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Plate F
Sir G F. HAMPSON, Journ.Bomb. Nat.Hist.Soc.
a fs)
Horace Knight del.et lith.
West, Newman chromo.
INDIAN MOTHS.
THE MOTHS OF INDIA: ‘This Plate (Plate F'.) and the expianation of the plate should
face page 1046 of this Volume.
Plate G. will appear in a subsequent number.
Eps.
14.
iis.
THE MOTHS
OF
INDIA :
HXPLANATION OF PLATE F,
MUSTILIA PHAOPERA. ANDRACA ALBILUNATA. LEUCOMA THYRIDOPTERA. PARASA METATHERMES. MIRESA PHOCEA.
MIRESA METATHERMISTIS. ARBELA CAMPBELLI. PHALERA OCHROPIS. NATADA FULVIDORSIA. TTETRAPHLEPS FERROGRISEA. MARUMBA MICROTA.
EPIPYROPS POLIOGRAPHA.
AMPELOPHAGA OBLIQUIFASCIA.
SPHECOSESIA PEDUNCULATA.
LEPIDOPODA ANDREPICLERA <¢.
OXYPLAX FULVATA. HYPOLAMPRUS LEPRAOTA.
PENTATEUCHA CURIOSA.
JRHODONEURA DISCOPIS. AVGERIA CYANOPASTA. NATADA FULVIMIXTA. MIRESA PYRONOTA. MARUMBA POLIOTIS. ARBELA MINIMA. RHAGASTIS LEUCOCRASPIS. AXGERIA PYRODISCA. LEPIDOPODA ANDREPICLERA 9 . PHALACRA RUFA.
LALIA FULVATA. SANGATISSA ARCTIADES. HUPROCTIS XANTHOCEPS. MiILTOCHRISTA OCELLATA. PHALACRA TENERA. PREPARCTIA HANNYGNTONI.
CHADISRA SEMIFERREA,
THE BHARAL (OV/IS _NAHURA. ) ‘ eS , . ; ‘ Plate should face page 1030 of this Volume. is Eps. Ne . vn
nh ‘i ae MUI TE a ae a ea Se NWS be ah a ee Vea aMeRee AN ERS wis ‘5 ] f if i - ih : = } + ' \
A Me CENA. RANG. DAS ae
ii é au ; : : . iv os y
ano oe
Nei aed
JouRN. BomsBay Nat. Hist. Soc:
THE BHARAL (Ovis nahura).
Top: Young male, 16 months old. MippiE: Male, 3 years old. Bortom: Female, 2 years old, with kid.
ors regret the delay in issuing this number of the
it was unavoidable owing to pressure of work at the
llth December 1911.
THE
OF THE
Jugs 1941
NM Vo, BN Sal Zooiogic® S
Bompay Naroran Hisrory Soctery.
Part I (Pages \ to 257)
22
EDITED BY
W.-S. MILLARD,
R. A. SPENCE and N. B. KINNEAR.
VOL. XxX.
Consisting of Five Parts and containing Eleven Coloured Plates, Forty-one Lithographed Plates, Diagrams
and Maps and Twenty-eight Blocks,
Dates of Publication.
II (Pages 269 to 545) ...
r ZII (Pages 547 to 899) acco eee ece eee soe » if V (Pages 901 to 1185)... eos eee eee ese eco ete V Index, &:.) occ sco tee
9?
2965:11
Bombay:
PkoliNe eye Ah hit 1 MES) PRESS.
13th Junz, 1910. 12th Oct., 1910. 31st Jan., 1911. 20th May, 1911. 30th Uev., 1911.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XX.
No. l.
THe GAME Birps oF INpiA, BuRMA AND CEYLON. Intro- duction and Part I. The Woodcock. (With Plate I.) By H. C. Stuart Baker, F.L.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.
Tue Pats or BritisH INDIA AND CEYLON, INDIGENOUS AND Intropucep. Introduction. (With Plate I and Map 44l.)) > Tesy 1), LSHlaveireies SUIS ae one ee een ee ara teevie eee ARR Ary
A PopuLarR TREATISE ON THE ComMMON INDIAN SNAKES. Part XIII. Anerstrodon himalayanus and Psammody- nastes pulverulentus. (With Plate XIII, Diagram and Map.) By Major F. Wall, 1.M.s., C.M.z.s. (Continued HOM AC O92 OV Ole CTR) Meriter er enemys asee ae eee
On THE NOMENCLATURE OF THE INDIAN HEDGEHOGS. By R. WRAVoOWoNCOI F228) yh 5. era. cise eval Sa hepa eee SAS ee
THE Morus or INpiA. Supplementary paper to the Volumes in the ‘‘ Fauna of British India.’”’ Series IV, Part I. By Sir+ George F.Hampson, Bart., F.2.S., F.E.S. ...... ORCHIDS OF THE BomBay PRESIDENCY. Part X. (With Plate X.) By G. A. Gammie, F.L.S.. (Continued from jDaSe: G20 Ore WONG D-GD-O) ores naccrancs Boon dueascon eres: THE BUTTERFLIES OF Kumaun. Part 1. (With a Map.) vane D aia Oo LOM, WeC.Se ia ark e accede ai Sacoenaninennsttainge
DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIAN Micro-LepmpopTerRA. XI. By H. AIG plete en AVNER Se EZ Sh. sac mative steloigaietre s abe tehanets ate
On THE BirpS oF KoHAT AND THE KURRAM VALLEY, NORTHERN: [npr Part I By Capt: ©) Hi. ©: Wahiitelnea cli pa ee ecco cent ey a mere ca Phun ee ile See Teasl Gatling al,
A Tamarix Association. By William Burns, B. sc. (Hdin.) yF
NOTE ON THE CIRCULATION OF Calycopteris floribunda. By John, AVENE ec OR Oe nee erin vee aerate ho nuRUe Re, Mine Rear ee
PAGE
ee) es)
iv CONTENTS.
Reviews.—“‘ The Fauna of India,” (Dermaptera). By
IME, SB Giese os eee tan crepe ees al a ‘Indian Insect Life,’ a Mammal of the Insects of the Plains (Tropical India)...... ‘‘ Insect Intruders in Indian Homes.” By HE. PoStebbimgienin estes. bois s. sete eee “Transactions of the Bombay Medical Con- EEE SSO OO GENE da crckte: hie oles bigaieaina tints eee
MiscELLANEOUS NOoTES.— I. The call of the Sloth-Bear. By F. Dewar, LE CAS a aa eG COS TOSCO ER SICRC DERCIEACEE TS COTO DSCC .S 4 0/6 II. Distribution of the Sloth-Bear or Indian Bear (Melursus ursinus). By Lt.-Col. MAY Tb.
Menton: bs. 6csk ses eee
III. The Baluchistan Bear. By Lt.-Col. L. L. Penton scjnccisinls ined ge ut ieee eS ee. eee
IV. A Record Panther. By N. B. Kinnear, -t2: V. Jackal hunting with Wild Dogs. By Major BL W eBerbhone ieee... «se nktve ones eee
VI. The Rudimentary Clavicles of a Panther. By Major tel WVesBerthon 2 02.0.-..eeeee eee
VII. Sloth-Bear calling her young when attacked. By WitGave ie oes. cas. conaes) ease eee
Wille Birds feedime tthem Youngs By Ga seme Rercnvyaleneserec: Shove delun ceca athe ee
IX. Nidification of the Sarus Crane. By Capt. ZA. CEL? Miossens. i a0ses ascetic
X. The Food ofthe Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius erythronotus). By Major H. A. Ff. Magrath. XI. Occurrence of the Bronze-capped Teal (Hunetta falcata) near Roorkee. By Lieut. Be H.. Kellys Ries ick.eee ese eae eee
X11. Woodcock (Scolopaw rusticola) in Kanara. By Ti Re Belly os. .6c eae Rt ala eee
213°
XIII.
XIV.
xe:
XOWAle
xe Vee
2 WAM
XXII.
XXIII. LORI. XXV.
XXVI.
CONTENTS.
Occurrence of the Hastern Solitary Snipe (G. solitaria) at Haka, Chin Hills. By FY. E. W. Venning
eC i eC Ct aca
Doves nesting on the ground. By Lt.-Col. L. L. Fenton
i i eC i i Cry
Occurrence of the Lesser Flamingo (Pheni- conaias minor) in Kathiawar. By Lt.-Col. L. lL. Fenton.
i i Ck i cy
Breeding of the Great Stone Plover (Hsacus recurvirostris). By H. R. 8. Hasted
Two Birds’ Nests from Tibet. By Capt. F. M. Bailey
Bird Notes from a homeward bound steamer in November. By Major H. A. F. Magrath. The Smew (Mergus albellus). By Lieut. R. Francis
Roller catching its prey in the water. By Major H. Delmé Radcliffe Shrikes’ Larders. By Capt. J. R. J. Tyrrell, LMS. ,
eee eee eee eee eee eee tee eee eee ees eee ees eee ese aas
Occurrence of the Lesser Florican or Likh (Sypheotis aurita) out of season. By Capt. dy dis dia liaimmelly USE Acaoc seco ouueby sgussoued
Shrikes’ Larders. By Major H. A. F. Magrath A Snake flirtation. By Coleridge Beadon...
The Food of Crocodiles. By Capt. H. W. IMGYEHN, IR, 5cocodasoncebsoonoecdoun obo Sdécosees
Remarks on the Varieties and Distribution of the Common Green Whipsnake (Dryophis mycterizans). By Major F. Wall, LM.s., (QuINIVASSo Gaobioe nca500 000000000000 00000000000000000C
iw) bo Ns)
vi CONTENTS
XXVII. Note on the Breeding of Hehis carinata.
By Lt.-Col. W. B. Bannerman, I.M.S., M.D.,
DS Oeics ee ak Ce ere mine ote i:hes See
XXVIII. Notes on the viviparus habit of Jerdon’s Pit
Viper (Lachesis. jerdonv) and observations
on the foetal tooth inthe unborn embryo.
By Major EEaWealliicwis)y CNC ZS. seee nee
OXX. Sarge Mahseer: — By IN By Kinnear =. eee XXX. Entomological Notes :—
By H. Maxwell-Lefroy, T. V. Ram Krishna
Aayar and El. E. Mann yy) 2y2)- ces eeeeeee
XXXI. The Distinctions between Terias silhetana
and Terias hecabe. By Lt.-Col. N. Manders,
RL A.MiC...5 or pa tine cece nee one eRe eee
XXXIT. A Giant Sunflower (Hehanthus annuus,
Limm>)) By. Sa Veiled eens eee teaeee
XXXII. Scientific Nomenclature. By F. EH. W.
V CUMING Ce cece ot caauwe ns ens eee
XXXIV. The preservation of Natural History Speci-
mens. By Gordon Dalgleish =: )-27--eesse
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING of Members of the Bombay
Natural History Society held on 3rd February 1910...
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING of Members of the Bombay
Natural History Society held on 7th April 1910 ......
No. 2.
THE GAME BIRDS OF Inp1a, Burma AND CreyLon. Part II. The Eastern Solitary Snipe and the Wood Snipe. (With Plates IT and Il.) By EH. C. Stuart Baker, F.LS., F.Z.80,°M.BsOLUs ous sa eee ee ae eeeeene E eee eee eee
THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. Part VIL By ‘Ty Re Bell, 16) a eee eee eee
PAGE
230
259
279
CONTENTS.
A COLLECTION OF THE OPHIADIA FROM THE CHIN HILLS. (With notes on the same by Major F. Wall, 1™.s., CHILLS) Tey 1h ld. Wie Wier Mc88 2co 50 ose cooticouccdoe
A NEW TROPIDONOTUS FROM THE CHIN Hitis. (Tropidonotus venningt, sp. n.) By Major F. Wall, 1.M.S., C.M.Z.S. ...
THe PatmMs or British INDIA AND CEYLON, INDIGENOUS AND InTRopUCED. Part Il. (With Plates I, (11, IV amma, WV) Teyp 1, IBanneIe, Silo Séc cso ce bodceocaonccaowerb och
THE BUTTERFLIES OF Kumaun. Part I]. By F. Hannyng- WON, JaCHS: “eo geisttess pape CHOS SEEN OSCE SOR Bat SonerE ECC oM aMancnnecn &
A FurtTHer List or Birrps ON THE BuHaAmo DISTRICT, Upper Burma. By Major H. H. Harington (92nd [PAD on | OPIS) oan aoe res ches cake: a2 ays eA ENR Beene ee ee
A lLisr or THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE PaLNr HILLs. By Capt. W. H. Evans, Rk. E. (With a Note on Migration, loyy: diy ited Ne(0)) SAME anaes cot okheesenptonsapnns
THE NaruraL History or Bompay Mauaria. (With Plates Tand II.) By Charles A. Bentley, M.B., c.m. (Hdin.), [D)KIEI IP IOAN Co'nusle (Orta 3) hehe meres ononme cebu So nabens cocobe
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO CERTAIN LOCAL BUTTERFLY Misisee by Captain We Elo iivams, RBar sco cllin-
A PRELIMINARY LisT OF THE FISHES OF TIRHOOT, BENGAL. lBhy (Grarooin Denker ies) ny Sebee obs scsoscetone shpeeccueonsouscnon
DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIAN MicRO-LEPIDOPTERA. Part XII. Divgullli pee Ml evacickemByAla sb R Sa EZ.Sc. be ecta tte i: /aveaee. se oats:
NOTES RELATING TO THE DISTRIBUTION, HABiTs AND NIDIFICA- TION OF Certhia himalayana, Vigors (THE HIMALAYAN TREE-CREEPER), IN AND AROUND SIMLA AND THE ADJA- CENT RanGes. By P. T. L. Dodsworth, F.z.s. ..
PLANTS OF THE PunJas. <A. Brief Descriptive Key to the Flora of the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir. Part VI. By Colonel C. J. Bamber, MENGE MRR IES eran skins Hoel setae secant. csi. vc elks see gu gee nts
vil
PAGE
373
380
435
463
4:68
Vill
CONTENTS.
Review—Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phaleenze in the British Museum, Voll (UXG sate) pete seeete- eee e renee
THE SuHootine Season, 1908-1909. By N. B. Kinnear ...
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—
Ih.
Ie, iOl
Ne
WAL
WAU,
WANE
xe
xe
xe
XII.
Food of the Hoolock or White-browed Gib- bony) By J.C lice Macehtell) eee Sacer Vitality of a Tiger. By W. J. H. Ballantine. Panther found away from its usual haunts. By “ie Hehe at he iyGen ences. n eens a naan The Call of the Sloth Bear. By Captain Rh. De Woster wa. 222.. 005 eran oe onc ene ee aeaee Occurrence of the Ermine (Putorius erminea) in Chitral. By Major F. Wall, LMs., (ChINI-AdSa to aneeague duane aaGsoogoad Ooo OdgQodG0D0000002 Tapir (Tapirus indicus) near houses. By J. B. Mercer Adami, F.CcHiS i i.2e5. nese eeeeree Notes on Tigers. By J. B. Mercer Adam, InAOsla la vonla soGoD eo Oo Koso CORDOEE nOnGOCASAwaemb.add0.000 Intelligence displayed by Short-billed Mini- vets (Pericrocotus brevirostris) when their nests are in danger. By P. T. L. Dods- WOTDH, "WAS G ae nat ce sauce toa ae eee The Himalayan Greenfinch. By P. T. L. Dodsworth) 32.805 ju. dashes ue ee eee Note on the Spotted Munia (Uroloncha punctulata) and the Indian Red Munia (Sporeginthus amandava). By C. M. Inglis. Note on Blyth’s Baza (Bazu jerdoni). By H. A.D" Abreu, F218) 50.8.) eee ee eee
Occurrence of the Lesser Flamingo (Phoni- conmas minor) in Kathiawar. By Captain A. Hi. i. Mossesimane apencee seen ee
O17
No
OEY.
XIV.
DOS
XOVPE
XVIT.
XVIII.
2OQUL,
OCU
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
CONTENTS.
Pied Imperial Pigeon and Sheldrake in Arra- Gem, Wir IN, 18), Wiuoneene Yoon sacdocasseanes A Breeding Ground of the Tbis-Bill (Lbidoryn- chus strutherst). By S. L. Whymper...... A variety of the Pea-Fowl. By J. B. Mercer JANG be yale NP ORISIs ener bil selena coho onGRno Tes The Indian White-Hye (Zosterops palpe- brosa). By Major H. H. Harington (92nd JP WICH ONS) bane ben eae HoeHek oN boUEDbeCusodocd oud CdS The importance of correctly identifying Poisonous Snakes. By Major F. Wall, TUMESMR@ENIRZASE Wee co NUnaielaty My abate inoyG Na, A fatal case of Viperine Poisoning. By Miayorsh i Wialliiemeses, Chive Za Sapsta-ivotaee see Food of Crocodiles. By P. T. L. Dodsworth, WNpfAdSn odansocosbadooo pov obAboSOoUDGO SUD eCNOGADODOOD Another fatal instance of Viperine Poisoning. By Captain C. H. Reinhold, 1.M.s........... Varieties of the Common Green Whipsnake (Dryophis mycterizans). By Major F. Wall, HoWloSiooa0 000 000000000000 00d 500000 000000000 ond 000008 Fishing in Burma. By J. B. Mercer Adam, I OolEloo0' 090000000005 000 005000000000 000 D0 000000005 Note on Dr. Bentley’s Paper ‘“‘ The Natural History of Malaria.” By Lt.-Col. W. B. IO BWONDTETO ONO, IEMs (ARBAB Aas SeAmEEBoe An douo tee Pairing of the Spider Nephila maculata, Fabr. Biya © solen Cerise chien. sai. ce unatin ween etl: Further Note on the Spider Nephila maculata. Biv Coote ©, Mische raise sons .cliis yee cose Biological Note on Aphnceus hyparqyrus. (With a Plate.) By Captain F. C, Fraser, IDWS poo doo ooo oon DD UDO OST UOA AOD OOO DOO DODOODOOOGGD
5928
CONTENTS
r4
XXVIi. Entomological Notes—Croce jilipennis, West. (With a Plate.) By C. C. Ghosh, Assist. to
Jimi 4) Bintomoloeasthmrerecree eee Eee eee reere
XXVIII. The Food of Dragon-Flies. By F. J. MC re He eee ake sete ne yea eee i he
XXIX. New Volumes of the ‘“ Fauna.” By Dr. N. Anamandale 2 etek ie oe Oe
XXX. —Scientific Nomenclature. By E. Meyrick, Bolg, BER Sig ERA cS) kote onsen oc ciee take eee
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING OF MEMBERS held on 23rd Pres ehOUO ee eed, 1 yy ae
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING OF MEMBERS held on 25th August WOROS Posto. Asean a CN
EXTRACTS FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BALUCHISTAN NaTuRAL History SoOciery
see wee eee wee eee eee wee ewe oe ew ee oe
No. 3.
