Lin. { Mahapral. | Common on all the large tidal rivers. 924.—Ardea purpurea, Lin. | Chiplun. | Common on the Vashishti and Savitri rivers, but less often seen than cinerea, as it keeps more closely to the cover of man- grove swamps, and seldom feeds on the open mud banks. 925.—Herodias torra, B.-Ham. Pévé. | Mahapral. | 12th April 1878, Male.—Length, 34; wing, 144; bill from gape, 44; tarsus, 53; mid toe, 33. 25th April 1879, Male.—Length 374; to end of dorsal train, 43; wing, 142; tarsus, 6; bill from gape, 47; mid toe and claw, 4. Legs, feet, and claws black ; bill yellow, mixed with dusky ; orbital skin greenish yellow. Common throughout the cold weather on all the creeks, stay- ing till late in May, by which time the dorsal train is in its full development. 927.—Herodias garzetta, Lin. Pévé. | | 30th March 1879, Female.—Wing, 104; tail, 3; tarsus, 3% ; bill at front, 34; expanse, 384. Legs black; feet mixed yellow and black. ; Very common everywhere, and not restricted as ¢orra to the large tidal rivers, but straying far inland to fresh-water streams ee FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 89 and tanks. Comes and goes with éorra. Roosts also in company with all the other Herons in mangrove swamps, side by side with Cormorants, Snake Birds, Ibis and Crows. Garzetta appears to retain its dorsal train and pectoral plumes much longer than any other species. Specimens have been shot late in March with the last year’s train in more or less perfect condition. Torra, on the other hand, by November or December at the latest loses all vestige of its breeding plumage. 928.—Demiegretta gularis. Bankot. | | One or two ashy Eerets usually accompany each mixed flock of Herodias torra and garzetta, but like them are frequently solitary by day. 929.—Bubulcus coromandus, Bodd. | Mahapral. | Abundant in certain places, but not found everywhere. There are of course numbers to be seen in the neighbourhood of all the large creeks. Here and there, also in some inland villages far removed from any large stream, and where one least expects them, a colony of cattle Hgrets is found. Whether these or any other LHgrets stay to breed anywhere in the district I cannot say. At Ratnagiri itself there are plenty of suitable places. Thousands of Herons might build in the tree-clad swamps about the tidal backwaters without fear of molestation. But as far as I have been able to see the first burst of the monsoon makes a clean sweep of Ardea cinerea and purpurea, Herodias torra and garzetta, and Bubulcus coromandus. Upto the end of May there is no apparent diminution in their numbers, and most of the birds are then in fully-developed breeding plumage. But look where you will in the lull which succeeds the first grand storm and you see no Herons. Last year I had specially good oppor- tunities of observing this sudden exodus. Starting on the night of the 22nd May I marched straight into Ratnagiri by the Coast road from Anjanvel, a distance of about fifty miles. On the morning of the 23rd the day broke clear and fine, the sky was blue, and there were no indications of a coming storm. At every little creek I crossed the White Egrets were stalking about in their usual unconcerned way. Suddenly, at ahout 8 a.m., a violent hurricane sprung,up from the north-east, and black rain clouds came racing up from all quarters of the heavens. Rain fell in torrents, at short intervals from then till noon of the following day. The 12 90 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. wind veering gradually round from south-east and south to south-west became a regular cyclone. A more miserable journey, in the teeth of this hurricane, till I was safely landed in my own house at midnight, drenched and limp, I never had. Each small ferry crossing was like the British Channel in a sou-wester. Hundreds of native craft, totally unsuspicious of all danger, were wrecked close to shore. Many more were broken to pieces while anchored in fancied security in the snug little fair-weather ports all down the Coast. Few that were taken aback by this hurricane lived to tell the tale, and for days and weeks the seaboard was strewn with spars and bales, with here and there the corpses of the drowned, and knots of anxious men and women gathered round, fearing to identify a missing comrade or relation. The day after this disastrous storm no Herons or Egrets of any description could I see akout the tidal swamps. There were many wise men and old inhabitants who doubted that this cyclone was the bursting of the true monsoon. But the birds knew better and they proved right. No more Egrets were seen till the fol- lowing September. It is possible that some of the Egrets may stay to breed on the Vashishti_ and Savitri. I can only answer for none being found at Ratnagiri during the rains. I am inclined to think that the rainfall is everywhere too heavy to make the business of nidification a comfortable employment. Sutorides javanica, the only species of the Ardeide, which I know for certain to breed in the district, must, from the dates on which I have found its nests, get the work over before the heavy rains have set in. 930.—Ardeola grayii, Sykes. ‘ | Mahapral. | Very abundant throughout the wet area of the district. Dons its breeding plumage at the end of April. Ihave never found its nest. 931.—Butorides javanica, Hors/- Ratnagiri. Mahapral. Khed. Vaghotan. Common and widely distributed both inland and on the Coast. On the 15th April 1878 I have found a nest in a thorny bush, a few feet from the ground, on the banks of a small creeklet funning into the Savitri river The nest wasa small stick platform, very shallow, with only a slight depression. Two fresh eggs of the usual eau de nil colour were secured. In shape they were almost perfect ovals, measuring about 1°62 x FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 91 1:18. On the 20th April following another nest, with one fresh egg, was found in a similar situation. 933.—Ardetta cinnamomea, Gm. Malvan. | Savant Vadi. | In addition to the localities mentioned I shot a Chestnut Bittern in a Snipe ground near Dapuli, but did not preserve the specimen. I imagine it will be found to be very sparingly distributed in suitable places throughout the district. 937.—Nycticorax griseus, Lin. Malvan, | Dhamapur. i Rare. I did not see the species at all in the northern parts of the district, but may of course have overlooked it. 939.