and rarely skimmers (rhynehops), gulls, three species, the common British Xema ridibunda, and a nearly :Wined species, with the fine kroiko cephalus ichthyretus, are seen chiefly towards the mouths of the Gangetic rivers. Over the salt water lake near Calcutta has been seen the great white egret, so priz6d in Europe. The gull-billed tern is there one of the common birds; and the whis kered tern (Hydroehelidon Indica), and the pere grine falcon, may not unfrequently be seen, well meriting the name of duck-hawk bestowed on it iu North America; also great flocks of longshanks (Ilimantopus), wading and seeking their subsistence in the expanse of shallow water along the reed-fringed nullahs or watercourses ; various rallidre are swarming around.
In winter, many Indian birds assemble in large flocks. Amongst these are crows, starlings, finches, larks, parrots, a few thrushes, pigeons, rock pigeons, cranes, ducks, flamingoes, and pelicans.
The migratory birds of India aro mostly resi dents of the colder northern countries; they come to India in September and October, and leave it again in March, April, and May. Among the grallatores or waders, some cranes and storks, four-fifths of the ducks, and the great majority of the scolopacidre, breed in the north, and come to India in the cold season. The peregrine falcon, the true hobby, the kestrel, the British sparrow-hawk, all the Indian harriers, and the short-eared owl, are true migratory birds. Amongst the insessores, the wagtails, some of the pipits, and larks, stone chats, several warblers and thrushes, buntings, and the shrike, hoopoe, and two starlings, are the chief groups amongst which migratory birds occur. In Lower Bengal, kites quit Calcutta and neighbourhood during the rains, and return in the cold weather ; it is supposed that they go to the north-east. The kestrel, baza, and Indian hobby are most frequent in Bengal during the rains ; and in the rains the adjutant visits Cal cutta, and leaves in the cold weather. The European quail is the only real migratory bird of the gallinacere ; but some other quails, bustard quails, and rock partridges (Pteroclidre), wander about to different localities ; and the Sypheotides auritus, Buphus coromandus, some rails, terns, and gulls, also wander. These birds travel with won derful instinct direct to their homes, returning year after year to the same spot, often to the same nest.
The great migration of birds to and from Southern India, Asia, says Mr. Hodgson, 'seems to take place across the mountains of Nepal. The wading and natatorial birds generally make a mere stage of tho valley on their way to and from the vast plains of India and Tibet, the valley being too small, dry, open, and populous for their habits, especially that of the larger ones. Some, however, stay for a longer or shorter time in their vernal and autumnal migrations ; and some, again, remain throughout that large portion of the year in which the climate is congenial to their habits. Of all of them, the seasons of arrival, both from the north and from the south, are marked with precision.
The grallatorial and birds begin to arrive in Nepal from the north towards the close of August, and continue arriving till the middle of September. The first to appear are the com mon snipe and jack °snipe and rhync.hata; nest the scolopaceous wacky; (except the woodcock). next the gnat birds of the heron and stork and C711110 families, then the natatores, and lastl,y the woodcocks, which do not reach Nepal till November. The time of the reappearance of the
birds from the south is the begmnning of March, . and they go on arriving till the middle of May. None of the natatorea stay in Nepal beyond a week. or two in autumn (when the rico Melds tempt them), or beyond a few clays in spring, except tho teal, the widgeon, and the coot, which remain for tho whole season upon some few tanks, whose sanctity precludes all molestation of them. There aro cormorants throughout the season upon tho larger rivers within the mountains, but nano 'ever halt in the valley beyond a day or two for so long, however, both they and pelicans may be seen occasionally on the banks just mentioned. The lams and sterna are birds which initially affect the high seas, but Mr. Hodgson had killed both the red-legged gull and a genuine pelagic tern in the valley of Nepal. But so bad he fishing eagles; and in truth, he adds, who shall limit the wanderings of these long-winged birds in the ethereal expanse? Mr. Blyth tells us that many of the feathered inhabitants of the British Islands aro found in Southern Asia. The com munity of species is most remarkable among the diurnal birds of prey, and, as might be expected, among the wading and swimming tribes. The pretty little water-wagtail, usually the first and most welcome harbinger of the coming cold weather, comes and remains whilst tho cold season lasts. This bird, and the harsh chattering of it very common kind of shrike (Lanius cristatus) in Indian gardens, are the earliest intimations of the coming change of season. A snipe (Gallinago stenura), and the water-wagtail in their season. and the common sparrow at all seasons, are probably all that the European, unversed in the study of orni thology, will be able to recall to mind as yielding associations of home, unless perchance ho may ...so recollect the• common small kingfisher of India, which differs from the British bird only in its more diminutive size. In the sub-Himalayas, the forms of Europe and of W. and N. Asia prevail more and more towards the N.W. ; 3falayan forms eastward, and Chinese types, and particular sub Himalayan genera and species, the range of which extends eastward to China. Again, ou the high lands of the Peninsula of India, and still again in those of Ceylon, distinct species or the northern types oocur, but no different genera. Thus the jungle-fowl of N. India is replaced by a different species (Gallus Sonneratii) in the Peninsula, and by a third (G. Stanleyi) in Ceylon, and not a few similar instances might be adducts!. The grey wagtail of Britain (Calobmrtes sulphurea) is iden tically tho same in India and Java, and a specimen has been seen in a collection from Australia. This delicate little bird, so clean and bright in its appearance, is of very general diffusion over Southern Asia during the cold season, being indeed. much commoner than in Britain. The most abundant lark on the plains of Upper India and table-land of the Peninsula is the charandol (Galerida cristata), which is also a European species, though of rare occurrence in Britain : and the song, also its mode of delivery of it in the air, are not very unlike that of the skylark, although it does not soar to so lofty an altitude.