THe GAME Birps oF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. Parr III. The Common or [Fantail Snipe, Radde’s Snipe, the Great Snipe, the Pintail Snipe and Swinhoe’s Snipe. (With Plates A, B and C and Maps A and B.) By KE. C. Stuart Baker; F..8., F.Z.S., M.B.0.U.
Ce ee ee
ORCHIDS OF THE BomBay, PRESIDENCY. Part XI. By G. A.
(GiaWeNTIMNNe, IsibeSs bodecccas cou daed Seiad Gan wad eine ee
A PopuLaR TREATISE ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. Part XIV. Vropidonotus stolatus and Psammophis condana- rus. (With Plate XIV, Diagrams I and II and Map.) By Major FP) Wall, 1.M.S.,°CoM. ZS) 2.0ee) eee eee
THE Morus or Inpia. Series 1V, Part I. By Sir George Hy Hampson, Bart, F:Z:S.) EVE'S. ceeeeter ee nee eee
THE PALMS oF British INDIA AND CEYLON, INDIGENOUS AND InrropucED. Part III. (With Plates VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XI and Map B.) By EH. Blatter, s.s.
PAGE
530
5398
533
504
535
538
541
603
634.
675
CONTENTS.
DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIAN Micro-LeEpipopTera. XIII. By 19), MMAR, Taailas JPRIRESHS 3967S hn Oriana Bn Beton COBH DE Nabdaon an a THE Karaiawar Lion. (With an Illustration.) By Lt.- Cop ae enbOmnterrencws cs emcee Naa cn ni Na NOTES ON SOME BUTTERFLIES FROM THE INDIAN REGION. By Coes enine= Philippe Wns. easter ee nae FurTHER NOTES ON SNAKES FROM THE CHIN Hits. By Capt. F. H. W. Venning. (With Notes by Major F. AV ell IAN iE SROMNEZASE CMa NRA M Rte a Len Baal tes nals, ON THE BiRDS OF KOHAT AND THE KURRAM VALLEY, NORTH- ERN Inp1a. Part Il. By Lieut. C: H. T. Whitehead. PLANTS OF THE PungaB. Part VII. By Lieut.-Col. C. J. amie ise Hla SaarIe MiG ai totaal arene al meuniere es RU ausalercy anemia | 6 A NOTE ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE GIANT CREEPER (Calycop- teris floribunda). (With a Plate.) By Professor V.N. JE LaRGey O14 TSKC AMM ACs eu eee PNR Meron Whee eye Ie a Ciinid ache A 1 Reviews.—Fauna of India. Coleoptera Lamellicorina, I; Catalogue of Orthoptera, Part III. Acridiidze ; Indian Birds) kvecords, of the) Indian’ Museum =...-)...4..-.2 5.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—
I. Hyzena with deformed feet. (With an Illus- tration.) By Capt. R. E. Lloyd, LM.s. ...
Il. Porcupines (Hystriv lewcura) found in the lomlllss Bye (Oly Wig INGEN soda aausocbcodonces
Iii. An abnormal Chinkara head. (With an J[ulnasiiranseeiie)) TBNF bs IKe oponnc-sodaccoscocs on
IV. Hardwicke’s Hedgehog (Hrinaceus collaris) at
Fatehgarh.. By Major H. Fulton ......... V. King Crows and Butterflies. By H. Leslie PATLOTEWES® Sastre a silat mad | hedeaiel
VI. The Spotted Wing (Psaroglossa spiloptera). Bivae Miajor el aihiull tomy sayin cows
xi
PAGE 706 Vay
753
770 776
800
837
841
84:7
848
849 849 850
851
Xl
Wa:
VIII.
xSiE
XSI E:
XV.
xvas
NOWIOL
XOV ET:
CONTENTS.
The Himalayan Greenfinch (Hypacanthus
spinoides). By B. B. Osmaston............ Roller catching its prey in the water. By Gordon) Dale eshte seep Lorceatie reer An Albino Hoopoe (Upupa indica). By
eee see eee soe eee eee eos ewe
A. T. Brooke, R.H.A. Nesting habits of the Common Pariah Kite
(Milvus_ govinda). By H. A. D’Abreu,
IDEA tase ro NNN EIN NPR RAN UEAA CHAM AR ES 40.56. cho. Nidification of the Sarus Crane (Grus antigone). By Stanley Pershouse .........
Woodcock shooting in the Nilgiris. CapteaG. ©) Wamlbtom ta. eee eee rere
The Lesser White-fronted or Dwarf Goose on Kabul River. By Lt. J. D. G. Wignall
Ducks in Okhamandal. By Capt. A. H. E. IMOSSe 2 TMA Gace ek See Ae rien ee ch eee
Do Smews (Mergus albellus) go in pairs ? By C. E. Fendall
The Bronze-backed Tree Snake (Dendre-
eee eee eee eee eee coe seoe se ees
laphis tristis) at Bina, C. P. By H. [eysinenTe! (COO!KGan odo cscdnsneqposeansansorsecce. Extension of the habitat of Lycodon fasciatus. By H. A. D?Albreus, F780). ae Notes on a brood of young Sea-Snakes (Distira spiralis, Shaw). By Major F.
Wall, 1.M.S.,. ©iMGZS8).. 2. eee eee Krait and Landria (D. trigonatus). By J. La lis) Cai HRA MMR AGN ace udabono cto. 5 20 Case of Snakebite from Himalayan Viper. By Capt. J. HE. M. Boyd, R.A.M.C............ The food of a Bull-frog. By H. M. Chibber.
PAGE
852
853
853
854
855
856
857
864 865
OMI
XXIII.
XOXUDE:
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVIT.
XXVIII. XXIX.
XXX.
XXXII.
XXXII.
XXXITT.
OMG
XXXV.
XOXO
XXXVIT.
CONTENTS.
Fishing in Burma. By Major J. H. White-
Argynnis hyperbius, var. castetsi: an appeal. By iut.-Col. N. Manders, ¥.z.S. .............. Notes on Colotis in Sind. By Capt. F. C.
IBIAS IMI Ne Sco ane eisrestrets Meare Sue eS ct Aa near
The occurrence of Afella alcippe, Cramer, in North Malabar. By P. M. Lushington,
we eee eee eee eee tee eee eee eee eee eee eee ees eee eee
Food-plants (Atella phalantha). By H. Leslie
JaVLENO HEN ICIS Mone So ABER n Ge HOA MBO eRe Bae BE er On aE Larva of Vanessa indica. By E. Ernest Green. Butterflies of the Konkan. By EH. Comber. Addendum. By F.
Ialsnaush sales ay ce ianen MAA aarti: bacon Gos@nouco do.
Butterflies of Kumaun.
Notes on life history of Vanessa indica and hashinirensis. By F. ban mye boneeaeee eee Some Butterflies taken at Fatehgarh.
Captekise Demeilenen ein. eget aecmance, Notes on life history of Papilio ravana, Moone, lexy It; Jelevan an yinennoyone. coereceos 250600 Hawk-Moth and Spider. By C. G. C. Trench, ACIS Hoe Camb OuueKos HOC ACH EEO UM aRHAn CROs C OO BEmaG The food of Dragon-flies. By Major H. LHD GaN a tte ates An cee Neat nee elm ear atise dates
An ant granary. By Capt. F. C. Fraser, AMS it aches ere sc mentee ane Maen ae earls sete The food of a Mantis. By Capt. A. H. IMO SS rel eArn net eynaa eevee lu arava AURA Th
A new Indian Grass-hopyer injurious to Agriculture
Bol.).
(Colemania — sphenarioides,
By Leshe C. Coleman, M.A., PH.D.
875
879
Xiv
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.
XL.
XU.
XLII.
XLITI.
XLIV.
XLV.
XLVI.
CONTENTS.
Remarkable mimetic resemblance between a cicadid and an arctiid Moth. By E. Hrnest Green. 7c ee oo eo eee
The occurrence of the giant Water-bug (Belostoma indica) in the Eastern Himala- yas. By BL Al DP Aires, ees. ~.2--- ee
A new method of making permanent prepa- rations— ef Mosquitos. By Chas. A.
Bentley, M.B.,D.PH., and Capt. J. Taylor,
EMS) oes icy sc secon eee ee Observations on the Spider (Galeodes indicus). By C. W.-C. Wischer — ..<2..---22se--oe eee Further note on the Spider (Nephila maculata, FPabr:) By C. EB. C: ¥ischer 22222--2e-ee The courtship of Whip-scorpions. By C. i... C. Wischer 2.4.2 2c0
Curious growth of the Palmyra Palm (Boras-
sus flabellifer, Linn.). By G. M. Ryan, BD Sion ae pane se se don cach oe eee ee The varieties of Hibiscus cultivated in gardens: By W. 5. Millard -:./::2222 Note on submerged tree-stumps discovered in Bombay harbour. (With an Illustra on:) By A. Savile .........2---- eee
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING held on 29th September
No. 4.
THE GAME Birps or Inpia, BuRMA AND CEYLON. Part IV. (With Plate IV.) By E. C. Stuart Baker, F.Ls., ©.2:9., MBO. 2.2.5.2 cscnco25 seep es eee eee eee eee
“THE PALE WEASEL”? OF BLANFORD’S *“* MAMMALIA” AND A NEW HiwaLayan VoLeE. By R. C. Wroughton .........
PAGE
882
883
883
886
887
888
889
892
894
896
901
930
CONTENTS.
A PopuLak TREATISE ON THE ComMoN INDIAN SNAKES. Part XV. Bungarus fasciatus and LInyecdon fasciatus. (With Plate XV, 2 Diagrams and Map.) By Major F. Wall, L.M.sS., C.M.Z.S.
On THE Brirps oF KOHAT AND THE KURRAM VALLEY, NortTHern Inpia. By Lieut. C. H. T. Whitehead THe PaLMs OF BriTISH INDIA AND CEYLON, INDIGENOTS AND IntropuceD. Part IV. (With Plates, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI and XVII.) By EH. Blatter, s.s.
A new MorINE GENUS AND SPECIES FROM SIND, WITH
DIAGNOSIS OF THE THREE OTHER NEW GENERA BASED ON PREVIOUSLY KNOWN SPECIES OF “ Mus.” By Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S., British Museum
On A SMALL COLLECTION OF RODENTS FROM LOWER SIND. By R. C. Wroughton
Some Maymyo Birps. By Major H. H. Harington
ee ee ee a
ORIENTAL FLYING SQUIRRELS OF THE ‘‘ PTEROMYS”’ GROUP. yeeecne eV TOUS tite Sot ea ocak ee ee eh ene
A Stupy or Sea-sHoRE VEGETATION. By W. Burns, B. SOMEONE) pt edenne pee Se xe arcto anaisi52 ies saad de gine ee
NotTES ON GAME ANIMALS FROM NEAR GYANTSE AND IN THE CuHumsBI VALLey. (IWVitha Plate.) By Capt. F.M. Bailey.
REMARKS ON THE SNAKE COLLECTION IN THE QUETTA MUSEUM. By Major F. Wall, 1.M.s., C.M.z.s.
ee
A SECOND LIST OF MossEs FROM WESTERN Invi. By L. J. Sedgwick, I.c.s.
THe Morus or Inpia. Serres IV, Part Il. (With Plate F.) By Sir George F. Hampson, Bart., F.Z.S., F.E.S. ........
PLANTS OF THE Pungas. Part VI. By Lieut.-Colonel C. J. Bamber, F.L.S., I.M.S.
Se ee ae aa
PROTECTION OF WILD BIRDS IN INDIA AND TRAFFIC IN PLU- MAGE. By P. T. lu. Dodsworth, F.z.s.
kV
PAGE
(Kes co Ou
996
1000 1002
1012
Xv1 CONTENTS,
Common BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. Part IX. (With Plates D and, D7) By dee tep ellen see: ce A Survey OF THE MAMMALIAN Fauna OF INDIA, BURMA AND CUBIV, EOIN ald ces = eoceoce tcf seb dchcveal i NC LGR IO ae Review.—An Introduction to Biology for students in India. By Capt. R. E. Lloyd, 1.m.s.—Indian Harth- WOLMS ang their. Distribution ee tessee sees eee MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :— I. Vitality of a wounded Tiger. By W. Forsyth
II.. Old wounds in Tiger and Panther. By Ineut-Col. L. L. Fenton.................02%
JII. The number of Cubs in a Tiger’s litter. By
W.. Porsyth 2200. eee. eee
IV. Sambur and Tiger. By H. W. Seton-Karr.., Vi...) Food-of Sambux. (By ai@hassG ray aero eee VI. Abnormal number of young ina Markhor. By J. “Ay Pothimg@en sii .k Sadan eee eee
WAL. iNew tndian) Bats) ieee eee VIII. Great Indian Fin Whale near Ratnagiri. By Nig Bi Rmmears eon cits. cee
IX. The Rufous-backed Sparrow (Passer pyrrhs- notws, Blyth), ~ By El. Whistler” 2-24 -eeere
X. The Himalayan Greenfinch (Hypacanthis spinoides). By EH. A. D’Abreu, F.Z.S.......
XI. Blyth’s Baza (Baza Jerdoni). By Alex. M. Primrose? (Angad Jacek oe bee ak sea CeCe eee
XII. Second cccurrence of the European Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in India. By Capt. M.
HA. (Simonds .255 0 .0ss.. ose ee ee eee eee
XIT1. The European Bustard (Otis tarda) in North- ern India. By Lieut.-Col. H. Fooks, I.M.s.
PAGE 1S
1137
1144
1147 1148
1148 1149 1149
1150 1150
1151
1151
1152.
1152
1152
1153
OIE:
WADI.
XVIL.
IDX
XOXe:
DOP
ZONE
XXIII.
ZOD
XXV.
XEXGY, Ik
XXVIT.
CONTENTS.
Little Bustard (Otis tetraxe) in Kashmir. yale. Wirtehell ieee sea tecys Sateae oceans « Weights of Nilgiri Woodcock. By Major IPI IE wip ace tiearer ase gelesen targa ee anne fee sere Occurrence of the Great Snipe (Gallinago major) near Bangalore. By EH. C. Stuart IDRIS, TIC ASos JOWATSan) IUUMOLIUH-. ado nmenee can ok Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) on the Mekran (Const, Isr In, Gr Sian Noite ss anc soooesscubee The Dwarf Goose (Anser erythropus) near valonyl, Jayy (i, dal, Jeliwasiron — scooeeconoce Notes on Ducks at Kohat. By W. M. osant Homey ee ere eee ens ee oe Birds nesting in the Nila Valley (Garhwal), Bir Se Je NATO Seo ccc SOREN Are Pa eine e The broad snouted Mugger in the Indus. By Ibpiesonis, Inte IME on acaeebacosobasonsce eooenc
A new Snake (Simotes juglandifer) hitherto unrecognised as a distinct species. By Weyor It. \NV@llly Tees. OmNirAiSheoce sous seckee
Notes on the Colour of the Common Keelback. TS yg clea Mbt Hi vaniS! oust a ateh eae ataemeayes alee Mosquitos and Fish. By Capt. R. E. Lloyd, TEINS ALN ane sci tckie EO UKen es SPREE eA SN err
Note on the Bugs (Aspongopus janus.) By ilescol ioe Mannie so cstiaie Wee onan.
Ferocity of female Mantis. By Leslie C, (OKGIVESTOVEH STR ee bE Nyce ON ath aera eave
A Common Blister Beetle (Cantharis rouzxi, cast.) as a nuisance to man. By Leslie C. Colictinenien MMU nak Mee each eat ae Alias saan
1160
1162
1164
1165
1166
1167
XViil CONTENTS.
PAGE XXVIII. Galls of Paracopiun cingalense, Walk., on Clerodendron phlomidis, Linn. f. By C. H. Ce aischien 4. ceerereccnee ES al dae, Waa Geis Ree 1169 XXIX. Note on the rate of growth of Barnacles in Imdian Seas. By N>Anmandalle, 22) eer iene
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING held on 19th January 1911, Ond February 1911, 9th March 1911, and 11th April
110) Ih ieee eae RPM eRNP OS riers GbE sae NGUbIGpORES 500 35° 1173
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
VOLUDREE ===.
Pace
Apam, J. B. Mercer, F.C.H.; Tapir (Tapirus indicus) near
houses Seollies Thane? Notes on Tigers 515 A variety of the Pea-Fowl.. 520 Fishing in Burma .. 56 OAH Atyar, T. V. RAMAKRSIHNA ; Life History of a Lemaneria on Castor (Orgyia postica, Wilk.); Breeding notes on Eumenes conica ie) 243 AnpEerson, Dr. Knup; New Indian Bats . so JOO AnpvrEweEs, H. Lestiz; King Crows and Butterflies bo SiO) ; Food- plants of Atella phalantha .. 870 ANNANDALE, Dr. N.; New Volumes of the Fauna 533 ; Note , on the rate of growth of Barnacles in Indian Seas .. 1170 Baxsr, EH. C. Srvart, F.L.S., eZee MB .OLU. =) The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon .. ne be 1
The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon. Part II. (With Plates II and TIT) .. 259
? The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon. Part III. The Common or Fantail Snipe, Radde’s Snipe, the
the Pintail Snipe and Swinhoe’s Snipe. (With Plates A, B, C and MHDS ZL, IB) 6
Great Snipe,
D The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon. (With Plate IV)
>) Great Snipe (Gallinago major) near Bangalore Baxer, Major H. R.; cWersute of Nilgiri Woodcock Bainey, Capt. F.M.; Two Birds’ Nests from Tibet - ; Notes on Game Animals
Occurrence of the
from near Gyantze and in the Chumbi Valley. (With a Plate)
Battantine, W. J. H.; Vita- lity of a Tiger
Bamber, Lt.-Col. C. J., F.L. S., I.M.S.; Plants of whe ‘Shrine jab. A iprigs Descriptive Key to the Flora of the Punjab, North-West Frontier Pro- vince and Kashmir. Part VI.