—Platalea leucorodia, Ln. | Chiplun. | Up till this year I believed that this species, as well as Tanta- lus leucocephatus, Anastomus oscitans, Inocotis papillosus, and Falcinellus igneus, all comparatively common on the rivers of the adjoining Sattara district, never descended the Ghats into the Konkan. Last November, however, I was surprised and interested to see for the first time a couple of Spoonbills on the Vashishti. They were in miserable plumage, and were evi- - dently stragglers, who, like Artemus Ward during a trip by steamer, “felt sick and sorry they’d come.” The laws which govern the distribution of species having the same habits, and requiring the same food, do occasionally seem capricious. Why should Ibis melanocephala be comparatively common, while Tantalus leucocephalus was a total stranger ? 941.—Ibis melanocephala, Lath. | Mahapral. | Comes to the Savitri and Vashishti rivers in considerable flocks in the cold weather. Its flesh is thought an especial dainty by both Marathas and Musalmans, although described, says Jerdon, as execrable by a writer in the Bengal Sporting Review. 944.—Pheenicopterus roseus, Pall. Ratnagiri. j | Flamingos occasionally are seen on the mud flats at Ratna- giri. Dr. Armstrong got several specimens in 1877-78, and I got a pair on 31st October 1879. 31st October 1879, Female.—Length, 43; wing, 15; tarsus, 12; bare portion of tibia, 74 ; bill from base to tip round curve, §2 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 51, Trides pale yellow; bill pink, with black tip; edges of both mandibles black ; orbits pale pink ; legs bright pink. 951.—Nettapus coromandelianus, Gm. | Chiplun. | Scarce and usually solitary. I have only seen it at the loca- lity mentioned, but Dr. Armstrong, I believe, got some speci- mens at Ratnagiri. 952*.—Dendrocyena javanica, Horsf. Rare. Several years ago I shot three or four brace out of a moderate sized flock, which I found feeding on some paddy fields on the banks of the Vashishti. Dr. Armstrong has also got specimens from the Ratnagiri district, but I am not aware of the exact locality where he obtained them. 957.*—Spatula clypeata, Lin. I have only seen one flock of Shovellers since I first travelled in the district. I found them on a narrow inland stream, and though I shot several unfortunately did not preserve a single skin. 961.*—Chaulelasmus streperus, Zn. In old days I have shot Gadwall on the Vashishti, and eaten them, but have no skins to bear me witness, and have not seen any during the last two seasons. 962.—Dafila acuta, Liz. | Chiplun. | 19th November 1879, Male.—Leneth, 23; wing, 10}; bill, 21; tarsus, 13; tail, 44. Legs blue; irides brown; bill black, blue at sides. Pintails are to be seen in some years in small parties in the large Duck ground at the junction of the Vashishti and Tagbudi rivers; but they come late and go early. 963.—Mareca penelope, Lin. Ratnagiri. | Chiplun. { Wigeon in some years are very abundant on the Vashishti river, congregating in large flocks of five hundred birds or more; but they are not, like common Teal, widely distributed. In 1878-79, after the highest rainfall on record, not a Wigeon was to be found in the district; but in 1879-80, after a year of moderate rainfall, they reappeared again in their usual strength on the Vashishti. Wigeon arrive comparatively late and usually leave by the end of February. Before the reeds a —— ee ee a a a eat FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 93 on the mud banks have been cut, very pretty shooting is to be had at the junction of the Vashishti and Tagbudi rivers by stealing up the lagoons in a light and silent canoe. But after the reeds are cut the Duck get very wild and cannot be approached by land or water. The only way then is to take up a position in ambush at the edge of some swamp over which they pass and repass on their way from one ground to another, and to have them driven backwards and forwards. 964.*—Querquedula crecca, Lin. Ratnagiri. | Chiplun. | Teal are more widely distributed than Wigeon, but never appear in such large flocks. ‘They come in earlier before the rice crops are cut and stay later than Wigeon. 965.*—Querquedula circia, Zin. Ratnagiri. | | Blue Winged Teal are comparatively scarce. 969.—Fuligula nyroca, Giild. | Vanoshi. | Rare. I shot a single specimen of the White-eyed Duck out of a flock of five or six in a weedy tank near Khed in December 1878. The skin was preserved, but was unfortunately carried off while drying by a wanton Kite. p 971.—Fuligula cristata, Lin, Ratnagiri. | Chiplun. | 21st November, 1879, Male.—Length, 17; wing, 81; bill, 17,3 tarsus, 13; tail, 25; mid toe and claw, 22. Irides golden. 2nd November 1879, Female—Young bird.—Wing, 74; tarsus, 14; bill, 13; mid toe and claw, 24. Irides pale brownish yellow. Before this year I had never seen the Indian Golden Eye in this district. Butin November I shot a solitary specimen at Ratna- giri, and a little later found considerable flocks of them on the Vashishti river, feeding in the inundated paddy fields. It is probable that two or three more species of Duck than are entered in this list occur. But except Wigeon and Common Teal all the Duck are very uncertain in their comings and goings. 975.—Podiceps minor, Gm. Malvan. | Chiplun, ] Common on all large weedy tanks. e 94 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 978 ter.—Larus affinis, Reinh. Ratnagiri. | . | Malvan. Specimens were got by Dr. Armstrong, and I have also got it at Malvan and Ratnagiri. It does not appear to be common. 979.—Larus icthyaetus, Pall. Guhagar. | | I have only seen this Gull as yet on one occasion. A single specimen was obtained out of a party of five or six. 26th March 1879, Male.—Length, 26; wing, 19; expanse, 62; tail, 7; tarsus, 3; bill at front, 24, at gape, 34. Irides brown; bill yellow orange at gape, red at tip, witha dusky spot; legs and feet yellow. 980.—Larus brunneicephalus, Jerd. Bankot. Harnai. Guhagar. Ratnagiri. Malvan. 28th March 1879, Male.—Leneth, 15}; wing, 13; tail, 5; tarsus, 2; bill, 1}. Irides light brown; bill red; tip dusky ; legs and feet dull red. Abundant all down the Coast and at the estuaries of all the creeks. 981.*—Larus ridibundus, Zin. Ratnagiri. | | I have not myself procured any specimens of the Laughing Gull, but have seen it at several places on the Coast amongst the native shipping. Dr. Armstrong has specimens from Ratnagiri. 983.—Sterna anglica, Mont. | Mahapral. | Seen occasionally hawking up the larger rivers, but not plentiful. 987 dis.—Sterna albigena, Licht. Guhagar. | Ratnagiri. | Malvan. Three Males, 25tk March 1819, Guhdgar.—Length, 12} to 14; wing, 9 to 10; tail, 5 to 64; tarsus, ?; bill, 13. Three Females, 25th March 1879, Guhagar.—Length, 11 to 144 ; wing, 8% to 92; tail, 4 to 6; tarsus, 3 to #; bill, 14 to 12. FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN, 95 3rd March 1880, Female.