OCR Text |
Show 1873.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 655 noticed by Brooks, Hume, and others, I find (excluding the waders and water birds, which are probably more numerous here than in any other part of the Himalaya) 116 genera, containing 171 species:- per cent. Gen era characteristic of the Palaearctic region 32 27*5 Peculiar to or characteristic of the Himalayan subregion 21 18 Characteristic of the whole Indo-Malay region 29 25 Cosmopolitan or very wide range 34 29*5 Of the species, about 40 per cent, are peculiar to the Himalayan mountains ; but only two, namely Cephalopyrusflammiceps, Burt., and Pyrrhula aurantiaca, Gould, are peculiar to this part of the range. In Kashmir we have evidently reached the north-western limit of the Himalayan fauna: only about 70 of its peculiar species occur here, against 340 in Nepal; while, on the other hand, Palaearctic species are comparatively much more numerous, being as 50 species against about 60 in Nepal. The greater part of Kashmir, politically speaking, belongs to the region north of the Himalaya, and is very poor in bird life; but in winter the valley is said to be the resort of multitudes of wild fowl from the north. Warblers of the genera Phylloscopus and Reguloides seem very abundant in the forests, no less than 10 species having been noted by Mr. Brooks in a short trip ; but of Timaliidee there are but very few, and only 3 Bulbuls. Chalcophaps indica, Gallus ferrugineus, 4 species of Palceornis, and a Hornbill extend thus far to the north-west, and here meet several European species which do not extend much further into India. Passing from Kashmir to the south-west, we find the number of species gradually increasing, till in Kumaon nearly all the principal Himalayan and Indian genera are found ; and here in the valley of the Dehra Dhoon, which is, I believe, the north-western limit of the wild Elephant, we find the forest along the foot of the hills assuming a more dense and tropical appearance, under the increasing influence of the south-west monsoon, until on the frontier of Nepal it forms a belt of dense and often marshy and unhealthy forest, which is called the Terai or Morung. A number of species are found in the hills of Kumaon which do not extend as far as Sikim, being there represented by a different form. Among them may be mentioned the following:- Certhia himalayana. Machlolophus xanthogenys. Sitta leucopsis. AUthopyga horsfieldi. Trochalopteronerythrocephalum. Ceriornis melanocephalus. variegatum. Gallophasis albocristatus. Lophophanes melanolophus. NEPAL. Still following the line of the mountains in a south-westerly direc- |