;
Plants of the Punjab
Plants of the Punjab Bannerman, Lt.-Col. W.B.,
M.D., D.Sc.; Note on the
Breeding of Echis carinata. .
Rae: piper) Note on Dr. Bentley’s paper “The Natural History of Malaria” .. ve
Pace
901
468:
800
XOX: LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
PAGE
BEapon, CoLERIDGE; A Snake Flirtation .. fe 50 8) 2pks Bett, T.R., 1.F.S.; Woodcock (Scolopar rusticola) in Kanara ae ne ey aly) —— + Lhe Com-= mon Butterflies of the Plains of India a He to ay) ; The Com- mon Butterflies of the Plains of India. Part IX (With Plates D' and D*) .. 5 US Bentiey, Cuas. A., M.B.C. M. (Edinb.),D.H.P.,D.T.M.&H, (Camb.); The Natural His- tory of Bombay Malaria. (With Plates I § 11) and Capt. J. Tavior, I.M.8.; A new method of making permanent preparations of Mosquitoes .. ue .. 883 BrertHon, Major H. W.; Jackal hunting with Wild Dogs .. a 8: a5 lS)
Co Ne) bo
The Rudimentary Clavicles of a Panther. a 216 Buatrer, E., 8. Ts ; Lhe Palms of Birtish finda andl Ceylon, indigenous and introduced. 33 - ; The Palms of British India and Ceylon, indigenous and introduced. Part Il, With Plates II, ITI, IV and V) ave .. O47 ; The Palms of British India and Ceylon, indigenous and introduced. Part II. (With Plates VI, WAGE VAGUE IO Xe Gah” XE and Map B) .. ay 54 67 ; The Palms of British India and Ceylon, indigenous and introduced,
Part IV. Weth Plates XII, ATT, XIV, XV, XVI and X VIL) in os BOD, ie Bie ie eR eAr ie Cae Case of Snake-bite from Himalayan Viper oe Brooxst, A. T.; An Albino Hoope (Upupa indica) Burns, Wittiam, B.Sc.; A. Tamarix Association -—; A Study of Seashore Vegetation
Pace
981
Cuipper, H. M.; The Food of ,
a Bull-Frog .. :
CoLteMAN, Lestiz C, M. A. Ph, D.; A new adie Gas hopper injurious to Agricul- ture (Colemania sphenarioides Bol.) ..
————-——; Ferocity of Female Mantis
———+— —— ; A Common Blis- ter Beetle (Cantharis rouxt, Cart.) as a Nuisance to man.
Comper, E.; Butterflies of the Konkan ;
Cooxt, E. Bernarp; The Bronze-backed Tree-snake (Dendrelaphis tristis) at Bina, CoPe.&
D’Aprev, EH. A., F.Z.S.; Note on Blyth’s Baza (Baza jerdont) Ws ie
- ; Nest-
ing habits of the Common
Pariah Kite (Milvus govinda).
; Ex- tention of the habitat of
Lycodon fasciatus we
— =) ihe occurrence of the Giant
Water-Bug (Belostoma indica)
in the Eastern Himalayas..
879
alas
883
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. XXi
D Asreu, EH. A., F.Z.S.; The Himalayan Greenfinch (Hy- pacanthis spinotdes) ..
DateLeIsH, Gorpon ; The Pre- servation of Natural History Specimens
——;A prelimi- nary list of the Fishes of Tirhoot, Bengal es
—_—_ ——--—_—— _; Roller cat- ching its prey in the water.
Dewar, F., 1.0.8. ; The Call of the Sloth-Bear te
DopswortH, P. T. L., F.Z:S. ; Notes relating to the Distri- bution, Habits and Nidifica- tion of Certhia himalayana, Vigors, in and around Simla and the adjacent Ranges ..
Intelligence displayed by Short-billed Minivets (Per- crocotus brevirostris) when their nests are in danger
The Himalayan Greenfinch.
PAGE
249
463
y 5
Food of Crocodiles ..
Protection of Wild Birds m India and traffic in Plumage.
Epirors; A Survey of the Mammalian Fauna of India, Burma and Ceylon ..
Kvans, Capt. W.H., R.E. ; A
list of the Butterflies of the
Palni Hills with a note on
Migration by J. Evershed.
9 Additions and corrections to
certain local Butterfly Lists.
Evans, T. M.; Notes on the colour of the Common Keel- back ..
1105
- UIs7
380
425
1164
Pace
EversHep, J.; Note on the Migration of Butterflies .. 380
Fenpatu, C. K.; Porcupines (Hystirix leucura) found in the hills af Ae .. 848 ————-——.—; Do Smews (Mergus albellus) go in pairs ? = 857 Fenton, L. L., Lt.-Col. ; Dis- tribution of the Sloth-Bear or Indian Bear (Melursus
ursinus) os ae 5 als} - 5 Bae
Baluchistan Bear .. Bis nee -; Doves
nesting on the ground ng AD) - ; Occur-
rence of the Lesser Flamingo (Pheniconais minor) in Kathiawar .. ie SE eal 37 he Kathiawar Lion. (With an
Illustration) .. se oe Cal Old
wounds in Tiger and Pan-
ther .. oe : . 1148
Fiscuer, C.K. C.; Pairing of
the Spider (Nephile macu-
lata) .. ae Se so OAS ——_——_—_—— ; Further
Note on the Spider (Nephile
maculata) oe ; Observa- tions on the Spider (Galeodes
indicus) a ae .. 886 ; Further note on the Spider (Nepizle maculata, Fabr.) .. oo Stoll! —— ; The Court- ship of Whip Scorpions .. 888 —_-—__——_——; Galls of
Paracopium cingalense, Walk. on Clerodendron phlomidis, IbpTana, 6 6 Be a a LUGS,
XxX
Fooxs, Lieut.-Col. H., I.M.S. ; European Bustard (Otis tarda) in Northern India
Forsytu, Captain H.W., R.E.; The food of Crocodiles
—____, W.; Vitality of a wonnded Tig er
; The number of Cubs in a Tiger s litter
Foster, Capt. R. T. ; The Call of the Sloth-Bear
Francis, Lieut. RK. ; The Sniew
; The Broad- snouted Mugger in the Indus
FRASER, Capt. F. C., 1.M.S.; Biological note on Aphneus hypargyrus. (With a Plate).
3
Notes on Calotis in Sind
? An Ant-granary ,. Furton, Major H.; Hat wicke’s Hedgehog (Br wmaceus collaris) at Fatehgarh ; The Spot- ted wing (Psaroglossa spilop- CCH) mee ain bp nee — ; The Food of Dragon-flies
Gammniz, G. A., F.L.S.; Orchids of the Bombay Presidency. Part X. (With Plate X)...
; Orchids of the Bombay POuve Part XI :
Gave, W.; Sloth Beer valle her Sans when attacked ..
GuosH, C. C.; Entomological notes (Croce filipennis). (With a Plate)
Gray, CHas.; bur
Food of Sam-
GREEN, J. ieee Vanessa indica
Larva of
PAGE
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
Green, EK. Ernest; Remark- able resemblance between a Cicadid and an Aretud Moth
mimitic
Hampson, Sir Guo. F., Bart., ¥.Z.S., F.E.S ; The Moths of
India. Series IV, Part 1. The Moths of India. Series Vee Bacula. 5 The Moths of India. Series IV, Part III : Hannyneton, F., 1.C.8.; The Butterflies of _Kumaon.
(With a Map)
; The Butterflies of Kumaon. Part Il a ; The
Ad- dendum notes on life-history of Vanessa indica and V. kash- MANCNSUS
Butterflies of Kumaon.
; Notes life-history of Papilio ravana, Moore Harinetron, Major H. H.; A further List of Birds of athe Bhamo District, Upper Burma
on
; The Indian White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa)
; Some Maymyo Birds
Hastrep, H. kh. S.; Breeding of the great Stone-plover (Esacus recurvirostiis)
Hatt, Prorressorn V. N.; A note on the Structure of the Giant Creeper (Calycop- teris floribunda), (With a Plate). oe
PaGE
83
634
. 1046
130
875
857
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
PAGE
Heartu, R. H.; Panther found away from its usual haunts. Homes, W. M. Logan; Notes on Ducks at Kohat .. . 1156
513
Inetis, C. M.; Notes on the Spotted Munia (Uroloncha punctulata) and the Indian Red Munia (Sporeginthus amandava) 517
K., R.; An abnormal Chinkara head. (With an illustration).
Ketty, Lieut. E. H., R.E.; Occurrence of the Bronze- capped Teal (Hunetta fal- cata) near Roorkee .. =
Kinnear, N. B.; A Record Panther og a See malle!
; Large
Mahseer one mF: ob Bee
; The Shoot-
ing Season, 1908-1909
; Pied In-
perial Pigeon and Sheldrake
in Arracan |
——
sGatevart Indian Fin-Whale near Rat- nagiri
Lampton, Capt. G. C.; Wood- cock shootingin the Nilghiris of te
linown Capi i. Hey LIMES: ; Hyena with deformed feet. .
——- ; Mosqui- toes and Fish . 1165
Lusuineton, P.M.,1.F.S.;The oceurrence of Atella alcippe, Cramer, in North Malabar. .
847
869
MacratuH, Major H. A. F. ; In- troduction to Lieut. C.H.I. Whitehead on the birds of Kohat and the Valley, Northern India
Kurruin 169
Xxill PAGE Maeratu, Major H.A.F.; The food of the Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius erythronotus) 218 —_— —_—__—1____—1—_; Bird notes from a homeward . bound steamerin November. 222 —_—__—__—__--—__; Shri- kes Larders .. on ah EN Manvers, Lt.-Col. N., F.Z.8., F.E.S.; The distinctions between Terias silhetana and T. hecabe 245 ae Argynnis hyperbius var. castetsi, an appeal 866 Mann, H.H.; Entomological notes from a recent tour 244 a Note on the Bugs (Aspongopus janus) 1166 Maxwett-Lerroy, H.; Ento- mological Notes :— (a). What is a Cuckoo- Spit ? sg ae (6). Idiocerus and _ its broods . 235 (c). The eggs of Jettigo- niella e250 (d). What do Dragon-flies eat? 236 (ce). Whatisaspecies?.. 238 (f). “Indian Insect Life.” 239 (g). The “ Coleopterorum Catalogus” .. 239 (4). Genera Insectorum.. 241 Meyrick, EH., B.A., FE.R.S., F.Z.8.; Descriptions of Indian Micro-Lepidoptera. XI 143 Descriptions of Indian Micro-Lepidoptera. Part ROT oe are 435 Scientific Nomenclature 534
XXIV
PAGE
Minyrion, .Hi, BA.) ERS:
F.Z.8.; Descriptions of Indian Micro-Lepidoptera. Part XIII i?
Mittarp, W.S.; The varieties of Hibiscus cultivated in gardens
MircuHe.t, F. J.; The ea of Dragon-flies .. d v0 ; Little Bus- tard (Otis tetrav)in Kashmir ——_——, J.C. H.; Food of the Hoolock or White-browed Gibbon Mossz, Capt. A. H., I. ge , Nidi- fication of the Saris Chane. A. W.; Occur- rence of the Lesser Flamingo (Pheniconaias minor) in Ka- thiawar
A. H.; Ducks in Okhamandal
The Food of a Mantis ..
Osmaston, B. B.; The Himala- yan Greonanch (fh ee spinoides) : cis
Peru, Capt. H. D.; Some Butterflies taken at Fateh- garh ..
PERCIVAL, G. s. date aN S. B.: Birds feeding he young. .
PERSHOUSE, STANLEY; Nidi- fication of the Sarus Crane (Grus antig eee) 5
Purnston, G. H.; The Daren Goose (Anser e aii opus) near Fyzabad : 5
PotrincerR, J. A.; Abnormal number of young in a Mar- chor.) ae
Primrose, Anex. M.; Baza (Baza jerdoni). .
Blyth
706
. 1150
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
Ravcuirre, H. Detme’, R.W.F.; Roller catching its prey in the water
REINHOLD, Capt. C. H. LM. - Another fatal case of vanes rine Poisoning j
Rue’-Puitrezr, G. W. V. F.E.S.; Notes on some Butterflies from the Indian Region
Ryan, G. M., FZ. So . Cuneee growth of the Palme Palm (Borassus flabellifer Linn.) .
de,
Savitz, L. H.; merged
Note on sub- Tree-stumps dlis- covered in Bombay Harbour (With an illustration) : Sepewick, L. J, LCs; A second taist of Mosses trom Western India Seton-Karr, H. W.; | Sambar and Tiger SHEVADE, S. V.; A pian Sune flower (Eee aNNUUS) .. Srimonps, Capt. M. H.; Second occurrence of the European Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in India ae Magis dy eles isGeenne Landria (D. trigonatus) Sreinuorr, F,. G.; Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) on the Mekran Coast ..
and
Tuomas, OLDFIELD, F.R.S.; A new Murine Genus and Spe- cies from Sind, with diag- noses of three other new genera based on previously known species of Mus
TRENCH, C.G.C., 1.C.8.; Hawk- Moth and Spider
TYRRELL, Captain J.-.R. I.M.S., Shrikes Larders
der
PAGE
524
753
889
894
- dlos
996
876
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
TYRRELL, Captain J.R. J., I.M.S., Occurrence of the Lesser Florican or Likh (Sy- pheotis aurita) out of season.
VENNING, Capt. F. EH. W.; Occurrence of the Hastern Solitary Snipe (Gallinago soli- taria) at Haka, Chin Hills. .
A collection of the Ophidia from the Chin Hills, with notes by Major F. Wall, I.M.S., C.M.Z.S.
Further notes on Snakes from the Chin Hills, with note by Major F. Wall, I.M.S., C.M.Z.S.
Watt, Major F., 1.M.S., C.M. Z.S.; A popular treatise on the common Indian Snakes. Part XI. (With Plate ALTIT* and Diagram)
Notes on the Viviparous habit of Jerdon’s Pit-Viper (Lachesis jerdoni) and obser- vations on the foetal tooth in the unborn embryo
Remarks on the varieties and distribution of the Common Green Whipsnake (Dryophis mycterizans) ..
Notes on a collection of the Ophidia from the Chin Hills.
> A new species of Tropidono-
PAGE
bo bo “I
“J “I (=)
bo (Ju) py
tus (Tropidonotus venning?) from the Chin Hills. .
Occurrence of the Ermine
(Putorius erminea) in Chitral.
ce ai ; The importance of correctly identifying Poisonous Snakes A fatal case Poisoning
of Viperine
ai Tae > Varieties of common green Whipsnake (Dryophis mycte-
rzans )
A popular treatise on the common Indian Snakes. Part SDV, (alia 200 ID grams I and II and Map)
Notes on Snakes from the Chin Hills Notes on a brood of young Sea-snake (Distera spiralis, Shaw)
A popular treatise on the Common Indian Snakes. Part XV. (With Plate XV. 2 Diagrams and Map)
Remarks on the Snake Col- lection in the Quetta Mu- seum
9 Anew Snake (Simotes jug- landifer) hitherto unrecog- nised as a distinct species. .
Wuistter, H.; The Rufous- backed Sparrow (Passer pyr- rhonotus, Blyth)
XXV
Pace
345
514
603
858
953,
. 1033
1162
ae A ee ae “ (Wall) Plate XIII, issued in Part II.
XXVi
WHITEHEAD, Capt. C. H. T.; On the Birds of Kohat and the Kurram Valley, Northern India, With an Introduction by Major H. A. F. Mag- rath
On the Birds of Kohat and the Kurram Valley, Nor- thern India. Part IL
On the Birdsof Kohat and Kurram Valley, Northern India
Major J. H.; Fishing in Burma
Wuymrper, S.L.; A pecedine eround of the Tbis-Bill (Lh-
dorhynchus strutherst)
PAGE
169
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS,
—___-____ _______; Birds nest- ing in the Nila Valley (Garhwal)
Wienattz, Lt. J. D. ee - The Lesser White- peated or Dwarf Goose on Kabul River
Wroveuton, R.C., F.Z.8.; On the nomenclature of the Indian Hedgehogs . ae
- ; “The Pale Weasel” of Blanford’s “Mammalia” and a new Himalayan Vole
- ; Ona small collection of Rodents from Lower Sind 5
——; Ori-
ental Flying Squirrels of the
““Pteromys” group. .
PaGE
. 1157
80
930
. 1000
. 1012
i S ln On Mie VAN ten S:
WVWOLLUORNE Sz.
To face page No. 1. The Woodcock (Scolopax rusticula). Plate I a By We Ie Group of Palms in Peradeniya Gardens, Ceylon. Platel.. Lh nO Map showing the limits of the Region of Palms. MapA .. Wavy The Common Indian Snakes (Psammodynastes pulverulentus, Ancistio-
don lamalayanus). Plate XIII Ms aA pis yer ee) Ge The Common Snakes of India. Diagrams and Map wy haraaet ed Distribution of Psammodynastes pulverulentus within Indian limits.
Map the ee ener ehO Orchids of the Torebar Pr sence (Goxsintin we PED. Plate X. 126 The Butterflies of Kumaon. Map BF ty: ae Hee lio®
; No. 2.
~The Wood-snipe (Gallinago nemoricola). Plate Il .. ar ee AO) The Eastern Solitary Snipe (Gallinago solitaria). Plate III 55 | GO)
The Palms of British India and Ceylon (Phenix sylvestris.) Plate ll.. 350
op 35 pe Group of Wild Date Palms.— 75+
(P. sylvestris). Plate I .. 352
9) - ae (P. zeylanica). PlateIV .. 396
os 33 (P. rupicola). Plate V 356
The Natural History of Bombay Malaria— Heads and legs of Bombay Anopheles Mosquitoes. PlateI.. 400
Larvee of Bombay Anopheles Mosquitoes. Plate IT .. 406 Life History of Aphneus hypargyrus. Plate A Bit a5 OS) Croce filipennis. Plate 530 No. 3. Map of the Migration Routes of the Fantail Snipe (Gallinago celestis). MapA .. te bo a as 50 OO Heads of Snipe for comparison of bills ( Gallina go stenura, G. celestis, G. nemoricola, G'. solitaria). Plate A Be es ee OOO Under Wings of Fantail Snipe, Pintail Snipe, Wood Snipe, Eastern Solitary Snipe. Plate B .. ‘ 572 Map of the Migration Routes of the Pintail Snipe (Caren go stenur 2) MapB .. a a ie abe te ei OSA.