—Length, 133 ; wing, 10; tail, 54. One of the specimens from Ratnagiri, a young male, may, Mr. Hume thinks, have been tibetana of Saunders. I have not recorded its measurements. These Terns appear on the Coast at intervals during the cold season in large flocks, My specimens were got in October and March. Occasionally a few individuals of Sterna media are mixed up with these flocks, and once only I found a saundersi amongst them. Sometimes they arrive in an utterly exhausted condition, too weak to make any attempt at escape when caught, One September, at Harnai, hundreds so arrived and were caught by the fishermen and their boys, and sold in the bazar for food. Many more fell victims to the rapacity of the Sea Eagles at Suvamdurg, as testified by the discovery of numerous skeletons about and below their nest, and for a year and more afterwards the walls of the grand old fort were covered here and there with the remains of these Terns. Similarly at Malvan last February a large flock of distressed Terns arrived while I was there, but being left in peace they recovered their strength in a day or two. They appear to choose an open sandy beach and to return there regularly every evening at sunset, in small parties for a week or so, and then suddenly to vanish altogether. 988 tev.—Sterna saundersi, Hume. Ratnagiri. | | A single Ternlet, which Mr. Hume discriminated as above, was got by my shikaree at Ratnagiri, in October 1879, amongst a flock of albigena. I did not record its measurements. 989.—Sterna bergii, Licht. Vijaydurg. Miavan, | Common about the rocks of Malvan, where it seems to be always present in the cold weather. A pair were got for Mr. Crawford at Vijaydurg. I have not observed it yet at any of the ports north of this locality. 990.—Sterna media, Horsf. Pévé, Vijaydurg. Appears here and there all down the Coast, but not in large flocks like albigena. A few individuals are often seen associ- ated with the latter. 3rd April 1879, Male.— Length, 164; wing, 113; tail, 63; tarsus, 1; bill, 24. Legs black; bill yellow; irides brown; orbits black; wings reach exactly to end of tail. OG) REMARKS ON SOME SPECIES RECENTLY [992.—Sterna anetheta, Scop. I procured numerous dessicated specimens of this species, on the Vengorla Rocks, the majority no doubt young birds, but two or three of them old adults. Itis quite certain that this species breeds on these rocks during the monsoon, and it is clearly entitled to a place in the present list.—A. O. H.] 1007.—Phalacrocorax pygmeeus, Pall. Khed. Chiplun. | This our only species of Cormorant I believe is excessively common on all the large rivers, travelling miles inland by day in search of fish-stocked waters, and returning with the greatest punctuality every evening at sundown in successive detach- ments to some common roost, usually a mangrove swamp, where, with Herons, Egrets, Ibis, Snake Birds and Crows in one vast motley crew, they fight and scream and wrangle for a full hour, before they settle down for the night. No Cormorants, T believe, stay to breed in the district, but leave like the Egrets at the first burst of the south-west monsoon. 1008.—Plotus melanogaster, Penn. Kelshi. | | Abundant on all the large rivers in their fresh waters as well as tidal sections. I don’t think any Snake Birds stay to breed in the district. Remarks on some species recently described by aly. Brooks. I wave carefully examined Mr. Brooks’ types of Cyornis poliogenys (described S. F., VIII., p. 469). I find that I have one* specimen of this species from Comillah, Tipperah, a female, killed on the 25th March 1869, and measured in the flesh by the late Mr. Valentine Irwin. At the time I obtained this specimen, I noted on the ticket “very possibly should ( be separated as C. intermedius.’ There are twenty-four adult females of rubeculoides from various parts of India and Burmah in our collection; all these are clearly distinct from poliogenys. The first point of distinction‘is the larger size of the wing. This varies in the above referred to specimens of female subeculoides from 2°6 to 2°8as a maximum. Mr. Brooks’, by some error, * Also I find one from the Bhutan Dours, and many otlers also from the Dours are in the late Mr. Mandelli’s collection, DESCRIBED BY MR. BROOKS. 97 gave the length of the wing of his type as 2°75; he probably intended 2°95, which is the length of the wing in one of his types; in the other it is 2°82; and in the Comillah speci- men 2°9. In poliogenys the entire throat is paler than in rubeculoides ; and in two specimens out of the three is sordid white without any fulvous tinge; in the third it has a slight tinge of fawn color. The breast in all three specimens of poliogenys is a dull, pale, rusty buff, very much paler and duller than the corresponding parts in rubeculoides; and whereas the greater part of the abdomen in rubeculoides is, as arule, pure white, in poliogenys nearly the whole abdomen is coloured like the breast, and scarcely at all paler than this. Then in rube- culoides the sides of the head, including the cheeks and ear-coverts, are much the same olive brown as the back, while in poliogenys these parts are distinctly a grey or earthy brown, or as some would call it ashy brown. As regards bills, legs, feet, and wing formula there seem no marked differences, though the third primary in poliogenys seems to run proportionally somewhat shorter. My specimen, which is precisely like the types, was sexed a @ by dissection, and I entertain no doubt myself that the male will prove to be blue like srubeculoides ; possibly I may have males in the museum, but I have not time now to go fully into this group. I merely write this note now at Mr. Brooks’ request to indicate that, so far as I can judge, Cyornis poliogenys is a good species. Mr. Brooks’ two types are, one from the Sikkim Terai, the other from the Bhootan Doars. I have also examined Mr. Brooks’ type specimens of Calandrella tibetana, and find that I have many more specimens of this in my museum. These are what I believe to be the true Calandrella pispoletta; at any rate they appear to me to be the Calandrelia pispoletta of HE. F. v. Homeyer, J. Fur. O., 1873, p. 196. They have the long tail and the peculiar grey colouring. Mr. Brooks’ two types have a dull earthy brown band on the breast, but are not spotted there, but other specimens in our museum from Thibet are strongly spotted on this breast band. This, however, is not the Lark figured and described by Dresser as pispoletta which is C. heinti of Homeyer. Of this latter we have a good many specimens from the north-west Punjab procured during the winter. This has a tail of 2°3 to 2°5, while in the grey pispoletta it is 2°7 to 2°85. Besides these two species, which occur within our limits (for we have specimens of the grey pispoletta (tibetana, Brooks,) from 13 98 REMARKS ON SOME SPECIES RECENTLY Native Sikkim) thereis also a third species (Calandrella minor), of which I have obtained a single specimen from Sultanpoor near Delhi. A fine adult female, so exactly resembling Dresser’s figure and description, that I cannot doubt that I have cor- rectly identified it. This is distinguished from the others by its small size, wing, 3°4; tail, 2°l; and by the conspicuous, strongly marked and abundant, though fine, spotting on the breast. From brachydactyla this spotting at once separates it; from pispoletta (==tibetana, Brooks), the grey color of the latter at once distinguishes it, its own color being a regular lark buff or fawn (I refer to the upper surface) marked with brown. There remains C. heinii (=pispoletta, apud Dresser) which in general tone of coloring it a good deal resembles, and with which it agrees in being spotted on the breast, but heinii is somewhat paler and less rufous, and the wing in heinit varies from 3°7 to fully 4:0. The spottings or streakings on the breast in Aeiniz are larger, coarser, and less numerous. Minor, moreover, has a very conspicuous buffy white superci- lium extending almost from the nostrils to the nape, whereas there is scarcely a trace of this in heiniz. In the true pispoletta (tibetana, Brooks), the elongated tertiaries extend quite to the end of the longest primary, in some specimens exceed it by a hair’s breadth, whereas in the birds I call Aeinzt they fall short of the longest primary by 0°75 inch or even more; in minor they appear, judging by my single specimen, to fall short by 0°4. In both pispoletta and heinii the outer web of the outer tail feather is white, while in minor it is distinctly pale rufous fawn. I forgot to mention thatin feinit the tail seems to vary from 2°3 to 2°5, so that, while the wing is longer, the tail is shorter than in the bird that, following v. Homeyer, I call pispoletia. I must say that comparing Pallas’ original description Z. R.A. 1,526, with the two birds pispoletta (=tibetana, Brooks) and heinii (—pispolétta apud Dresser) I entertain little doubt that v. Homeyer’s identification is correct, and that the ashy grey bird, “ magisque cinerascente” is the true pispoletta. If Von Homeyer is right then I fear Mr. Brooks’ name must be suppressed; but if Dresser is right, and C. heinit of Homeyer is the true pispoletia, then probably the name tibetana will stand, as I cannot find that any other name has been applied to it, it having apparently been generally accepted, to judge from their remarks, by Russian and German ornitholo- gists as the true pispoletta. Certainly the measurements of the tail given by Radde can apply only to the grey bird. SS —— DESCRIBED BY MR. BROOKS. 99 Mr. Brooks’ Phylloscopus sindianus is in my opinion a perfectly good species. The only species for which it could be mistaken are ¢ristis and neglectus, but as Mr. Brooks correctly points out it cannot be mistaken for éristis when carefully examined, and from neglectus it is separated at once by its superior size and conspi- cuously larger bill. I cannot doubt that this is a perfectly good and distinct species. I have recently had reason to believe that this is a permanent resident of, and breeds in, Sindh. A. O. H, Hotes on Georichla innotata, Blyth. By Henry SEgBoum. By the kindness of Mr. Wardlaw-Ramsay the Thrushes in the Tweeddale collection have been sent to me for comparison with those in the British Museum and in my own collection. Some of the results of the examination of so large a series may be interesting to the readers of Stray Featuurs. I pro- pose in the present paper to treat of the species allied to Geocichla citrina, (Lath.), but whicb have no white on the wing- coverts. Of these there appear to be three fairly marked spe- cies. Geocichla innotata, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., XV., p. 370 (1846), Blyth, J. A. 8. Beng., XVI., p. 146 (1847); Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 139. This species is represented by two examples in the Tweeddale collection—one apparently a female, having the upper back suffused with olive, labelled Malacca, Maicy, January 1868, measuring 4°8 in length of wing, and having the second primary equal to the sixth; the other, also a female, labelled ? Karin Nee, Ist April 1874, Wardlaw-Ramsay, measures 455 in length of wing, and has the second primary longer than the sixth. Both these skins agree in having the rich dark orange chestnut head of G. albogularis, Blyth, and both agree in having the paler orange chestnut under-parts of G. anda- manensis, Walden, with the throat, as in that species, scarcely paler than the breast. The under-parts of both these species— G. innotata, Blyth, and G. andamanensis, Walden—scarcely differ from those of G. citrina, (Lath.) Geocichla albogularis, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., XVI., p. 146 (1847) ; Walden, Jbis, 1874, p. 138, is represented by eight skins from the Nicobar Islands—four males, three females, and 100 NOTES ON GEOCICHLA INNOTATA, BLYTH. one young in first plumage, labelled Captain Wimberley, December 1873 to February 1874. The seven adults all agree in having the colour of the head a rich dark orange chestnut, as rich but slightly darker than in G. rubecula, Gould, from Java. In all of them the white chin and upper throat is very conspicuous, but less so than in G. cyanota, Jard. The rest of the under-parts, except the vent and under tail-coverts, are similar in colour to those of G. layardi, Wald., from Ceylon, that is intermediate between those of G. rubecula, Gould, and those of G. citrina, (Lath.), G. andamanensis, Wald., and G. innotata, Blyth. These seven examples vary in length of wing from 4°2 to 3:9, and have the second primary shorter than the sixth. Geocichla andamanensis, Walden, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, 1874, p- 156. Hume; Stray Frartusrs, [V., p. 289, is represented by 21 skins, collected by Mr. Wardlaw-Ramsay and Captain Wimberley on the Andaman Islands, the former collection con- taining six males and two females obtained in March, April, and May 1873, and the latter five males and five females ob- tained from September 1873 to May 1874, The other three skins are labelled—one Andamans, and the other two Java. These skins vary slightly inter se, but agree in being darker and browner on the head than G. citrina, Lath., but not quite so dark, and not nearly so rich as G. tnnotata, Blyth, and G. albogularis, Blyth. These skins vary from 4:2 to 3°8 in length of wing, and have the second primary shorter than the sixth. In