Tails of Snipe (Gallinago megala, G. stenura, G. celestis, G. nemoricola, G. solttaria, G'. gallinula). Plate C .. Ws Sc .. 594
XXVIII
LIST OF PLATES.
To face page
The Common Indian Snakes (Tropidonotus stolatus, Psammophis con-
danarus). Plate XIV
ms ‘e Diagram 1 ..
2) ” ” ” Pon
Map showing Distribution of Psammophis condanarus The Palms of British India and Ceylon :—
Pheni« humilis: P. h. var. pedunculata, Plate VI
Phenix paludosa. Plate VII Phenix dactylifera. Plate VIII Phenix reclinata. Plate IX Chamerops humilis. Plate X
A—Trachycarpus martiana. B—T. excelsa. “Pues XI Map of the Distribution of Chamerops hunulis and Mh pine
thebarca The Kathiawar Lion (Felis ea ees
The Structure of the Giant Creeper (Calycopteris floribunda).
Plate
An abnormal Oona need (Grate lens) Text figure
No, 4, The Painted Snipe (Rostratula capensis). Plate 1V
Common Indian Snakes (Bungarus fasciatus). Diagram 1 .
37 79 39 79 Maps
s Dinodon rufozonatus and Lycodon fasciatus.
Diagram II The Bharal (Ovis nahura) Moths of India. Plate F
Common Butterflies of the Plains of India. Plates Dl
9?
vy) 09 o D5
ERRATA AND ADDENDA. VOLUME XIX. Page 30, line 34, for Loranthacee read Lawrinew. Be 34, ,, 6, for it read this buttertly.
Coloured Plate F, Fig. 39. The butterfly figured is Ypthima haldus, Fabricus, and not Y. philomela, Johannsen, as stated. Y. baldus is said to be found in the Himalayas from Chumba to Sikhim and Bhutan; Bengal; Central, Western and Southern India; Assam; Cachar, Burma and Tenasserim. Y. philomela has no sub-basal transverse fascia on the under- side of the forewing and the striz are not as coarse as in Y. baldus.
VOLUME XX. Page 74, line 8, for 19 read 17. oe 105, ,, 20, for Cochracea read Ochracea. is 131, ,, 138, ,, lencocyma read lewcocyma. 134, No. 21, ,, J. ishana read LD. isana.
5, !30, ,, 31, ,, coalpara read goalpara.
39
love) (0, 4, anpisatis read parisatis:
vA 137, ,, 73, ,, ‘Parhestina persinilis Zella’s’ read < P. persiemilis zella.’
ih 139, lLne 1, ,, yerburi read yerburyt.
. 140, ,, 13, for October read September.
142, ,, 11, ,, Abissara read Abisara.
> 194, ., 41, for phoniewreides read phoiicuroides.
, 249, ,, 6, for medicine read medium.
oo) | MPEG MOS ig liars wh
oP) 29
» 202, ,, 38, for Gunnomys read Gunomys. Peo le Palearnis read Ralcornis.
(a)
200
ZOON a LO suetcica mead suecica: 6
5) 20, 35, ,, coramandus read coromandus, , 206, ,, 32, ,, sparsersides read sparveroides. 9 Dg gg BD, JP losllomantive. 6 5c. in India read it is the
‘‘Common Purslane”’ of England and is often cultivated as a vegetable in Kurope and Asia.
Plate
Page 487, line
9?
Cover
DS bo — ee
i) “I
GC) Co) Gy CH Cd tS “ =
line 99 59
73
ERRATA.
x
4, from the bottom add 74 before Telchinia.
4, from the bottom for Velchinis read Telchinia. 30, add 75 before Inbythea.
25, 5
10. ey Sua iscra,
29, last line, add “The food plants of the larva are
Linbelia robusta, Roxb., a large clim- ber in the moist forests of the Western ghats in Bombay, and Ar- disia solanacea, Roxb., a shrub grow- ing in similar situations throughout India, in China and Malay. The two plants both belong to the bota- nical family Myrsinew.”’
XIV, after Psammophis condanarus for poisonous read
O19, ol9, 519, 520,
29
7)
79
27
22, 24,
28, 32
harmless.
5, for Meyeri read Meyeri.
2
oh rhe)
,», Lbidorynchus read [bidorhynchus.
29 >i) 3?
99 7? b)p)
2? 77 39
of part IT, line 3, for [bidorynchus read Lbidorhynchus.
Page 531, line 30, for viscwarus read viscivorus.
39
92
39
536, 9936, 506, 536,
2?
79
7
99
7?
99
5) ie
20,
2?
29
27, Oe
28. 34, 26, Dy 95 18, 6,
29
spekie read speket. ori read orya.
Cerwoula read Kerivoula.
hyperthia read hyperythra.
hymalayan read hymalayana. Coocystes read Coceystes. glandarious read glandarius. Cyon read Cuon.
Pterocercus read Pherocercus.
Pages 625, & 633, the descriptions of the plate should be re-
versed, the one on page 625 being intend-
Page 752, line
ed for P. condanarus and that on page 633: being that of ZT. stolatus.
6, for name read mane.
BRRATA. NOOK Page 797, line 31, for clahistone read blahistons. HY 845, ,, 28. ,, vindhina read vindhiana. 885. .. 19, ,, Pericrotus read Pericrocotus. 889, title of Miscellaneous Note No. XLIV for “ Curious Growth of the Palmyra Palm, Borassus flabelliter, Linn. read Palmyra Palm (Borassus flabelliter, Linn) Curiosities of Growth.”
590, line 6, for Achridotheres read Acridotheres.
ws
, O90, ., 7, ,, erthrorhynchus read erythrorhynchus. 892, .. 10, for G.M. Ryan, F.z.s., read G.M. Rvan, F.L.S. 396, ., 23, for Cortunia read Coturnia. 896, ., 24. .. coromandelisa read coromandelica. 896, ,, 29, ,, Cortwniw read Coturnia. Cover of part LV, line 6, for Blandford read Blanford. Miscellaneous Note No. XXII, for juglandaper read juglandifer. Page 938, line I1, for in the day time read at night. » 900, ,, 31, for gorrula read garrula, ss Ooo I, ,, smyrnesis read sivyrnensis. » 960, ,, 42, ,, Peophron read Neophron. 5 Ol. ., 9, 5, Gypetus read, Gypaétus. 961. ., 16, ,, chryscetus read chrysaétus. 968, ., 41, ,, coramandelica read coromandelica. : 970, ,, 14, ,, Porazana read Porzana. >» 005, ,, 35, ,, Vemelta read Timelia. ,, L007, ,, 13, ,, perigrinus read peregrinus. , 1008, ,, 34, ,, Gecinius read Gecinus. , 1009, ,,. 30, ,, Mrankalina read Mranklinia. » L010, ,, 9, ,, Palwornis read Palcornis. » 1010, ,, 12, ,, Hverwtus read Mieraétus. » L010, ,, 25, ,, Milvous read Milvus. , 1010, ,, 29, ,, apicaudus read apicicaudus Pages 1012 & 1015, for “cindrella”’ read “ cinderella. Page 1015, line 6, for Pataurista read Petawrista. LOL ae An barrel read wibunnell. a 1023, ,, 4, for (moneneed) read (nom: nud: )
XXX
Page 1023, line
29
1023, 1029, 1029. 1031, L031, 104.6, 1052, 1065, 1115, 1155, 1160, 1174, 1174, 1175, 1175, 1175, 1175, 1184, 1184, 1184, 1184,
1184,
re)
22
ERRATA.
10, for nitidalus read nitidulus.
10, I, 31,
9,
33 9) 3) 3)
,, Fells unica read Felis unera.
», Wooly read woolly.
,, Gazelle read Gazella.
,, Cervis read Cervus.
,, stohezce read stoliezce.
,, melanosplia read nelanospila. ., gaucostigna read glaucostigina.
Papillionide read Papilionide.
99
10, for a read or.
27, for prosus read porosus.
30, 54,
», humic read huiniae. whitheadi read whitehead.
39
,, unicoler read wiicolor.
5, memoncola read nenoncola.
» Pomatorkinus read Pomatorhinus. ,, Caccomantis read Cacomantis.
,, faleonepi read faleoner’.
» fumbriatus read fimbriatus. ,, scutulatus read scutulata. 5, Galinago read Gallinago. ,, solitaria read solitarzs.
BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.
BUSTARDS.
Will members try and send the undersigned any notes on the shooting and breeding of Bustards in India to help in the compilation of the manuscript for the series of ‘‘Game Birds of India” for the Journal?
It appears that in places in which Hume recorded Bustards as plentiful they are now very rare and full information as to the diminution in numbers of these beautiful birds in India is badly wanted,
I shall be glad to purchase or exchange for Skins and Hggs and would hand them over to the Society’s Museum when my articles are completed.
H, ©. STUART BAKER. Ramna, P.O., Dacca, May 1910.
BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.
AN APPEAL.
The undersigned would be very grateful to any member of our Society who would assist him to procure python’s eggs for scientific investigation. Should an opportunity present itseli—the incubating season is I believe in June and July—what I would request is that the female be left incubating, and that an ege be withdrawn from her every second day with as little disturbance as possible, and that the eggs be labelled showing date, and then transferred to spirit. As pythons are very prolific it might be possible if the dam were discovered early in incubation to obtain a complete series of eggs
showing the gradual development of the embryo up to the stage of hatching.
I am prepared to pay up to Rs. 30 for spirit and as a reward to the native who can be prevailed upon to carry out the above suggestion, if any member will act on my behalf,
F, WALL, Magsor, 1.m.s. CHITRAL, 12th March 1910.
WO'T =z C E:.
“THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON,” K. C. Stuart Baker, AND “THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON,” BY HK. Briartrer, 8.J.
The attention of members is drawn to the above series, the first parts of which commence in this number of the Journal, They will be accompanied by the best coloured and black and white illustrations. The articles on THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA will deal with the SwnzpEs, BustaRDS, SANDGROUSE, QUAILS, PARTRIDGES AND PHEASANTS.
Tt is hoped that members will continue to try and obtain fresh members for the Society. The Entrance Fee is only Rs. 10 and the Annual Subseription isa very smali one, being only Rs. 15, and in return for this all members receive copies of the Journal free of cost and postage.
W. 8. Minnarp, Honorary Secretary, 6, APOLLO STREET, BomBay Natura History Socrery. Bompay, May 1910.
boeiai «come
Pi P
BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. |
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP: Ladies and gentlemen desirous of joining the Society are request- ed to fill in and sign this form, and to forward it to the address of ‘‘The Honorary Secretary, Bompay Naturau History Society,
6, Apollo Street, BomBay.”
| NAME, ADDRESS. NAME OF PROPOSER.
N.B.—The Entrance Fee is Rs. 10,and the Annual Subscription Rs. 15, which entitles the member to a copy of the Journal and all the privileges of the Society.
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CYLON.
Prats I,—THe Woopncock (Scolapax rusticola ) not having
arrived from England will appear in a subsequent number.
EDITORS.
JOURNAL
OF THE
BOMBAY Natural Pistory Society.
Vol. XX. BOMBAY. No. 1.
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON, BY H. C. Stuart Baker, F.L.8., F.Z.8., M.B.O.U. INTRODUCTION.
It is now nearly 8 years since the conclusion of ‘ Indian Ducks and their Allies ’’ and the favourable reception accorded to that series has induced me to compile, and the editors of the Journal to accept, a further series of articles upon the remaining Game Birds of India.
Of necessity a work of this nature must be more of a compilation than original, but at the same time every effort will be made to bring each article up-to-date and we trust that much matter which has as yet found no record will here obtain a place.
In writing “ Indian Ducks”? I observed in the preface that the articles were written as much for the purpose of inducing sportsmen in the future to record their experiences and observations as with the object of putting together an epitome of what was already known. The former purpose has, I think, been fully achieved and much valu- able information upon Indian Ducks has been recorded since the articles were written. We have added no little to our knowledge of their distribution and habits and have actually obtained a record adding Bewick’s Swan to our List of Indian Birds.
So with the following pages. We trust that while the compila- tions will show sportsmen and field naturalists the extent of present records it will encourage them to furnish others which will not only
supplement but also correct them when necessary. 1
2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XX,
It will be seen that much yet remains for sportsmen and field naturalists to do. Doubtless there are yet to be obtained additions new not only to an Indian Avifauna but to science altogether by those who have the good fortune to be posted on our far North- Eastern Frontier. But novelties are not the only things to hope for and there is much about the most common of our game birds which has not yet been properly, and sufficiently worked out. It is only within the last few weeks that Mr. Ogilvie-Grant has submitted the entirely new theory that female Woodcocks enormously outnumber the males and in the same article he has knocked on the head our old ideas as to the alleged differences in plumage between the young and old birds.
As regards classification that of Blanford’s Avifauna will be adopted almost as it is, but for the sake of convenience it may be necessary to: alter the sequence of the individual birds and indeed, in some eases, of the Families or Suab-Families also.
The keys to the species are based as far as possible upon such characteristics as appeal to the non-scientific observer but in each case the fullest description of the adult male and female is given as also, where possible, of the young bird.
Finally I may add that should these series prove as popular as did the “ Ducks” it is proposed to bring them out in book form on the same lines as that adopted for those articles,
| : Part 1.
Family --CHARADRIID&.
In 1886 in the “ Ibis,” page 122 et seg., Seebohm thus discoursed on the position of the Snipes in the great family of “ Plovers.” “The Snipes belong to the family Charadriide, which also includes the Sandpipers, Curlews, Plovers and a few other allied genera. From all these birds they are very easily and very distinctly charac- terised. Most of the Charadriide are web-footed; they have a distinct web at the base of the toes, sometimes much more developed between the outer and the midule toe ; but the Snipes, some of the Sandpipers, and the Turnstones are exceptions to this rule, having no rudimentary web between any of the toes, which are cleft to the base. Again, most of the Charadriide have comparatively long legs and short bills; the Snipes on the ccntrary have short legs and long
THE GAME BIRDS OF IND/IA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 3
bills. The only birds in this family (except the Snipes) in which the bill is as long or longer than twice the length of the tarsus, are the females of one or two species of Curlews and one or two species of Sandpiper, none of which have all the toes cleft to the base. The genus Scolopax may therefore be diagnosed as follows :— “‘Charadriide having the bill twice as long as the tarsus, and all the toes cleft to the base.”
He, however, comes to the conclusion in this paper that one eannot divide the group into genera and that these species must all come under the one genus Scolopaz.
He first shews that they cannot be divided by any structural diag- nosis, the two main points of which may be said to be the amount of feathering on the tibie and the number of tail feathers.
He, however, points out that there are two characteristics which divide five members of the group from all others, vzz., the nature of the markings on the head and the curious silvery tips to the feathers of the tail underneath.
These characteristics appear quite sufficiently satisfactory and it is upon these that most naturalists now divide the genera Scolopax and Gallinago.
Subfamily—ScoLopacinz.
The members of this Subfamily may be distinguished from ali other birds of the Charadriide Family by having no trace of a web between the toes and by having the bill about twice as long as the tarsus. Another striking feature of the Snipes is the curious position of the eyes which are placed very far back in the head just above the anterior edge of the ear-orifice. In this country we have three genera. Scolopaz, which contains the Woodcock only, Gallznago, containing the true Snipes, and Aostratula containing the birds generally called Painted Snipes. The genus Scolopax inclades, according to Sharpe, only two species, vic., rustecula and saturaia. The former, the common Woodcock, is migratory summering in the Himalayas and extending in the winter tothe Plains of India ; the latter is found only in Java and New Guinea and but little is known about it. Of the genus Galiinago Sharpe recognizes 20 species some of which are migratory and some are not ; of these seven species and ene doubtful sub-species (raddez) are found in India. The genus
4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
Rostratula is non-migratory and contains three species of which one, the Common Painted Snipe, is found over most of India and Burmah as well as China, Japan and Africa.
Blanford’s key to the genera is as follows :-—
A.—Sexes similar in plumage, bill straight. (a) Tibia feathered throughout ; no longi- tudinal pale stripes ; occiput and nape transversely striped ......0+...seccesseseee Scolopac. (b) Tibia partly naked, longitudinal pale stripes on crown and scapular........ ... (@allinago. B.—Sexes different, bill curved downwards at UlPadiesdessceccians seateecsslct nor /soWleeieieoaicas ious (ii AVOSURG Ean
The sportsman can always tell the Painted Snipes (Aostratula) at a glance by its bright colouration, so different in every way from an ordinary Snipe’s plumage.
The Woodcock he can tell, not only by its weight and size, but by a glance at the under surface of its tail feathers and if these have silvery tips then the bird isa Woodcock. Again if the occiput and nape are found to be barred, and not streaked, in the character of their markings the bird is the same.
SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA. The Woodcock.
Scolopax rusticola.—Linn., Sys. Nat., 1, p. 243 (1766); Blyth,Cat., p. 271; Jerdon, B. L., m1., p. 670; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B., xxxviz, Pt. 2, p. 70; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p.391; Brooks, J.A.8.B., x11, Pt. 2, p. 253; Hume, S.F., 11, p. 482; Anderson, thd, 11, p. 356 ; G. Austin, J.A.S.B., xiv, Pt. 2, p. 200; Fairbank, 8.F., v., p. 409 ; Butler, zbzd, p. 504 ; Hume and Davison, ébid, v1, p. 458; Ball, bid, Vil, p. 228: Laird, bid, p. 470; Hume, bid, p. 483; zd. Cat. No. 867; Bingham, 8.F., vii, p. 196 ; Scully, ebed, p. 853 ; Hume, and Marshall, Game B., 11, p. 309; Williamson, 8.F., x., p. 517 ; Barnes, B. of Bom., p. 843 ; Seebohm Charadriide, p. 502 ; Hume, S.F., x1, p. 318: Newnham, Bom. N. H.8. Journal, Vol. iv, p. 52; Osmaston, bid, Vol. x1., p. 473; Davidson, zbzd, Vol. Xu, p. 66 ; Stuart Baker, zbia, p. 500; Hvans, Ibis, 1891, p. 80; Meade-Waldo, ibid, 1893, p. 204; Schufeldt, ibid, p. 653; Davidson,.zbid, 1898, - p. 39; Finn., Indian Waders, p. 138.