all three species in what I presume must be young birds, there are traces of dark edges to the ear-coverts. This is specially noticeable in the young in first (spotted) plumage from the Nicobars. The white on the vent appears to be a variable character, in some skins being confined to the under tail-coverts. In the Tweeddale collection is also a skin of Geocichla trico- lor, Hume, and I have since obtained a second through the kindness of Captain Elwes. Both these skins were collected by Dr. Day in Assam. The latter is figured in the P. Z.S., where I have taken an opportunity of correcting the error into which [ fell from not having previously seen a skin of the fully adult male of this handsome Thrush. It is not a Geo- cichla, as an examination of the under surface of the wing will show ; but is, I have not the shadow of a doubt, the fully adult male of Geocichla dissimilis, Blyth, and will stand as Turdus disstmilis, Blyth. It appears that the female and immature male of this species are indistinguishable from those of Turdus hortulanus, Sclater. The Siberian bird will probably be iden- tical with the Chinese bird, but until an adult male of the NOTES ON GEOCICHLA INNOTATA, BLYTH. 101 former is discovered, the name of Turdus pelios, Bonap., will hang in terrorem over the two names, unless the good sense of future ornithologists refuses to use a name, which was orginally applied to a Siberian bird, afterwards freely used for an African species, and then re-transferred to the Siberian bird—a process which has destroyed its scientific value except in the eyes of the modern school of ornithologists, whose aim is to carry out the rules of the British Association regardless of consequences. I am indebted to Mr. Hume for correcting another error in my paper in Stray Fratuers, p. 438, which, together with the more important error of confusing the Indian with the Chinese bird, I corrected in my paper in the P. Z.8., 1879, p. 803. Turdus unicolor, Tickell, certainly has precedence of Turdus unicolor, Gould, though curiously enough both names were applied to the same species. It seems as if one could never exhaust the synonomy of this species. There can be no doubt that Turdus protomomelas, Cab. Journ. Orn., 1867, p. 286, applies to the adult male of Turdus dissimilis, Blyth. REMARKS BY THE Epitor.—The above note by Mr. Seebohm might lead my readers to suppose that Geocichla innotata, Blyth, was really a good species, whereas in my opinion nothing ean be more contrary to the fact. Instead of two females I can show Mr. Seebohm amongst our enormous series of G. citrina from all parts of the empire, from the Malay Peninsula* to the hills of the Rutnagherry Dis- trict, half a dozen males and females absclutely wanting any trace of the white spot on the wing. In these specimens the blue or olive of the back, the colour of the head and nape, and of the lower parts varies precisely as it does in citrina. Mr. Seebohm hardly seems aware how extraordinarily this species varies in colour. ‘There are many specimens of citrina, in which the head is as rich and dark an orange chestnut as any G. albogularis. Again in one specimen I find it only an ochreous yellow, and between these extremes every intermediate shade of colour is observable. The same is the case with the colouring of the under-parts. Tn some the colouring is doubly as intense as in others. One splendid male, entirely tnnotata so far as the wing is concerned, has richer coloured under-parts than nine-tenths of the citrina, instead of having them paler, whilst its head is less deeply * Amongst others a Tonka specimen with a more than averagely large white wing spot. Eo SOV Pr 102 NOTES ON GEOCICHLA INNOTATA, BLYTH. coloured than those of a good many citrina. Before my friend Mr. Seebohm accepts shades of colouring as of specific value in this group, he should get together a couple of hundred specimens of the two or three supposed species he wishes to contrast. People laugh at the enormous, and, I admit, unwieldly series of every species that I retain; and I have myself repeatedly thought of weeding out my museum, butit is only by the help of such series that one can confute ornithologists’ intent upon making species on slight differences in shade of colour. Here I have before me citrina and innotata, some of each presenting the shades of colouration supposed to be characteristic of the other. It is absolutely certain that so far as shade of colouring is concerned, innotata cannot be maintained for a moment. But it may be said, at any rate, citrina has a well marked white patch on the wing, and innotata has no trace even of this. Surely this is sufficient to constitute a distinct species. Here, again, the extreme variability of G. citrina has to be taken into account. From an abnormally large pure white patch, the size of the last joint of a man’s little finger, down to a greyish white margin to a single feather of the coverts of one wing, every intermediate amount of white on the wing be- tween G. citrina and G. innotata is exhibited by our series. Even this does not exhaust the variability of the species. In some the whole lower abdomen, vent, and lower tail-coverts are pure white; ina few the rich ferruginous tint continues right down to the vent leaving nothing, but the lower tail- coverts white, and even, these not pure, but with a faint orange buff shade. In one specimen the entire half of the whole abdo- men up to the breast is pure white; on the other half of the abdomen the ferruginous color descends half way to the vent. ; If, after the above explanation, the result of the examination of certainly the largest series ever collected in one place, Mr. Seebohm still thinks fit to separate innotata as a distinct spe- cies, I cannot, of course, cavil; but nature has made no such separation, and I must remind my readers that it is “ Better to err with “er than shine with him.” In the above note Mr. Seebohm also speaks of Geocichla layardi, as if this too were a good species; but this has even smaller claims to recognition than innotata. It has not even the prima facie plausible distinction of an entire absence of white on the wing, and as a matter of fact every Ceylou Geocichla* of this type may be matched with an Indian * This bird, though doubtless rare in Ceylon, is by no means so rare as Major Legge seems to think. I can at any rate add three more specimens to those he. mentions. —- GEOCICHLA DISSIMILIS, BLYTH. 103 one, and there is every reason to believe that it is in Ceylon a purely migratory bird finding its way at intervals during the cold season from the mainland to Ceylon. When we come to the question of separating G. andamanen- sis and G. albogularis, we enter on more doubtful ground. As I said long ago, taking the birds from both islands as a body, it may correctly be said that the Nicobar birds are more deeply coloured, and have more white on the throat than the Andaman ones; but where both the colour and the amount of white on the throat in the birds from both islands vary as they do, there must, according to my view of what constitutes a valid specific difference, be a constant superiority in respect to points like these, of all the birds of one race over all the birds of the other. There is no such constant* difference in the case of these two supposed species. On the contrary, we have Anda- manese birds as deeply coloured, and showing as much white on the throat as several of the Nicobar birds; and if the whole lot be thrown together, and the tickets removed, there are at least one in five of which no one on earth could predicate whe- ther it came from the Nicobars or the Andamans. Here, again, if Mr. Seebohm considers it right to maintain two species, I can only record my dissent and warn my readers against what I consider to be hair-splitting, valde deflendus. Geocichla dissimilis, Blyth. In consequence of Mr. Seebohm’s remarks on the above species, I applied, through my friend Mr. Wood-Mason, who is always anxious to help in clearing up every difficulty, to the Trustees of the Calcutta Museum, for the loan of Mr. Blyth’s own specimens, of this species six in number, entered in his Catalogue at page 163, No. 955, 1 male and 5 females. They very kindly acceded to my request, but informed me that two had been probably destroyed and one lost. When years ago I examined these birds there were six of them, all in a row on one board, and these were then all with- out exception Geocichla unicolur, Tick. Now the three remaining specimens are mounted each on small separate stands. -Two are still wnicolor—the third is un- doubtedly a young male or female of the species that I named tricolor. * Note too that from the Little Cocos, an island belonging to the northernmost portion of the Andaman Group, we have a specimen with a throat almost whiter than any specimen from the Nicobars. 104 GEOCICHLA DISSIMILIS, BLYTH. This bird, now made to do duty as one of the six specimens entered in the Catalogue, was not amongst these six some years ago, but it is one of Blyth’s old birds, and it agrees well enough with his description of adult male dissimilis; and though it was not one of the six catalogued by him as dissimilis, we may accept it, 1 think, as having been the bird he referred to, and may consequently accept his name for the species. But it must be clearly understood that Blyth was entirely abroad about this species. The bird that he considered the female of dissimilis, of which he says he procured some eight or ten in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, were all unicolor, and whereas he, owing to this mistake, says, that his disstmilis is. not uncommon in the cold season about Calcutta, it is in reality so extremely rare that during ten years collecting in that neighbourhood I have never seen a single specimen, though I have seen scores and scores of wnicolor, and indeed neither the museum nor Mr. Parker, nor any of the other collectors in that neighbourhood with whom I am acquainted, have ever obtained a specimen. Indeed but for Blyth’s printed remarks, as to what the male of his dissimilis was, all his other remarks and all the six specimens that he himself labelled dissimilis, would prove conclusively that his dissimilis was really wnicolor. It may be useful to quote his remarks in eatenso, J. A. 8. B., Vol. XVI., p. 144, Feb. 1847 :— “12.—T. dissimilis, nobis; ZT. unicolor et 7. modestus, nobis passim, as in XI, 460, &e.: Caleutta Thrush, Latham, the female. This bird, as well as the preceding one, is very closely allied to the succeeding group Geocichla; and the mature male of the present species has the whole underparts from the breast, except the medial line of the belly and the lower tail-coverts, which are pure white, of the same bright ferruginous colour as in G. citrinus, G. cyanotus, &e. “An approach to the same colouration is exhibited by old males of J. rufulus. The female, however,* shows no sign of this except on the axillaries, and on more or less of the under surface of the wing, yet, before obtaining the male, I had preceived the affinity of this species for the Geocichla ; and it is curious that I procured some eight or ten in the feminine plumage (whether all females, however, | cannot say, for some were only skins), before I succeeded in getting a male, which, as I all along suspected, proved to be clad in not quite so homely a garb as his mate. The male is indeed rather a handsome Thrush. Length nine inches by fourteen * Here he refers to the female ‘unicolor. My tricolor (which we are now agreed to call dissimilis,) at every age in both sexes shows the ferruginous flanks, GEOCICHLA DISSIMILIS, BLYTH. 105 and a quarter in spread of wing; closed wing, four and a half; tail, three and one-eight; bill to gape, an inch and one- eight ; tarsi the same. Colour of the upper-parts plain olive- brown in both sexes,* with ashy beneath the surface of the feathers, tending a little to predominate about the rump; throat, middle of belly, and lower tail-coverts white; the sides of the throat with dusky linear spots more or less diffused, and some often appearing in the middle; breast hight olive-brown, with a few dusky spots, sometimes small and triangular, sometimes larger and more linear; and the flanks spotless olive-brown in the female, and perhaps in the juvenescent male, but in the old male bright ferruginous, spreading to the white medial line of the abdomen; beak dusky, with generally some intermixture of yellow; and legs bright yellowish-brown. As in the Geocichle, the bill of a fresh specimen of this species is usually much clotted with mud ; and the bird, like them, is mostly seen on the ground, hopping about among the underwood. It is not rare in Lower Bengal during the cold season. Mr. Jerdon has lately obtained it in the south, and it often occurs in collec- tions from the Himalaya.” It is quite clear from the above that Blyth’s supposed mature male was either a female or a young male, and that his eight or ten females were simply unicolor, as two of his survi- ving types prove; and indeed if female unicolor with the yellowish olive tinge suffusing the breast and flanks be com- pared with the adult female of what we are now agreed to call dissimilis, it is easy to understand how the latter may easily have been mistaken for the male of the former. However, there is sufficient