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BORMA AND CEYLON. 5
Scolopax rusticula— Wharton, Ibis, 1879, p. 453 ; ad, 5.F. vin, p. 500; Legge, B. of Ceylon, p. 806; Butler, S.F. tx, p. 428; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 95; Scully, ébéd, p. 588; Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 424; Davison, S.F. x., p. 413; Oates, Birds of B. B., 1, p. 380; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 176 ; Hume’s, Nests and Hggs, 2nd Edit., 111, p. 349 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. B. M., xxiv, p. 671; Blanford, Fauna B. L., iv, p. 283; Dresser, Pal. Birds, p. 726 ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs of B. M., Vol. m1, p. 66; Sharpe, Hand List of B., Vol. 1, p. 166; Oates, Game B., 11, p. 428; Inglis, Bom. N.H.8. Journal, Vol. xu, p. 500; Bourdillon, ibd, Vol. Xv1, p- 10; Fulton, chid, p. 63; Rattray, ibd, p. 663; Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin, B. O. Club, civi (1st Jan. 1910).
Vernacular names.—Simtitar, Tutitar, Hin. ; Sem Kukro, Kumaun and Nepal; Chinjarole, Chamba; Daodidap gadeba, Cachari ; Stmpoo-khlaw, Khasia ; Kangtruk, Manipur ; Welate Chaka, Chitta- gong ; Bumpal or Dhdbhdé, Chitral: Gherak, Drosh; Chustruck:, Gilgit.
Description.—F orehead and sinciput grey, generally with a dark mark on the forehead. Occiput and nape with three broad trans- verse bands of velvet black, divided by yellowish or rufous lines. A deep rufous brown, almost black, line running from the base of the bill to the corner of the eye ; a second similar line below eye and posterior ear coverts; ear coverts and cheeks grey, with numerous rufous-brown spots. Upper parts and wing coverts rufous grey with numerous bars of brown and rufous ; the lesser wing coverts brown and rufous only and the scapulars broadly black on the inner and white, yellowish white or pale grey on the outer webs. The primary coverts are rufous, with bars of grey, finely edged with dark brown. The primaries and outer secondaries brown, the latter notched on the outer webs with rufous, the notches being palest on the outer- most feathers. The quills are also margined with pale rufous at the tips. The inner secondaries are barred right across with alternate bands. broad of brown and narrow of rufous. Rump and upper tail coverts barred rufous and black or rufous and brown ; as a rule in the longest coverts the terminal half is almost pure rufous.
Tail feathers dark brown or black, notched or barred with rufous and tipped grey above and broadly silver-grey below.
Chin white or nearly so, remainder of lower parts dull greyish
6 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XX.
white, barred throughout with narrow rufescent bars which become darker and more numerous on the upper breast, often running into one another and forming dark patches. On the abdomen and flanks posteriorly, the bars are sometimes centred with a paler tint.
The adult female does not differ from the male in plumage. ‘‘ The female is larger with the colours more dull” (Jerdon). ‘‘ Males have . . . . . the back more of the pale brown and grey, and the rump less red than the female ”’ (Yarrell), 2e., Yarrell makes out the female to be a more rufous bird than the male.
Young birds—‘ Differ from the adult in being darker and having creamy-whitish, instead of ashy, spots at the end of the dorsal and scapular feathers ; the lower back, rump and upper tail coverts are plainly barred across with dusky brown, and the tail feathers are not largely notched with sandy brown on their margins, but have a narrow sub-terminal line of sandy buff between the ashy tip and the black of the rest of the feathers. The outer web of the primaries has a distinct series of fulvous notches.” (Sharpe).
The question of the alleged differences in the young bird have been taken up lately by Ogilvie-Grant and in the B. O. C. Bulletin he thus sums up the result of his observations. ‘‘ It will thus be seen that . . Gould . . implies that the Woodcocks with tooth-like markings on the outer web of the first long flight-feathers are the young birds of the year.”
“This statement has been generally accepted as correct.”
“The investigations which I have undertaken during the last few years have clearly proved the entire fallacy of this theory.”
He then explains how he shot many breeding birds in the Azores— an unfortunate but necesssary proceeding—and also obtained young birds of the year from Messrs. Meade- Waldo and Sir Richard Graham.
Ogiivie-Grant then comments on Seebohm’s description of the differences between the young and the old bird and says that his investigations have ‘clearly proved that it is impossible to distinguish between the plumage of the male and female Woodcock, or between old and young birds of the year, when once the latter have fully developed their flight feathers.”’
Nestlings.—“* Covered with a velvety down of a rufous colour with a broad band of chestnut down the centre of the crown, and another down the centre of the back, with three broad transverse bands down the
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 7
sides of the body ; on each side of the crown and dorsal stripe a ‘broad streak of isabelline ; a black loreal line and a central streak on the forehead also black; under surface of body pale rufous, inclining to isabelline on the abdomen, and with some chestnut patches on the throat and foreneck.” (Sharpe.)
Iris deep brown, almost black. Feet green-grey or livid grey, or grey lead colour, claws generally paler and more fleshy. Bull dusky, base brown, paler and tinged with purple at the base of the lower mandible
“The legs and feet are pale bluish, brown or drab, or fleshy plumbeous or grey, or livid grey, or bluish fleshy grey, generally more or less shaded dusky on the joints ; and the claws are fleshy brown, pale brown, blackish brown or dusky.”
‘The bill is dusky to blackish brown at tip, the rest pale drab brown, fleshy brown with a bluish tinge or almost plumbeous ; often nearly white, or fleshy white at the base of the lower mandible.” (Hume.)
Dimensions. —“ Length 13:0 to 15:0 ; wing 7:2 to 8:0; tail from vent 3:0 to 3°85 ; tarsus 1°35 to 1:57; bill from gape 2°8 to 3:3: ‘weight 7 oz. to 12°5 oz.” (Hume.)
“Total length 15 ins., culmen 2°85; wing 7:5; tail 3:5; tarsus 1:55.” (Sharpe.)
“ Adult female.—Total length 14 ins., culmen 3:2, wing 7:3, ‘tail 2°9, tarsus 1:4’ (Sharpe.)
The Indian birds which I have examined from the Indian Museum and the B. N. H. Society’s Museum and other skins sent me from Madras and Kashmir are as follows in their dimensions :—
Males.—Culmen 2:7" to 3:1"; wing 7:30" to 8:30"; tarsus 1:50" to 1:80".
Females.—Culmen 2°90" to 8°25"; wing 7:20" to 8:50"; tarsus 1:40" to 1:80".
The question of comparative size of the two sexes is one which has been very much discussed and the law has been laid down by various -authorities in various ways. Thus Jerdon says that the female is the larger bird of the two, Sharpe makes out that it is a much smaller bird with a longer beak. Hume sums up his opinion thus “ they show absolutely no constant difference in the size of the sexes.’ My -ewn opinions support Hume’s and I find that though the birds vary
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enormously in size there is no difference in the ranges of size between: the sexes, One gets adult males as small as the smallest female and big females as big as the biggest males.
I have made very careful inquiries amongst sportsmen and others concerning the comparative size of the sexes and have found most of” them under the impression-that one sex or the other—their ideas varied as to which it was—was much bigger than the other. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that it takes a woodcock two years to grow to its full size and the difference in dimensions between a bird of six months old and one of eighteen months is very great.
Another question which has never been settled is the reason or cause of the curious grey phase of colouration so often met with in the Woodcock. The colouration of this variety looks as if it had had all the red pigment washed out of it. I have been unable to explain this myself in any way. I have proved that it is not sexual and I have also ascertained that though it is much more common in young than in old birds it is by no means confined to the former. Major Wilson, to whom I owe thanks for much information and many useful notes, once shewed me two birds shot by him on the same day in Shillong, Khasia Hills, which might have been taken for different species so un-alike were they in tone of colouration. In this case the older, heavier and bigger bird was in the grey phase and, if I remember rightly, both grey and rufous birds were females.
It would appear, therefore, that in India young birds are more frequently grey than are adults but that this phase of colouration is by no means confined to such. In fact I have myself seen fully adult birds almost as grey in tone as the solitary or wood-snipe.
Ogilvie-Grant (in loc. cit.) observes “‘ The Woodcock is more or less dimorphic in plumage, ‘e., two more or Jess distinct phases of plum- age are found; some birds have the general colour of the upper part greyer, while in others it is richer and more rufous. The grey phase and the rufous phase occur in both sexes alike, in fully adult birds; but as far as my experience goes, the grey phase is never found among young birds, which are always more or less. rufous. These represent what is often described by sportsmen as the smaller rufous ‘‘ species” of Woodcock.”
Ogilvie-Grant in this same paper discusses an apparent disparity in numbers between female and male Woodcocks and notes that out of
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON, )
60 Woodcock shot during the breeding season in the Azores only four were females and that out of eleven young birds sent him from Cumberland only one proved on dissection to be of that sex. As, however, he himself remarks, when one goes in for shooting roding Woodcock it can hardly be expected to get many females (fortunately). As regards the young birds this may be only an exceptional case and it is hardly safe to take this as an example of the general rule.
In India there appears to be no difference in the numbers of the two sexes. Unfortunately in both the Calcutta and Bombay collec- tions we have but few sexed specimens and it is to be hoped sportsmen will help in settling this question one way or the other.
Yet another point about our Indian Woodcock which is unsettled is the question as to whether or not the Indian bird differs in any respect from that found in Hurope and Northern Asia.
It has hitherto been considered a generally accepted fact that our Indian Woodcock is a smaller bird than the English but I cannot endorse this. My reasons are as follows. Every one who has studied migration knows that young birds are more erratic in their travels, travel] greater distances and to much more unusual districts and countries than the older birds. Now certainly all those Woodcock ob-= tained in the plains and lower hills of India and possibly all which are shot south of the Himalayas are birds which are on migration for the cold weather and those which travel furthest and are most often shot are the young birds of the year, hence because the birds we shoot are smaller than the average English bird we have come to believe, that the whole race is smaller. This idea is not, however, borne out by my researches which haye shown me that fully adult Indian birds are as big as Huropean specimens. Thus I have had two female Wood- cocks sent me (shot off the nests) which measured in wing 8°30" whereas my largest bird shot on migration is well under 8:0".
Hume says that he thinks the Indian bird is smaller than the English but stultifies the value of his opinion by what he says later on, when in talking of the triangular emarginations on the primary quills of the wing, he writes, Yarrell says :—‘t These marks are indications of youth” and then Hume adds “It is a curious thing that out of 27 Indian-killed specimens now before me, these triangu- lar marks are present in every specimen, only in two or three have they disappeared from the basal half of the feather. Our Museum
2
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does not contain a single Indian-killed specimen with the whole of the outer web of the first quill entirely plain.” From Hume’s own words, therefore, we assume that his opinion was formed on a series of immature birds, although his deductions are somewhat upset by Ogilvie-Grant’s recent discoveries.
The only way the question can be determined is by the measure- ment of adult birds in their breeding haunts, either during, or just prior to, the breeding season. Here again the sportsman and field naturalist must come to the fore and assist the scientific man who works in the Museum.
In regard to the weight there is no doubt that the majority of birds shot in India are lighter than those shot in England but the reasons which account for their being smaller would also aceount for their being lighter. Hume comments on the comparative weight of Himalayan (?) and English birds at some length but his conclusions are hardly convincing especially when one remembers, as has already been shown, that they are based on deductions made from a series of probably immature birds. He says that only 5 birds out of 53 weighed exceeded 10 oz. whilst the weight generally was between 7 and 124 oz. and he compares this record of weights with a bag made in Ireland.
“Tn only 5 out of 53 birds has the weight exceeded 10 oz. and of these five the weights were :—10°5, 11:5, 12:0, 12 0, and 12°5 oz.
Out of 534 couple shot . . . . in South-West Ireland, 27 weighed between 12 and 14 0z., 6 between 14 and 15, and one between lb and16 . . . . —Our 53 birds weighed, between
7 and 8 oz, fourteen, between 8 and 9 oz. eighteen, between 9 and 10 oz. sixteen, above 10 oz. five. There is an undoubted instance on record of a Woodcock in England weighing 27 oz.’ I have found it difficult to obtain weights of Indian killed-birds but the few I have obtained of fully adult birds do not seem to shew that our birds are much inferior to English, when in good condition and full sized. Thus Major Wilson writes me ‘I have only weighed one bird as it struck me as being bigger than usual, this weighed 13 oz. and was the bird I senton to you.’ Dr. Moore shot birds in Dibrugarh weighing 12, 14, and 14 oz. and Mr. Mondy sent me a bird which weighed just short of 14 oz. Any of them would have equalled good English birds and though the weights are admittedly excep-
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 11
tional for Indian birds this is only because it is also the exception to shoot any but young birds in the plains and Lower Hills of India, whilst even in the higher Hills of Southern India mature birds seem to be but seldom shot.
Dr. W. Moore writes to me anent the weight of his Woodcock as follows :—‘‘ The first two I shot, both on the same day, weighed 14% ounces each, and though [ shot no heavier birds than these afterwards some ran them very close, and of 18 I weighed none were under 12 ounces except one and that was obviously a bird in very poor condition.
I found Woodcock in Dibrugarh on the burnt chapries (grass lands) ear damp forest, feeding on the parched and crippled insects brought to earth by the recent fires.”’
Distribution —Outside our Indian limits Seebohm thus describes the habitat of the Woodcock. ‘‘ Our Woodcock is a semiarctic bird ranging from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In Scandanavia it breeds up to latitude 67, in West Russia to 65, but in Hast Russia and Siberia not much above 60. Its Southern breeding range ex- tends to the Azores, Canaries, Madeira, the Alps, Carpathians and Caucasus, to the Himalayas (where it breeds at an elevation of 10,000 feet) and to Mongolia and the mountains of Japan. It has not oc- ourred in Iceland or in Greenland, and once only in the Faroes ; but accidental stragglers, no doubt driven Westward by storms, principally from the Azores, have been met with on the American Continent, in Newfoundland, New Jersey and Virginia.
Within Indian limits the Woodcock is a resident throughout the Himalayas where it breeds freely above 10,000 feet, and often at even lower elevations. Thence in the cold weather it migrates in considerable number to every portion of the Indian Hmpire where there are suitable hills and mountains. It has been frequently shot in Ceylon and in the Burmese Hills as far south as Tennasserim, it is found in all the Hill ranges of Southern India and is common in the Sub-Himalayan Ranges during the winter months. As might be expected, where the country is adapted to sportsmen and shooting is more or less easy the Woodcock is said to be more common than elsewhere. Thus in the Nilgiris, about Ooty, it is quite common though it is reported to be far less so in the Assamboo Hills and to be comparatively rare in the Palnis, Shevaroys, &c. That is to say where the sportsman can get at the birds in comfort, he goes
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out and finds them common, whereas where the cover is heavy and the ground difficult he goes out far less often and sees far fewer birds.
Exactly the same conditions are found in the North-East Frontier. The Khasia Hills appear to have been forested with an especial view to provide good shooting for Woodcock and therefore tradition has long demanded that every sportsman who wishes to be known as such must pursue this bird for all he is worth. Hence it is known to be more or less common and the hardworking gunner may work up to nearly a hundred birds in a good season, indeed Major Wilson has only just missed his 200 birds in one season. Next to the Khasia Hills are the North Cachar Hills, in fact they form part of the same Range. These, however, are either very heavily forested or are covered with bamboo. The latter are seldom in India, as far as I am aware, frequented by Woodcock and the former is too heavy to allow of shooting small game with any comfort; the consequence is no one ever attempts this form of sport and the cock is said to be rare. The fact is, I think, that anywhere between Ist November and 1st March in hills over 4,000 feet elevation one should be able to find Woodeoek if sufficient time and trouble is given to the search and there are suitable places for the birds to lie up in. In the plains the matter is different and here Woodcock are only rare visitors, though chance birds are met with, generally in December and January, in many parts of the country. In Burma they seem to: descend to the lower countries, often almost to sea level as Oates says,"more frequently than they do in India. Still, even in the latter country, wherever there are hills near by cock are sure to be found at more or less frequent intervals during the cold weather.
In Dibrugarh, in Lakhimpur, which is surrounded by lofty hills at no great distance, anything from five or six to a dozen are shot annually. In Cachar one or two are seen or shot each cold weather and the same in practically every district of the Assam Valley. In Dibrugarh there are a few places which are almost a certain find for an odd cock or two during December and January and Mr. F. Moore, who made a point of looking up these birds, always succeed- ed in getting from four to a dozen birds each year he was in this district. In Sylhet Cripps reported it to be so common that he had . known of as many as four brace being obtained in a single morning.
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 13
Once, however, we get any distance from Hills cock only appear as rare stragglers and in these cases it is probable that birds migrating from one range to another are, as the Irishman said of the owl, benighted by day and have to stop where they are until the suc- ceeding sunset. In this way woodcock have been shot in Guddam (Golconda), Kurrachee, Sitapur, Agra, Nynpuri, Cawnpore, Dacca, Rangoon, Tavoy, Calcutta, Madras, Kanara (away from the hills) Taipuo, Bombay and many other places.
For some reason the woodeock always forms a most fascinating object of pursuit for the sportsman. It does not matter whether it is a cold, hazy morning in the Welsh coast, a sweltering day in the foot hills of the Himalayas, or a balmy day in the lovely climate of December in the Nilgiris or Khasia Hills; the owl-like flip-flap of the brown bird’s wings brings the same little thrill to the gunner and the soft thud amongst the bracken and bushes in reply toa successful shot brings a feeling of pleasure that is, for some reason, paralleled by the slaughter of no other game bird.
The haunts of the woodeock are in themselves attractive and one can wander, gun in hand through sombre pine forest, sunlit copse of oak or the dense scrub of an Indian ravine always with a certainty of being interested, whatever the sport may be. There is something in ene’s surroundings which makes one take an optimistic view of life and it is not until one returns to buildings and the cook has worked his will on the results of the day’s bag that one once more remembers that ‘‘ only man is vile.’
My experience of cock shooting in India, is, unfortunately, practi- cally nil. I have shot a casual cock in the plains of Cachar and of Kamrup and more than occasionally have bagged a brace in North Cachar but I have never had the delight of a long day’s trudge through the bracken and pine forests of the Khasia Hills, in which I have now lived so many years. Perhaps the most successful of the many sportsman Shillong has harboured is Major Wilson of the 8th Gurkhas and to him my thanks are due for much information and a most interesting account of his first cock in 1908. He writes ‘‘ They generally arrive after the 15th of October, (though I see in 1890, I killed one on the 8th) and I generally begin to look for them about that date, this year without result till the 23rd. On that day, I happened to have for my morning parade “ Exercise in hill climbing,”
14. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
so took my men up the side of the big hill overhanging Shillong,. which is pretty well covered with pine forest.
“On parades like this, during the shooting season I consider it legitimate to carry a gun, and to take my two spaniels ‘“ Celar ” and. ‘“‘ Audax ”’ with me.
“We, that is, my following of about 100 men, my batman with the cartridge bag, the two dogs and myself, start up the hill within. half a mile of my house. A road runs zig-zag up the hill through forest anda hundred yards or so to the right of the road flows the: stream which forms part of the station water supply. We pound steadily up the hill until we have already marched about a mile and a half, up some 1,100 feet. Here I think the men may as well halt to get their wind, whilst I go down to look at the stream.
‘“‘ Celar ” and ‘* Audax’”’ go into the wood above me, and present- ly one of them gives tongue. I see nothing, but from some little: distance up the hill I hear the wings of a bird clicking against the branches of the trees as he flies, a sound I have noticed with both woodcock and pheasant at home. A second later, he gives me the type of shot I love best, coming towards me high overhead. I throw up the gun, fire, and as I lower it, see the cock crashing down through the branches. The orderly picks him up, and not having seen me shoot one for atleast seven months, asks what he is to do with it, thereby showing to how great an extent, the present system. of training the individual soldier to think for himself acts on some individuals, Not having sufficient command of his vernacular to tell him to put it ‘‘ where the monkey put the nuts,” I tell him to.
bring it along. ‘On returning to my small command, who have by this had a
good five minutes’ rest, the bird is duly admired, and we fall in and plod still further up the hill. On reaching the top we turn to the lett along the edge of the Government reserved forest, passing some likely looking ground, but as I should have to halt my men to try it, it is scarcely the game to do so now, so I call off the dogs, who are only too keen to work it. Along the crest of the hill for a mile or so, and then we begin to descend. Half way down, a stream runs almost parallel to, and about fifty yards from our path, and as I can keep in sight of the men, I think it quite legitimate to.
work it.
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 15
“ Just at this moment, the dogs rout out a brace of Rufous-necked Partridges from amongst the bracken beside the path, and both are added to the bag.
‘The bed of the stream looks, and usually is, a grand place for a Woodcock. Here and there are swampy bits, or patches of bracken, while both banks are covered with fern and daphne, with a fairly thick pine forest over all.
“The dogs hunt this valley for about six hundred yards down to the bottom, but there is no sign of anything till 1 am just coming out of the wood, when I hear a flutter to my right, and the orderly shouts he has put up a bird.
“ T push my way through the grass, cobwebs and bushes, and ask if he has marked it down.
““He says he has, so we walk it up, I see a small brown shape flitting through the undergrowth, and the second cock of to-day is added to the bag ; we then come out and rejoin the sepoys on the road and march home, the result of the morning’s work being a march of seven miles up and down about 1,100 ft. over fairly rough country, with a brace of partridges and two woodcock to show at the end of it, all done within two and a half hours.’’
It will be seen from what Major Wilson writes that we do not in India get birds in the numbers they are obtained at home. In Shillong and its vicinity four or five birds in a day’s tramp must be considered fair sport and six to eight birds something quite out of the common. Major Wilson has shot eight to his own gun ina day and Mr. Faichnie, of the Postal Service, once got nine but I have heard of no bigger bag to one gun ina single day’s shooting. In the Nilgi- ris, Hume says “‘ ten or twelve birds to two guns in a morning is quite an unusually fine bag so it must not be supposed that they lie thick as a rule, and yet in particular parts of the hills five or six are sometime shot out of one tiny shola, not perhaps above thirty yards wide and not a quarter ofa mile in length.’ ‘The largest bag re- corded for India is that recorded by A. Grahame Young in Hume and Marshall’s Game Birds of India 28 years ago. this bag was made in the Tos Forests in Kullu. Hume quoting him, thus records the bag. ‘‘ The end of January is about the best time for them, The largest bag that I know of was 33 birds to two guns Letween Nuggur and Ryson; a gcod many others were missed. If the season be at
16 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
all favourable, one is pretty sure of flushing a dozen or so in the course of a day in the favourite haunts.”
Hume writing of these favourite haunts thus describes them : ‘““Qover and running water are what in India the woodcock most affects ; you may find them alike in the middle of deep forest or thick Ringal jangle near the banks of some rushing hill streamlet, foaming and sparkling in its rushy bed, where save a few tiny velvety corners, there seems no single spot in the neighbourhood where they can possibly teed ; and again in clumps of low scrub in a treeless opening where some stream debouching in a clayey basin converts this into a mossy swamp, through which its movement is to be detected only at the further end where, as if ashamed of its late sluggishness, it gushes out to resume its late brawling descent. But, swamp or stream, the water must be moving to please the Woodcock; and though there are exceptions to this rule, you will generally hunt in vain mountain swamps and tarns, where there is no outlet and the water is stagnant, though all the surroundings and adjuncts be everything, apparently, the breast of woodcock can desire. Jn England we find them beside little stagnant ditches and pools in covers; but in India J have seldom so seen them, having almost always flushed them in the neighbourhood of running water.”
Inthe Khasia Hills they undoubtedly generally affect places within easy reach of running water, but this is possibly because in these hills it is difficult to get away from it. They certainly some- times lie up in small. patches of swamp which are not directly con- nected with any running’ water for some distance. Thus, until this year when the whole patch was cleared, 2 woodcock could always be put up in a tiny patch of swamp not 50 yards by 20 which is at the bottom of my garden. I never allowed a gun to be fired here and the birds soon became curiously tame never rising until one was within a very few yards of where they squatted. Major Wilson has recorded a similar instance in his own compound. ‘Speaking of the little place in my garden it is a bit of rushy swamp, about twenty yards long and ten wide. On one side of it is open grass, and on the other a bank on which grow some brackens, bushes, and about a dozen pine trees. Early one morning, I let the dog into it, and a woodcock jumped up almost at once, flew over the dog, and pitched on the grass about five yards from me, where he squatted about five yards
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 17
off with his tail spread like a turkey-cock’s, awaiting developments. The dog worked up to the end of the marshy bit and knowing there was a bird there, turned and came back towards me.
‘‘When the cock thought he was too close to be pleasant, he again executed his mancuvre of flying over the dog, and I distinctly saw him use his beak to lever himseli, as it were, into the air. This time he pitched where I could not see him, and when he rose again he evidently meant going, so I let fly and very nearly bagged an old native woman in the next compound as well.”
In connection with this little piece of swamp the same writer has commented on the regularity with which woodcock return year after year to the same piece of ground. ‘I soon discovered that to find woodeock with any certainty a good spaniel was required, as well as an intimate knowledge of the ground, for one woodcock succeeds another in a favourite spot, just as one trout succeeds another behind a big stone in a burn at home, and in Shillong the places the cock mostly frequent are few and tar between,
“This peculiarity of the bird I learnt betore ever I came out to this country, and it was well expressed a few days before I left home by an old retainer of ours, who said; ‘ Now, Mr. A., I may be deid and gone afore ye come back, but ye’ll mind the holly bush on the bre abuve the kirk-yard. When the snaw’s on the ground, it aye hauds a woodcock, and a eraand ane. ”
Many a woodeoek J shot there asa boy, and no doubt many a one has been shot there since. So it isin Shillong. Hach year the cock arrive, their instinct brings them into the haunts their ancestors frequented, though, alas, these haunts are getting fewer and fewer as the station extends.
“The unwillingness of the ‘cock to leave a favourite spot, so long as any cover at all remains, is shewn by the fact that both last season and the season before, I got an occasional bird within thirty yards of my house, fifteen from a much-used foot-path, and about fifty from some stables. This was a cosy little bit of covert in the old days, before the ground was so much built over.
“ There is a drain and slightly marshy bit of ground in the midst of our Regimental lines where the ‘cock feed at night still, although the barracks have been inhabited for close on forty years.”
In England, of course, cock shooting is indulged in under very
different circumstances and with very different results and I was ! V 3
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fortunate enough on one occasion in Wales to participate in a shoot in which three guns got 49 couple of cock in a very few hours. We had been shooting three days a week over the rough country all round the South Coast obtaining small, mixed bags of pheasant, partridge, hare, &c., anything from ten to thirty brace a day but never, as far as I remember, had a cock shown itself. On the day in question, a crisp November morning in 1894, we start our morn- ing trudge with a beat through some bracken bordered by a tiny copse of oak and serub on the crest and with a ditch and some swampy ground at the foot of the hill. As we enter the bracken a hare breaks and is neatly turned over in the open by H, the gun on my left hand. The report, however, puts up a small covey of partridge, out of shot, who sweep over the little copse and pitch in a field just over the covert. Finishing the bracken without further result we turn round and beat the far side of the hill for the par- tridge. I, as right-hand man, taking the deep bracken lying just inside the oak trees. We have only gone some hundred yards when we walk into the birds, which have scattered a little, and four are added to our bag. I have one shot and a miss at the partridge but as I fire I catch a glimpse of what [am sure is a woodcock get up and flit through the trees to my right, but on saying so I am merely laughed at for my pains, as the cock are not supposed to be in. J, however, insist on beating back through the spinney on my own account and hardly have I got well inside when two cock are up and off before fam ready for them. Within five paces, howeyer, another gets up and falls to my shot and as he falls another rises and is missed. Before I can load the spaniels have another bird in the air and before I have walked the spinney through five birds have been dropped and at least as many more missed. After this the- other guns come up and after inspecting my bag it is at once decid- ed that a large flight must have just come in and that the original day’s shoot should be abandoned for the purpose of hunting up the most likely places for the cock.
Their favourite haunts along these Coasts are the numerous small copses and spinneys which nestle in between the hills, sometimes running a little way up the sides, often surrounded with a fringe of light scrub or gorse and nearly always with a tiny stream trickling down the centre and losing itself in a swamp at the foot. We soon
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 19
come to one of these littie woods and arrange to work it from the bottom upwards, one gun taking the centre and the other two the edges. As the guest I am given the best place in the centre but before we get into the wood itself two cock are put up from the bracken at the edge of the swamp and are downed with a pretty right and left by my host. No more birds are seen until we are well inside the cover when a single bird gets up from the mossy bed of the tiny stream just in front of me and is promptly bowled over. A second gets up within a few yards but I miss badly and the bird jinks away to my right and I hear the bang, bang of H., gun num- ber three, a good shot who has doubtless accounted for him.
For some time I get no more shots only putting up one bird which flops out of my sight before I have time to take a snapshot at him. The birds seem to be lying up in the holly bushes and gorse on the edge of the copse and both my neighbours are get- tmg repeated shots and soon one of them missing a double shot, turns a cock my way and he comes towards me in and out of the trees with his curious owl-like flight and though he escapes my first barre] the second brings him down almost on my head. I then get a pheasant and miss another cock but finish up the beat with a nice right and left at a pair of wood-pigeon.
Counting our bag we find that B, our host, has six cock, a pheasant and a rabbit, H. two pheasant and four cock and myself a pheasant, two pigeon and two cock.
Our next beat isa narrow strip composed of scrub and holly bushes intermixed with a few bigger trees fringing a ditch of running water which here and there widens out into small patches of bracken covered swamp. This is too narrow for three guns, so B. goes ahead and stands at the end, whilst we beat up to him. A start is made by H. with a right and left at pheasant and we then walk half way through before we get another shot and we begin to think the birds are not so thick after all. Here however from a dense patch of holly bushes the dogs put up four cock together and we have the pleasure of accounting for all four though, to level matters, we each miss a comparatively easy shot immediately after. Yet again we have four birds in the air at the same time but we only drop three, two are picked up at once and whilst hunting round for the third another bird gets up between H. and myself and flies straight towards me; neither can shoot until he
20 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
gets almost up to me when he rises and tries to dodge back but is bowled over with a lucky shot just in time.
So on through the strip with constant shots all throughits length — and, curiously enough, in this bit of cover we keep putting up the birds three and four almost together with intervals in. which we put up none at all. The taller trees are scanty and the bracken very withered so the cock are all hiding under the many clumps of holly bushes and brambles at the very edge of the swampy pieces. The shooting is easy in the comparative absence of the taller trees and we find when we get through our beat that H. has nine birds to my ten and that our host has beaten us both with 12 cock and a pheasant,
We do not have such luck, however, with our next beat whichis a pine wood with very little under-growth and no water. Here we put up three or four cock only and get but one, though we add a couple of rabbits and one more pheasant to the general stock. Leaving this wood we work through a scarp facing the sea and covered with bracken, gorse and brambles whilst every few yards a cheerful little cascade goes tumbling down into the sea below us. Both rabbits and cock are very numerous here, but the walking is terrible and, having but one arm both to shoot and climb with, I frighten a great many more birds and rabbits than I kill, indeed I emerge the other end of the scarp with but one cock and two rabbits, a result exactly doubled both by H. and B., the latter adding a brace of partridge out of a covey put up on the fields above him by some labourers.
Yet another scarp succeeds this one, but the walking is better and out of the 7 birds collected here J claim three having only missed one. This beat: brings us up to the farm where we have lunch, a Welsh lunch ot cold birds, apple tart and Devonshire cream washed down with draught beer. Half an hour more for a smoke and our host makes us turn out again to take full advantage of a day’s shooting of a kind that does not come too often.
Walking down the lane a small boy says he has seen a cock pitch in some brambles by a pond in the field to our right and, sure enough, the dogs turn him out and B. adds him to the fast-swelling bag. From here we make for three small spinnies divided from\one another by about a hundred yards or so and themselves covering only two or three acres each, Our host and B, each take one corner and send me on ahead to shoot the gaps’ and very pretty shooting I get! They have
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA. AND CEYLON. ©— 23 hardly g a few seconds after a cock comes flitting towards me out of the last few trees and as he passes [ bowl him over: a little fluff of feathers rise
rot into the first spinney before a couple of shots are’ heard and
into the air, a soft thud on the grass and before we can pick him-up a second bird is dropped almost on the top of the first and no sooner are my cartridges home than a third follows. Then I have two long shots and misses and whilst reloading another passes over me before I can shoot. Both B. and H. are in sight now and [ prepare to move on to the next gap but as I. turn round a cock flies almost into me and, giving him w little law, he toe finds his way to grass.
The second. gap. is a repetition of the first but here I put in six misses to three kills as the birds do not fly so kindly for me. The last spinney is best of all; the, birds seem determined to favour me and I get two shots to every one by the two guns inside and when they come out I am able to shew them 13 birds, of which 6 have been the result of the last spinney, besides a wood-pigeon and a pheasant. The others be- tween them haye 15 cock, two rabbits and a brace of pheasants so we have every reason to be jubilant. We have now 88 cock, au bag never beaten here before but we are not yet finished. Another long pine wood with bracken and hazel on the outskirts only gives usa single bird but a hazel copse a few yards further on gives us three more and but for my bad shooting should have given us five. Then we pick up two odd birds, one from a_ holly hedge near a pool and another from a bracken patch bordering some turnips. By this time it is getting late and the birds are now. in the open feeding and H, gets one as it flaps overhead, making its way from one feeding ground to another, Only a few minutes more of day-light remain and we hurry for the last beat on our way home. Here we find that there are still lots of birds but it is getting too dark for good shooting and we miss more than we hit so that only three more birds are brought to book. We have now 98 birds and our host insists-on our trying to make up the hundred, but three or four more misses in the gloaming at silent things, more like bats than birds, and one bird lost in the dark are the only:.results, so we have to be content with making the biggest bag of cock recorded in my hest’s shooting experience. A tramp of two miles to the carts in the fast gathering dark and then home after a long twenty miles trudge and:the best days small game shooting I ever hope to have,
22 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX
Contrasting well with Major Wilson’s account of shooting in the Khasi Hills and with ordinary cock shooting at home is the account given by Tickell of cock shooting in Nepal which is quoted by Hume. ‘“ Woodcock-shooting in Nepal] is laborious work from the steepness of the hills and the spongy nature of the ground which the bird frequents. We found them on light rich mould, thickly matted with grasses, ferns, and other weeds, and everywhere furrowed by little rills of water trickling through the tangle, or here and there stagnating in little pools or ‘bog-holes’ concealed under a layer ot vegetation, which formed tolerable pitfalls to the unwary intruder, receiving him sometimes up to the hip. The jungle on these hills is pretty thick, but not lofty, consisting mostly of briars and thicket ; and it would have been impossible to get a fair shot within it, were it not that some of the largest rills (perhaps a yard broad) bordered with mossy turf, formed narrow vistas through the tangle, up and down which the birds when flushed would fly, giving some chance to a snap shot. We had no dogs, a luxury known to very few Indian sportsman, but employed beaters to find the game. I had never even seen cock-shooting in England, and my first day’s experience of it in Nepal surprised me nota little. I wasa good snipe shot in those days, and, imagining from the general resemblance of the two birds that a Woodcock must fly like a Snipe, I was much taken aback, when hailed to ‘ look out,’ at perceiving what appeared like a large bat coming with a wavering, flagging flight along the Jittle lane-like opening in the wood where I was posted ; but in an instant, ere I had made up my mind to fire; the apparition made a dart to one side, topped the bordering thicket, and seemed to fall like a stone into the covert beyond. These sudden jerks and zigzags, in the midst of its otherwise dilatory flight, are terribly puzzling to a novice. The bird alights also in the same fashion, dropping at once down as if it had flown against a wall. They were not numerous in Nepal, and two couple bagged to one gun during the afternoon was considered very fair sport. We found them only onthe low spurs bordering the open valley of Kathmandu, on its northern side—on such slopes as were of the description above given, looking more like-the copses and hazel woods of England than the forests of India.”