in the description, especially the words “have the whole under-parts from the breast except the medial line of the belly and lower tail-coverts, which are pure white, of the same bright ferruginous color as G. citrina—” a statement absolutely correct of both the old female and the young male of my éricolor, to show that Blyth really had got hold of one specimen of dissimilis, and I am therefore quite willing to suppress my own and adopt his name, although his description included two species and although all his originally catalogued types belong to another species. * This again refers to female (or young male) wnicolor and dissimilis. In both species the adult males have a grey mantle, paler and bluer in the former, darker and more iron grey in the latter. ; + This all refers to wnicolor; even in Sikkim, in all these years, and collecting so excessively closely and on so large a scale as poor Mandelli did, he never obtained any specimen of dissimilis, On the other hand it is common towards the head of the Assam valley, during the cold season. 14 106 GEOCICHLA DISSIMILIS, BLYTH. I have no doubt that the bird that now does duty as one of those six, was the identical bird referred to in the passage above quoted. No doubt, as often happened in the old crowded quarters, this specimen got lost, and so was not mounted along with the others. Then, after Blyth’s departure, this specimen was found up at the time of Mr. Carleylle’s famous revision of the ornithological collection, and he then attached to it a paper ticket (or somebody else did, the ticket is not in Blyth’s hand-writing. Ihave compared it carefully with letters of his.) Geocichla cardis,* Lem. G. dissimilis, B7. Cal. Bot. Garden. Then later, when things were re-arranged, this bird being found to answer to Blyth’s description, the little black ticket originally attached to the board, and bearing distinctly the words “male and female, Bengal and Nepal,” was attached to the single stand on which this one bird had been mounted— a stand which could not have been labelled as bearing ‘‘ male and female,” as it could not possibly have contained more than a single bird. It may be well to note that my original type had the whole throat and breast a much duller colour than adults that I have subsequently received from Assam, and than is figured in the P. Z. S8., 1879, Pl. LXIV. It is much more, in fact, like the breast in the figure of Turdus javanicus, Ibis, 1875, Pl. VIII, and with the dark color descending considerably lower than is shown in the plate in the P. Z. S. though not quite so low as in javanicus. Further 1 may note that the coloration of the rufous parts in the plate in the P. Z. 8. is not nearly a sufficiently intense ferruginous for old adults, and the female there depicted in the background must have been a very young one, for in the old female the ferruginous is as intense as in the old male. The great difference being in the upper surface, which in the female is a fine dark olive brown, becoming slightly greyish on the rump, upper tail-coverts and tail, and in the male black on the head and nape, and elsewhere a dark iron grey much as in dark specimens of Hypsipetes psaroides ; it is in fact a very dark edition of the upper surface of old male unicolor, just as the back of the female dissimilis is a darker edition of that of the old female wunicolor. * Some one has scratched out the word “ cardis” with a blue pencil, The ticket, though not new, is twenty years younger at least than the specimen. — GEOCICHLA DISSIMILIS, BLYTH. 107 In conclusion I ought to note that the bird, of whose nidification I gave an ‘account under the head of Geocichla dissimilis (Nests and Eggs, p. 231), was nothing but a very old and well colored female of wnicolor, in which the yellow, (not the bright ferruginous colour characteristic of dissimilis,) similar to that shown at the base of the throat in Jerdon’s plate (Jbis, 1872, Pl. VII), descends upon the breast, sides, and flanks, just as the ferruginous does in dissimilis. A. OFA: + Ghe Birds of the Giestern Balf of the Malay Peninsula. Tairp Norice. Our Second Notice of the birds of the Malayan Peninsula left the list as follows :— Number of species which we knew, or thought we had good reason to believe, occurred 437 Number of species, the occurrence of which though asserted seemed doubtful : 17 Number of species of which we had actually collected specimens ... 373% To the 437 species we have now 28 to add, making a total of 465. Out of the 17 doubtful species one, namely Chrysocolaptes sultaneus, may, as remarked in my Second Notice, be definitely excluded, as we now know that the bird that occurs is C. sérictus. Besides this we have obtained one of the doubtful species (one that I least expected to find), namely, hyni Length, 7°55; expanse, 10°8; wing, 3:3; tail from. vent, 3°4; tarsus, 0°92; bill from gape, 0°98. 172 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF TENASSERIM: Bill horny ; gape fleshy white; irides dark brown; legs plumbeous; feet blackish. 961.—Lanius cristatus, Zin. This Shrike comes as a mere straggler to the Thoungyeen valley, frequenting open cultivation clearings, glades in the forest and borders of quins. . A very rufous female, shot 13th December 1879, on the Meplay choung, measured in the flesh :— Length, 8:0; expanse, 11°38; wing, 3°61; tail, 3°6; tarsus, 1:1; bill from gape, 0°9. Bill horny ; base of lower mandible, gape and edges pium- beous white; irides brown; legs and feet plumbeous ; claws horny. 263.—Tephrodornis pelvicus, Hodgs. This Woodshrike is very common in the Thoungyeen forests. Specimens differ very much in shade and tint of color inter se. 267.—Hemipus picatus, Sykes. Occurs throughout the Thoungyeen valley. Male, (shot 28th March 1879, on the Meplay choung) mea- sured :—Length, 5°6; expanse, 7:9; wing, 2:25; tail, 2°49; tarsus, 0°45; bill from gape, 0°7. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black; irides dark brown. Female (shot 12th December 1879, in the same locality) :— Length, 5°55 ; expanse, 7°7 ; wing, 2°15; tail, 2:4; tarsus, 0°45 ; bill from gape, 0°68. Colors of the soft parts as in the male. 969 bis.—Volvocivora intermedia, Hume. All the Thoungyeen specimens I have are clearly referable to this race. A pair procured on the Meplay choung measured :-— Male.—Length, 9°7 ; expanse, 14°7; wing, 4°87; tail, 4°55 ; tarsus, 0°85; bill from gape, 1:0. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black ; irides nut brown. Female.—Length, 9°6 ; expanse, 14°5 ; wing, 4°3; tail, 4°5; tarsus, 0°82; bill from gape, 1°0. Colors of the soft parts as in the male. 270.