Tickell’s remarks on the birds flight are very good and to the point. At home the bird is a strong, good flier and the curious inde-
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 23
imite manner it has of flying is often far more puzzling to a beginner than the flights of swifter straighter-going birds. Its very haunts, of course, add to the difficulties of shooting as in addition to its natur- ally zigzag flight it is constantly twisting and dodging to escape obstructions, then too the light is often not of the best and the extreme silence of its rise and flight is in itself disconcerting. There is no warning whirr of wings or ‘“ pench ”’ as of a snipe rising, the first thing is you see it, perhaps only as it flits behind some impossible jungle, barely giving time for a hasty snap shot.
In India the Woodcock seems to be of a far more tame and confid- ing nature than it is in Europe and this also affects the flight as the bird makes no effort to get away at any pace when it is flushed. Hume writes :—‘‘ When migrating they are said to fly strongly and well, but when flushed, the flight is at first slow, uncertain and Owl- like, and ceases suddenly, the bird dropping instantaneously behind some bush. I have never had any sport with Woodcock in Northern India. I have often shot them, rarely more than three in a day ; but they gave no sort of sport. They fluttered up flushed by the dogs or some beater within twenty yards, and were knocked over by a snap shot as they hung wavering on first rising. One shot them because they were so good to eat ; in every other respect they were not worth shooting. They don’t seem to fly a bit as Woodcock do in covers at home, where even a good shot is at times baulked ; but, like Snipe, and almost every living thing domiciled in this ‘‘elime of the sun,” they seem to have become listless and sluggish, ”’
The manner in which Woodcock are said to perform surgical operations on their own wounds has often been alluded and is a com- mon belief with gamekeepers and others, indeed many sportsmen whom I have met are quite convinced that the apparent attention which has been paid toa wound is the intelligent work of the bird itself. Thus Major Wilson writes me :—‘‘On_ two occasions I have noticed instances of the so-called wonderful way the Woodcock has of doctoring itself. One day I wounded a bird, saw it go off badly hit but failed to pick it up. A fortnight or so later I flushed a bird in exactly the same place and got it. It seemed in very poor con- dition and on examining it, I found it had what looked like a re- gular splint on one of its legs formed of a tiny piece of stick most -carefully bound round with feathers. The other case was one of a
24 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XX.
bird which had evidently escaped froma snare. A great patch of skin had been torn off just above the wing and this was covered with a poultice of feathers beautifully attached to the feathers grow— ing in the bird’s body.”
Of course, these works of art are the result of accident, not design,. and are caused by the birds lying in muddy places. The wounded part, in most places wet with blood already, naturally gets covered with mud or clay to which feathers, tiny sticks and grass adhere and make, what Major Wilson terms, a poultice and doubtless this may be in some instances as effectual asa splint or poultice made by de- sien. I once shot an ow! with a badly smashed thigh, how caused I do not know, but it had been lying in muddy grass-land and the breast, next the wounded leg and the whole thigh itself had become densely matted with feathers, chips of grass, mud and blood which formed a perfect plaster of Paris splint and in addition to this, in lying down the bird had had the wounded leg forced up against the breast where the foot had stuck to the feathers and mud so that it might have been said that net only had the bird arranged a splint for itself but had also put its foot into-a sling to prevent its moving about.
The Woodcock is generally considered rather a stupid bird and an easy prey to trappers and snarers who take full advantage of his weak intellect. .
They are said to be regular trapped in the Nilghiris and parts of the Himalayas and certainly inthe Khasia Hills snares are to be found set in almost every place known to be haunted by Woodcock.
In Latham’s Synopsis, Vol. ILI, p, 130, there is a very quaint description of the Woodeock. Amongst other things Latham notes that ‘‘they are stupid birds and often taken in nets placed at the openings where they come out of the woods and return to them in the evenings, which thev do in particular paths ; they are also caught in springes placed on the ground, or near it, sometimes by the legs, at other times by the neck : for as these birds will not walk over the least obstacle which projects in their way, it is usual to place a range of stones and in the ayenues between to set springes, by which means many are often taken.”
The Woodcock isa very silent bird and but little is on record. about its voice. The male is said to havea hoarse, grating note:
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 25:
called “a bleat,” “a croak,’’ ‘‘a jarring chuckle” by various writers, Mr, Osmaston speaks of the noise made by a female W ood- cock disturbed in its brooding as being ‘‘a continuous sort of grating purring noise.”” Hume says that as far as his own experience goes the Woodcock is mute in the cold weather, but he quotes Mr. Wilson as writing of them in their summer haunts: ‘“ At this season they are seen towards dusk, about the open glades and borders of the forests on the higher ridges, flying rather high in the air in various directions and uttering a loud wailing cry.’ Hume also quotes ‘‘ European authors ” to the effect that the Woodcock has ‘‘ a very peculiar call-note, first one or two snorts, 2 hollow coarse, somewhat lengthened nasal sound, followed by # short fine sharp sort of whistle, which when one is accustomed to it, may be heard to a considerable distance. ’’
The diet of the Woodcock ranges over rather a wide limit. Tickell says it will swallow a lob worm whole, I have found tiny snails and water shells in its stomach and on another occasion a_ bird I examined had been feeding entirely on some small white worms, of a very wiry hard consistency. It feeds on grubs, beetles, insects of ulmost any sort and will also swallow spawn of frogs. It is almost entirely a nocturnal bird, even more nocturnal than crepuscular, feeding after dark or only a very short time before nightfall. In the: day it lies up and sleeps, and at this time is usually found in a dry spot though near water.
Breeding Habits and Nidification—There are two points in con- nection with the breeding of the Woodcock which call for remark -: first is the curious manner of flight during the breeding season, some- what analogous to the drumming of snipes; and, secondly, the. habit the Woodcock has of carrying its young from one place to: another.
As regards the roding of the Woodcock, as its habit of flight during the breeding season is called, this is described by Seebohm. as follows :—‘* The Woodcock does not drum like the snipe but during the breeding season like that bird, the male forgets for a time his skulking habits and flies backwards and forwards, uttering a peculiar note, which, though unquestionably proceeding from the throat, must be regarded as analogous to the drumming of the snipe. This
peculiar habit of the Woodcock is described as réding and is 4
26 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
‘indulged in early in the morning and late inthe evening, in the pairing season, sometimes before it reaches its breeding grounds, but more often after its arrival there. This réding continues for about a quarter of an hour, during which his peculiar notes are uttered, sometimes singly and sometimes one following the other.”
Dresser quoting Ekstro6m gives in greater detail the manner in which the W oodeock rédes. He writes :—‘‘ During the first days of spring the Woodcock commences roding the instant the sun has sunk below the horizon, but at a more advanced period somewhat before its final disappearance and continues until nightfall, In the morning it begins roding whilst it is still quite dark, and ceases previous to its being ful] daylight. When he rédes there is always an interval between each tour and retour, which is more observable in the evening, when it goes and returns there several times. The first time it always flies high and generally with rapidity, the second its flight is but little above the tree tops, and commonly slower, the third time still nearer the ground and yet more leisurely.” Oates who quotes both these authors adds * when flying about in this extra- ordinary manner the plumage is puffed out and the flight is rather slow.”
Oates’ remarks agree well with what was told me by a game- Keeper in Wales, who said that he had observed Woodcock just before they left in March réding outside some of the spinnies | have mentioned in my account of a day’s shooting in Wales. This man informed me that just at dusk the cock came out of the cover and sailed slowly backwards and forwards a few times in front of it. At first the flights were high, but gradually the birds got lower and lower until reaching the level of the scrub they again disappeared into it. Hach flight was said to be in the shape of a long arc, the highest points being reached at the end and commencement of it, whilst in length they were anything from 50 yards to 200 or more. The bird was described as flying slowly with plumage puffed out, head thrown far back and bill somewhat pointed upwards. I did not inquire how many times the flights were repeated, but the impres- sion I obtained was that they were numerous and lasted for some time.
In this country Mr, F. Wilson, whose note I have already quoted, seems to be the only writer who has recorded anything in regard to
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON, 27
‘these nuptial flights. Mr. J. Lindsay Smith has, however, written me an interesting letter on the Woodcock and its habits on Dunga- gali, and he says in this that he has often observed them rdding ; and that whilst thus engaged this bird utters ‘‘a rather harsh croak alternately with a sharp whistle or squeak, something like that of-a cat but very much stronger.”
The habit the Woodcock has of carrying its young from one place to another is very well known, but there are not many descriptions on record of how the carrying is done.
Davidson saw the bird in the act of carrying its young in Kashmir, but has unfortunately left but little on record about it. He observes :— “On the 28th May I found a pair with small young ones and dis- tinctly saw one of the old birds carrying a young one between its feet or legs. It flew only some 50 yards, but though I followed at once, | not only tailed to find the young bird, but could not even put up the old one again, and on returning could not find the young one that I had previously noticed on the ground.”
Littledale also records having seen the same occurrence. He writes, “‘to my delight up flew a Woodcock about five yards from my feet. She had a young one—the men said two young ones, but J could not see two distinctly myself—in her claws pressed close under her ; and she flew slowly and heavily for about ten yards, then rested above a bramble which the young one seemed to catch hold of with its claws, or become entangled in. The old bird flut- tered for quite half a minute over it, before she could pull the little one clear and fly a few yards further down, when she alighted but rose again, when I sent a man to try to catch the young one,”’
A friend in Scotland to whom I wrote to obtain information on this poimt informs me that he has only once certainly seen the Wood- cock carry its young, though he believes that on two or three occa- sions when he has disturbed cock in spring they carried away a young one with them. On the occasion he refers to as having distinctly seen what happened he writes ¢n enisiola ;—‘‘ We came on this bird very suddenly and she rose almost at my feet and made off with a young one held tightly up against her breast, and, I think, held on either side by her claws. As she left three young ones behind her when she first flew away, I at once hid myself and awaited to see what further she would do, In a few minutes back came the old
28 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX..
lady and dropped on the ground close to the nest and after scuffling: about a bit she grasped one of the young ones on either side and
picked it up. As she rose I could see that her extended legs held
the young one low down on either side, but she at once drew up her legs close to her body and then appeared to be holding it between her breast and thighs, this of course owing to the contracted position of her legs. Once started she flew quite easily to some distance, but
seemed to find it rather difficult to get a comfortable hold of the young ones at first. She removed all four a distance of nearly 50
yards within about a quarter of an hour,”
It is not definitely known whether both parents diene, in the labour of removal, but it is probable that such is the case. Indeed, from Davidson’s note given above, it would appear rather as if whilst he was following one of the parent birds, the other had carried oft the remaining youngster.
It is possible that the removals are not always due to the birds being disturbed, and it may be that they are undertaken also for the purpose of getting to fresh feeding grounds. On several occasions young Woodcocks known to be in one place have been found removed to some distance, although, as far as was known, no disturb- ing element had approached the original nest site.
The Woodcock breeds very freely throughout the Himalayas at 10,000 feet upwards and probably also very much lower dewn. Whether its breeding range extends to the Hast as far as the more lofty ranges of the Naga Hills and Manipur is very doubtful, and there is nothing to show ‘Leatb it breeds in any of the Burmese Hill Ranges.
Abinonel so many Oologists have taken its eggs in this country,. there is curiously little on record about its nidifications therein. Hume when he wrote the ‘ Game Birds’ remarked on this, and noted that of the many who had taken the nests, the only account he possessed was that given him by Anderson, which he quotes as follows :—
“On the 30th June, I turned my face towards the snows in another direction, determined to consider my expedition a failure so: long as the discovery of the breeding haunts of the Woodcock, which was one of its chief objects, still remained unachieved. After two days’ stiff marching I pitched camp at a place called Kemo, at
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 29
-an elevation of some 10,000 feet over and against Namick, which is celebrated for its salt springs.”
‘¢ We were following up a huge wounded Presbytis schistaceus through a dense undergrowth of ringals, when a Woodcock rose close to us, dropping again almost immediately, disappearing in the cover. A diligent search revealed the long-looked-for prize, four eggs, which were deposited in a slight depression in the damp soil, and embedded amongst a lot of wet leaves, the thin ends pointing inwards and downwards into the grounds.”
“The eggs found (I could see they were hard-set), I told Triphook ‘| had no intention of leaving the place without bagging the bird. lt was raining heavily and bitterly cold with the thermometer down to 40°; but fortunately for us, before we had time to make our- selves comfortable under an adjoining tree, the bird flew back in a -sort of semicircle, alighted, and ran on to her nest. No sooner down ‘than she was off again, frightened, as I subsequently learnt, by one of our dogs, but which at first thought alarmed me not a little as I thought she was removing her eggs. After having satisfied myself ‘that my suspicions were unfounded, it was decided, as I had done my duty in finding the nest, shooting the bird should devolve on Triphook, and right well he did it, considering all the disadvantages which militate against having a snap-shot in dense cover and a ithick mist. I never do anything but miss on such critical ocea- ‘sions ; at any rate, | would rather some one else made a mull ot it than myself.”
‘““The eggs were a most beautiful set . . . they are far darker and redder than the usual run of W oodcocks’ eggs, all four resembling the second figure in Hewetson’s work, and in the character of their markings they are not walzke richly coloured specimens of some Terns’ Lem eS, :
Osmaston has an interesting account of the finding of a nest in the Tons Valley, especially interesting as in the case there was no attempt to carry off the young ; the mother, when disturbed, attempting to divert attention by feigning being crippled. He says that aiter finding the mother and tiny young, only a day or two old, the former ‘all the time I had been inspecting her brood had been going through the strangest of antics with outspread wings and tail, and making a continual sort of grating, purring noise. She allowed me
30 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX,
to approach within a few feet, and then, with an apparent effort half fluttered, half ran away.”
Rattray took a large number of nests of the Woodcock in Changla Gali, Danga Gali and other places near Murree. In our Journal (in loc. sit.) he records :—“ This bird breeds freely round Changla Gali from about 8,500 feet upwards. I saw some 8 or 10 pairs, and found some 5 nests, each containing the usual four eggs. The nests were all in thick forests and genera!ly under a shrub like Rue. The nest is a typical one. I hope next year to get a good photo of a sitting bird and settle the question I lately ventilated in “‘The Field ”” as to birds sitting with eyes closed and bill resting on the ground.”
The typical nest referred to is that shown by Rattray in the beautiful photograph which accompanies his article. This shows a nest formed by a depression in a mass of leaves and rubbish lying on the ground under a thickly foliaged bush.
In India the Woodcock seems seldom to breed before May and generally not before the end of that month. Osmaston found young birds on the 17th June inthe Tons Valley. Davidson says :—‘‘ On the 24th and 25th May we obtained two clutches of its eggs, consisting of four slightly incubated and three fresh eggs, and on the 28th May I found a pair with small young ones.” This was in Kashmir near Ganjadgir, and I have eggs in mv own collection taken by Rattray at Danga Gali as late asthe 14th July. Lindsay Smith records hard set eggs as late as the end of August, and he twice came on nests and egos, broken by cattle, at the end of July.
In Europe they seem to breed a great deal earlier than in India. Many seem to commence breeding operations in March, and I have Huropean eggs taken in March, April and May, my latest date being that of a clutch taken in Germany on the 25th May. They are, however, sometimes much later than this. Davidson writing to me on the 6th August says that as he is writing there isa Woodcock sitting on four eggs in his own preserves, and he adds that this is the third sitting, the bird having hatched off two previously.
Hewetson says that the “ Woodcock lays its eggs amongst the dry grass or dead leaves which form the surface of the woods and planta- tions which it frequents. It is an early breeder, frequently having young ones in the middle of April.”
Yarrell describes the nest as being “all in dry warm situations
THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON, jl
amongst dead grass and leaves without any attempt at concealment. The nest was wholly composed of dead leaves, chiefly of the common fern, loosely laid together and without any lining.”
‘Tt would, however, be more proper to say beds than nests ; for, like those of the Plover, they are merely slight hollows, formed by the nestling of the birds in dry soft spots or on the fallen leaves.”
Seebohm (Hggs of British Birds) merely says that the nest is: placed on the ground and is little more than a hollow scratched in the earth and lined with a few leaves and a little dry grass.
The eggs appear to be always four in number, and I have no in- formation as to any full clutch numbering less. Typically the eggs are far more tern like in character than like snipes’ eggs as one: would have expected. As a rule they are broad ovals, distinctly pointed at one end and sometimes slightly ‘ peg top” in shape, but never the actual peg top of the true snipes’ eggs. The texture of the eggs is fine and smooth and often has a considerable gloss, which is more or less permanent, as [ have eggs in my collection more than 20 years old which still show a fine glossy surface.
Hume thus describes his eggs :—‘‘ The ground colour varies from pale yellowish white, through various shades of buff and buffy stone colour to a reddish café-au-lait. The markings never very densely set and at times very sparse, consist of different shades of brown, brownish- yellow and brownish-red on the one hand, and greys, from sepia to purple on the other. The former eccur in moderate sized blotches, spots and specks as primary markings. Often these are more: numerous in a cap or zone about the large end. Occasionally not a single blotch or spot is one-tenth of an inch in diameter. and nine. out of ten are little more than specks, but in other eges many of the blotches, especially about the large end, are a quarter of an inch and upwards in length. The greys, pinkish, lavender, sepia occur as small clouds, spots and smears, secondary not surface looking mark- ings rarely either large or thickly set, except when amongst the blotches of a zone or cap, when the eggs exhibit such.”’
“ A large series, chiefly Northern European, vary from 1:5 to 1:8 in length and from 1:3 to 1-5 in breadth. I have no Himalayan eggs, but I suspect that like the birds they would average smaller than European specimens.”
32. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX,
My eggs which contain series from Scotland, England, Germany and India agree well with Hume’s description except one elutch from Germany which has a red café-au-lait ground with dense blotches and smears of rich vandyke brown and a few subsidiary blotches and smears of deep-lavender.
My Indian eggs average 1:6" 1°32" as against an average of 1-70" x 1:34" in English and Scotch eges, and 1:69" x 1:32" for German . eggs. My biggest egg is one from Germany, measuring 1°86" x 1:54", my smallest is from Scotland and measures 1°59" x 1:26".
It will be seen that the measurements of mye
o to}
eggs do not bear out Hume’s opinions as to Indian birds being smaller than Huropean, but rather endorses my view that Indian birds average small, because they are immature.
Seebohm gives the size of the Woodcock’s eggs as being 1-8" to 1:6" in length and 1:4" to 1°3" in breadth.
Dresser gives the average size as being 1°75" « 1:32".