—Graucalus macii, Less. Common as this bird is on the west side of the Dawna, it is rare and locally distributed in the Thoungyeen. Young birds have the under surface much barred and spotted with brown, AND SPECIALLY THOSE OF THE THOUNGYEEN VALLEY. 173 271 ter.—Pericrocotus elegans, Mc. Clell. This species is common in the Thoungyeen valley. 275.—Pericrocotus roseus, Vier. Less common than the above and more a bird of the plains country. 277.—Pericrocotus immodestus, Hume. I got one female of this species on the Thablooko choung and a second on the Taoo choung in the Thoungyeen valley. It is characterized by the dull yellowish wash on the rump and a trace of yellow on the wings. The two measured in the flesh as follows :— Female (shot 24th January 1879).—Length, 8:0; expanse, 11:0; wing, 3:7; tail, 3°85; tarsus, 0°6; bill from gape, 0°8. Female (shot 25th March 1880).—Length, 80; expanse, 11:0; wing, 3°6; tail, 4:0; tarsus, 0°6; bill from gape, 0°8. The color of the soft parts were identical in both ; bill, legs, feet and claws black; irides dark brown. 278.—Buchanga atra, Herm. In the Tnoungyeen valley I have only seen this species at Meeawuddy, where I have seen a number at different times of the year. 280 b1s.—Buchanga pyrrhops, Hodgs. This bird is rather common in the dry Dillenia forests of the Thoungyeen where ten or a dozen will sit on adjoining trees at an immense height. 1 have found them wary to a degree. 282.—Chaptia nea, Vieill. A common bird all over the country, including the Thoung- yeen valley. I have put all my specimens down as this species, and not as malayensis, which in my humble opinion should be joined with this and knocked on the head. If depth of colouring, however persistent, is to be of specific value, all the Pericrocoti will have to be separated.* 283.—Bhringa remifer, Tem. A rare and locally distributed species in the Thoungyeen forests. I have seen it at the sources of the Thoungyeen, high * It is not exactly a question of depth of coloring in this case. The difference relied on here is the comparatively dull grey rump of malayensis as compared with the metallic coloring of the corresponding parts in @nea.—A. O. H. 174 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF TENASSERIM: up in the Meplay choung, and near Koosaik, the old road cross- ing over to Myneloongyee. 285.—Dissemurus paradiseus, Lin. This species is very common all over the country. In the Thoungyeen valley it chiefly affects bamboo forests. There is a point in the succession of plumage of this bird that T have never seen alluded to, and that is, that on the first growth of the two long tail feathers the shafts of these are webbed on both sides the whole way down, broader on the in- side; only for about an inch above the racket does the web narrow. It is not till the second moult that the tail assumes the adult form. 286.—Chibia hottentotta, Zin. During the breeding season in the end of March and in April, I saw a great number of nests round and about Meea- wuddy; but all inaccessible, as they were invariably built out at the very end of the thinnest branches of Eng (Diptero- carpus) Teak, Thingan (Hopea odorata), and other trees. Except during those two months, I have not seen the bird plentiful anywhere. 290.—Hypothymis azurea, Bodd. Common all through the Thoungyeen valley. 291.—Leucocerca albicollis, Viezll. All through the Thoungyeen valley at elevations above 1,500 feet, in dense evergreen jungle, this species is to be found, but even then scarce. A female, I shot in the Meplay East Watershed range, mea- sured in the flesh :—Length, 7:4; expanse, 8:9; wing, 2°9; tail, 3°88; tarsus, 0°74; bill from gape, 0°72. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black; irides dark brown. ? 292.—Leucocerca aureola? Vieill. Two specimens that I shot, I refer, with great hesitation,* to the above bird. They were procured in dry Eng forest in the Thoungyeen valley. * The five species of Leucocerca that woe obtain are easily separable.— (1.) ZL. aureola has a very broad white supercilium, more or less covering the entire forehead and extending to the nape. The throat is black, more or less mottled with white. The breast and abdomen pure white. There are two rows of conspi- cuous triangular white spots on tips of the wing-coverts. : (2.) ZL. albicollis has a conspicuous, though narrow, white supercilium not extend- ing quite to the forehead in front or backwards much behind the eye. It has more or less of the throat white, and the breast and abdomen dusky. AND SPECIALLY THOSE OF THE THOUNGYEEN VALLEY. 175 295.—Culicicapa ceylonensis, Swazns. This pretty cheery little species is found all over the province, being most numerous in the evergreen forests. 299.—Alseonax ferrugineus, Hodgs. The one specimen I got of this species was shot on the 20th October, between Thingangyeenoun in the Thoungyeen valley and Tounjah, the top of the pass over the Dawna. I saw another in April at the head-waters of the Htenoo- choung lower south. The bird is easily recognizable by its ferruginous tint and the circle of conspicuous white feathers round the eye. 301.—Stoporala melanops, Vig. This bird is scattered widely over the country from October to April. In the Thoungyeen valley I have invariably found them by the banks of streams. 304.—Cyornis rubeculoides, Vig. This bird is very common in bamboo jungles all through the country. I procured a young bird on the 13th August 1879, at Kau- karit on the Houndraw river, that puzzled me not a little ; it is in the rufous garb of the young just changing into the blue of the adult. I had never seen or shot the bird in this stage before. (3.) DZ. leucogaster has a very narrow supercilium, not quite extending to the forehead ; chin and throat white; black transverse band at base of throat more or less spotted with white; centre of breast and abdomen white, more or less tinged with fawn. (4.) LZ. perlata has a trace of a white supercilium, and the throat and breast dusky, with large oval white spots; abdomen white. (5.) L. javanica has no supercilium, or only a faint trace of one. Throat white; a transverse band at base of throat blackish without spots; middle of breast and abdomen white; the latter tinged with fawn. The Thoungyeen specimen is an extremely indifferent carbolized one, and the lateral tail-feathers are not half grown, but it seems to differ from aureola,—tist, in wanting the triangular spots at the tip of the wing-coverts, which spots are present, even in the youngest awreola, though in this they are buff coloured instead of white; 2ud,—in the four central tail-feathers being entirely black, and there being less white on the lateral tail-feathers, 3rd,—in the chin, throat, and upper breast being white. In