Tue Piare.—-This is an excellent one. This bird in the back- ground is supposed to represent the grey phase of colouration, but, though this is well shown in regard to the scapulars and back, yet many birds will be found far more grey than this specimen on the lower parts and wing quills also. As regards the bird in the fore- ground all that need be said is that the white round the eye is far too conspicuous and the bill is not a normal colour. It is true that in a tew birds the tint of the bill may be as depicted, but, as a rule, there is always a more flesh or horn-coloured tinge about it.
It must be remembered that the range of variation in the depth of colouration of the Woodcock is yery great, and though the plate is a very fine example of one shade, many birds will be found to be paler, especially on the lower parts, whilst some again may be obtained even darker than this bird.
In life the eye of the Woodcock seems even larger, darker and more lustrous than it is shown to be in the plate.
(Lo be continued.)
33
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON, INDIGENOUS AND INTRODUCED.
BY HK, Buarrsr, 8. J. (With Plate I and Map A). INTRODUCTION,
It was a favourite idea of the late Dr. Scheffer, formerly Director of the Botanic Gardens of Buitenzorg, to illustrate by means of photography the palms of the Malay Archi- pelago and many others from various parts of the world which grow so luxuriously in the famous Gardens of Java. His premature death (1880), however, prevented him from giving life to his idea and from finishing the promising series of illustrations which he had started in the ‘“‘ Annales du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg.”’ Pro- fessor Beccari was kind enough to undertake the publication of some of Dr. Scheffer’s notes and plates, enriched by his own valuable observations. Itis to be regretted that, after the appearance of the “« Reliquie Schefferiane,” nobody felt inclined to continue the work, as there is scarcely a better way of conveying correct notions regard- ing the habit of palms than by means of photographic illustrations. Hven the most elaborate description and detailed analysis will never, in that respect, come up to a tolerably good photograph. It is for this reason that we intend.to publish a series of articles on Indian palms, indigenous as weil as introduced, and to illustrate them by as many photographs as we are able to procure. Weare sorry not to be ina position to give much fresh information with regard to the morpho- logical characters of most palms, as the leisure required for such observations was not at our disposal. We have, however, tried to make the descriptions as complete as possible by carefully comparing and, where practicable, verifying the descriptions and illustrations as given by various authors. In many cases, where we found a good de- scription of a species we have not hesitated to adopt it almost word for word, supposing that everybody will understand that in a condensed, technieal description of a plant not much originality can be expected, especially if a uniform plan has once been adopted. In this we are only following in the footsteps of systematic botanists,
~
D)
34. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX
With regard to the classification of the palms we shall follow the arrangement laid down by Professor Drude in the “ Natiirliche Pflanzenfamilien” ; in minor points only we found it convenient to introduce a few changes. We have chosen Professor Drude’s system of classification in preference to the one adopted in Sir J. Hooker’s “Flora of ‘British India” for entirely practical reasons. As we include in our description a great number of exotic species, the plan given by Professor Drude seemed to simplify matters considerably. In order to give the series not only scientific interest but also practical value, we shall add to the description of the species an account of their economic uses and, besides, a few notes on their cultivation. We cannot lay claim to the practical ex- perience of a gardener and have, therefore, to rely in this matter on the remarks scattered in various books on gardening. As many of the palms described below have been introduced into Huropean Conservatories, we hope that some hints on palm-growing in Hurope
will be welcome. In order to avoid, on the one hand, too frequent references to
authorities in the text, and on the other to indicate the books where those desirous of further information may easily find it, we shall give alist of the literature on palms at the end of the introductory chapter, Later on all the references to botanical authors will be given in their usual abbreviated form. In the interest of those who are not fami- liar with the ways of botanists, we shall add a list of the authors with the abbreviations commonly used in botanical works.
Weare fully aware of many imperfections regarding the treatment of our subject. Those who have ever made, or tried to make, a special study of palms will realise the many difficulties that lie in the way of such ‘an undertaking. We shall always be very thankful for any suggestions or corrections.
Our sincere thanks are due to Captain Gage, the Director of the Botanical Survey of India, and Mr. H. F. MacMillan, the Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, who have supplied us with a considerable number of photographs which otherwise we should not have been able to secure. To Mr. MacMillan we are, moreover, indebted for his valuable suggestions. We owe another set of photographs to the kindness of Mr. Phipson, the former Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society, to the Rev. Max
Prats I.
Journ. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc.
Group oF PALMS IN PERADENIYA GARDENS, CEYLON.
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 3D
Maier, S. J.,and to Mr. Roscoe Allen. Mr. Lock, the Assistant Direcior of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, obliged us by putting the library and herbarium of the Gardens at our disposal. Lastly, we would express our thanks to Mr. Millard, the Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society. Without his practical and untiring interest in the subject we should never have been able to start this series.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE INDIAN PALM-FLORA.
Alexander von Humboldt! wrote in the year 1849 : ‘ It is remark- able that of this majestic form of plants (palms) up to the time of the death of Linnzus only 15 species were described. The Peruvian travellers Ruiz and Payon? added to these 8 more species. Bonpland? and I, in passing over a more extensive range of country from 12° 8. Lat. to 21° N. Lat., described 20 new species of palms, and dis- tinguished asmany more, but without being able to obtain complete specimens of their flowers, At the present time, 44 years after my return from Mexico, there are from the Old and New World, inelud- ing the Hast Indian species brought by Griffith, above 440 regular- ly deseribed species, The “ Enumeratio Plantarum ” of my friend Kunth, published in 1841, had already 356 species.’ It is evident from this account, that the progress made in the exploration of the palm- flora in general was a very slow one, and it cannot be expected that the knowledge of the Indian palms was much advanced at that time. In Rheede’s ‘“‘ Hortus Malabaricus,” which was finished in 1703, only those palms are described which have been cultivated in India from time immemorial (Areca catechu, Phoenix sylvestris, Borassus flabellifer, Cocos nucifera,: etc.) Roxburgh’s ‘‘ Plants of the Coas’ -of Goromandel” (1795—-1816) contains only a few species, whilst poms racemic
1A. v. Humboldt, Aspects of Naturein Different Lands ana Different Climates, Vol. II 126. London, 1850. (Translated from the German.)
2 Hipolito Ruiz Lopez, born in 1754, was in charge of the Botanic Garden of Madrid, -and died in Madrid in 1815. He and Joseph Pavon undertook (1779-1788) a scientific tom through Peru, Chili, and the neighbouring Spanish Provinces. In a shipwreck they lost the greatest part of their botanical collections, The results of their travels were published in the “ Flora Peruviana et Chilensis,” Madrid, 1798-1802, and the ‘* Systema vegetabilium flor Peruvians et Chilensis.” Madrid, 1798,
3 Humboldt, in company with Bonpland, travelled in Spanish America between 1799 -and 1804.
36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. XX.
his ‘Flora Indica ’’?, which appeared 17 years after his death (in 1832) brings the number of palms up to 41. At about the same time Wallich’s ‘‘ Plante Asiatice Rariores ” (between 1830 and 1832) was published by the East India Company. Though valuable in other respects, the work did not add much to our
knowledge of Indian palms. It was not until Griffith with his untiring energy and enormous
knowledge began his botanical investigations, that the palms of India became better known. As Assistant Surgeon he accompanied Wallich to Assam ; he explored the tracks near the Mishmi Mountains between Sudiya and Ava; made a journey from Assam to Ava, and down the Irrawadi to Rangoon; traversed 400 miles oi the Bhutan country ; joined the Army of the Indus ina scientific capacity ; went from Kabul to Khurasan and succumbed finally 10 the fatigue and sick- nesses due to exposure during his long and restless journeys (1845). The various papers, including many on palms which he communicat- ed to the Caleutta Journal of Natural History ’’ and to the Linnean Society of London, and his other publications, are models of scientific research. His drawings, microscopic analyses and descriptions of plants are evidence of astonishing industry and profound knowledge. For the fruits of these labours we are indebted to J. McClelland, who published in Calcutta, between 1847 and 1854, five volumes with a 4to volume of illustrations : ‘‘ Posthumous papers bequeathed to the H. H. I. C., and printed by order of the Government of Bengal ; being journals of travels by the late William Griffith, Hsq., arranged by John McClelland, M.D.” The most important amongst these is the volume entitled : ‘‘ Palms of British Hast India ”’ (1850). The author’s preface furnishes some information regarding the scope and origin of the book. ‘‘The present attempt,’ says Griffith, ‘‘ will be found to include all the Palms of British Hast India that I have met with myself, or of which I have heen able to procure such knowledge, as I considered sufficient for their determina - tion. | wish it merely to be viewed as a slight sketch to be filled up hereafter, This subject, so far as regards systematic botany, is one of considerable interest, and in order to meet the convenience of the Indian public, I have written the descriptions in English, in pre- ference to the common language of Botanists. This seemed to me ths more proper, because Hnglish is the language through which
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON, 37
scientific knowledge is communicated in this country, more especially in the Medical and other Colleges, from which all that is to be expected in the dissemination of this science among the natives of India must at present be derived . . , The determination of the species having been difficult, indeed nearly insuperably so to me, in reference to the means possessed in India, the numerous names new to science proposed in this work, must be taken with some qualification, I shall never regret to see any of these names cancelled in favour of others justly prior, that is to say, prior by definition, and by publication. However imperfect the definition may be ; and it must be contessed, that most of those of palms are necessarily imperfect, still it bears evidence of a wish on the part of an author to do his duty by the science, for which, moreover, he thus endeavours to show a proper respect. But I would not be disposed to waive my right, in favour of mere MSS, names originating in indolence, and too often fostered by a courtesy of a very mischievous nature, inasmuch as the practice is directly opposed to proper observation and due discrimination. Such names are, in fact, only weak and temporary usurpations of authority.”
The materials from which the work has been prepared were an extensive collection of palms made by Griffith himself and his friends in various parts of India, more especially at Malacca, and in Assam, and of a few found in the Botanic Gardens of Calcutta. To these we must add the species figured in Roxburgh’s national collection of drawings and most of those described in his ‘‘ Flora Indica.” The species of Buchanan Hamilton, amounting to nine in number, Griffith has not been able to determine, in default either of manuscripts, specimens, or drawings. For the rest, Griffith has been much assisted, as he says himself, by Martius’ great work on palms, so far as regards the sections, and from Mohl’s contribution to it he derived most of what relates to structure. It was Griffith, on the other hand, that enabled Martius to describe in his 3rd volume a considerable number of Indian species, as only a few months before his death he had sent his whole collection of palms to Martius, who at that time was engaged in finishing his monumental ‘“ Historia Naturalis Palmarum.”’
During the lifetime of Griffith and especially in the second half of the 19th century, valuable work has been done in the exploration of the palm-flora by many botanists in various parts of India. We
38 JOURNAL,BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
mention only Anderson, Thwaites, Scheffer, Kurz, Brandis, Trimen, Beccari, and especially J. D. Hooker, who in the VIth Volume of his ‘‘ Flora of British India ” (1894) gives a concise account of all the palms which had previously been found in India and to which he himself and Beccari were able to add some new species, Lately, Prof. Beccari has enriched the literature on palms by his magnificent monograph on the genus Calamus, and we can only hope that he will be able to continue and finish his great undertaking to describe and illustrate the Asiatic palms. '
Jn spite of all the labour spent by many scientific men in the study of Indian palms, there still remains much to be done. <A great number of species are only partially known ; the knowledge of others is extremely scanty, and there are, besides, a few, of which we know only the name, the original not having been discovered as yet.
THE PALMS IN GENERAL.
The Stem.—The adult palm has generally a tall, woody stem, bearing a crown of leaves ; a considerable number, however, remain shrubby and some even have quite the appearance, but nothing save the appearance of perennial herbs. The stems in some species hardly appear above ground, in others they rise to the height of 500 feet (Calamus). It is doubtful whether there exist entirely stemless palms. Not seldom we find in descriptions palms mentioned as stemless, but on closer examination we usually find that the stem is very short and covered all over with the bases of the stalks of fallen leaves and the dense crown of new leaves. In diameter the stems vary from the reed-like Chamedorea and slender Rattan to the more usual sturdy, pilar-like structure as seen in the Date-palm, Palmyra-palm, the Oreodoxa, the Talipot and many others. While in some the stem is hardly as thick as a goosequill, it measures in others from three to five feet in diameter (Borassus flabellifer, Corypha). The long, slender stems of the Rattans or cane-palms are not self-supporting, but scramble over the surrounding vegetation; but in most palms the stem exists quite independent of all other plants,
The trunks of some are almost perfectly smooth, others rough with concentric rings, the scars of the fallen leaves. Many are clothed with a woven or hairy fibrous covering, which binds together the sheathing bases of the fallen leaves: others are densely beset with
%
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 39
cylindrical or flat spines, often eight or ten inches long and as sharp as aneedle, As in these cases also the leaf-sheaths are covered with spines, such palms offer a serious obstacle to the traveller who attempts to penetrate the tropical forest.
Branching isa rare occurrence in the tall aérial stem, It is the rule only in a few species of the genus [Hyphkene (thebatca, coriacea, and indica). In these palms the stem forks, often several times in succes- sion, and there is no doubt that here we have cases of true dichotomy, similar to the mode of branching observed in Pandanus furcatus (Screw-pine). In ten other genera (out of a total of 131) exceptional cases of branching are recorded. These are often due to an injury to the terminal bud, as in the Wild Date, where the apex is continually tapped for toddy. In other cases branching takes place in consequence of the replacement of flowering buds by leaf-buds, which develop into shoots. Mr. F. Field gives a photograph of a Wild Date Palm with 14 branches (Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. xvitt, p. 699) that was growing at a village named Amas in the Gaya District, and he mentions that at one time the tree had been struck by lightning and split, and that from the base of the split those branches started.
The formation of horizontal suckers at the base of the stem is not so seldom. When they vrow erect, they afford a characteristic bushy habit, as in the case of Rhapis flahelliformis, a species often cultivated in gardens.
The Leaf—tThe foliage generally forms a magnificent crown at the end of the trunk. It is this crown that renders the palms objects of such beauty and elegance. The leaves are large and often gigantic, surpassing those of any other class of plants. Im some species they are 50 feet long and 8 wide. We can easily distinguish two main types of leaves, the palmate and pinnate, which give rise to the popular terms F'an-palm and Feather-palm respectively. In the Fan-palms the blade is entire while enclosed in the bud, but folded up. When the leaf expands the folds become torn to a greater or less distance from the margin inwards. The depth of division varies much in different genera and species. In the pinne (leaflets, seg- ments) of the Feather-palms we can observe: similar characteristic foldings and tearings. The presence or absence of a terminal leaflet and the shape of the pinne in such a leaf afford useful distinctive
wf
40 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX,
characters. Occasionally, in the genus Caryota, these segments are again divided (bipinnatisect), their ultimate divisions resembling in shape the fin or tail of a fish.
The petiole (leaf-stalk) is usually large and stout and has a strong, broad, sheathing base. The leaf-fall is, as generally in Monocotyle- dons, not a predetermined process, as observed in dicotyledonous trees. After some time, when the leaf has reached the end of its life-period, it gradually falls over, as the weight of the large blade is too great for the dying petiole. The blade remains attached until the stalk becomes so decayed that the leaf falls by its own weight or gets broken off by wind or rain-storm. The sheath is often seen to persist for sometime, its tough fibres forming a dense matting round the bases of the younger leaves. In some genera (Calamus, Desmoncus) the stem is surrounded above the petiole by a sheath-like stipule, called ochrea. Ina few species the ochrea forms a hollow smooth- walled chamber, in which ants makea home (Korthalsza echinometra, scaphigera, scortechini, wallechicefolia).
Within the leaf-sheath we often find stem-thorns, which are at first flattened upwards against the stem and spread only after leaf-fall. The stems and leaves of the Rattans often bear numerous recurved spines which aid them in scrambling over trees and bushes, Also the leaf-rachis (midrib) may be produced into a naked, barbed, whip-like flagellum.
The Jeaves are generally green on both sides, but occasionally of a silvery white on the underside (Coperndcia cerifera). In rare cases blue the middle of some leaves shows concentric bands of yellow and in the manner of a peacock’s tail, as in the prickly Mauritia.
Another important character is the direction of the leaves. The segments may be arranged in a comb-like manner close to one another, with a stiff parenchyma, allowing the rays of the sun to play over their surface, and causing them to shine with a brilliant verdure in the Gocoa-nut Palm, and with a fainter ashy-coloured hue in the Date-tree, or they have a more flexible, grass-like texture, and are curled near the extremity. The more acute the angle formed by the leaves with the upper part of the stem, ze., the nearer the leaves approach the perpendicular, the bolder and nobler is the aspect of the species to which they belong. A comparison between the Real Date Palm and the Wild Date Palm will show this sufficiently.
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 41
In Feather-Palms the petioles either burst from the dry, rough, woody portion of the stem {Cocos nucifera, Phenia dactylifera), or there rises in the rough part of the stem a grass-green, smooth, and thinner shaft, like one column above another, from which the petioles spring (Oreodoxa regia). A special character of melancholic solemnity and grandeur is added to the tree, when in Fan-Palms the living foliage rests on a circle of dead leaves.
There are various ways in which the leaf-blade protects itself against the influence of too intensive sun-light and the violent force of the ram. Fan-leaves as well as feathery leaves very often assume an inclined or even vertical position. This is effected either by the torsion of the petiole or by the leaf-stalk trying to get into a more upright position. It isnot uncommon that the two rows of pinne are turned upwards till they form a small angle with each other (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens), and even the two halves ofa fan-leaf are sometimes seen to close upon each other—just like a half-open book.
The Root.—Atter germination the primary root soon perishes and is replaced by adventitious roots springing from the base of the stem. In the South American genus Iriartea, development takes place above ground, the short stem being supported by prop-like adventi- tious roots, which increase in size with the increase in circumference of the shoot. The Sabal-Palm, Wax-Palm, and others, differ in that they form on the surface a short, horizontal rhizome, which becomes gradually thicker until the normal sized leaf-rosette is produced, when it begins to grow erect and forms the cylindrical stem, At the base the stem is often conically thickened. This gives the necessary mechanical rigidity, in consequence of which the stem does not curve in a gale but bends from the base, from a position like | to one like |. The mechanical physiology of stem and root is on the whole very little known. Why, e.g., the stems of Cocos and other palms are curved—and not straight, we are not yet able to explain.
The Flower.—The flowers of a palm are never solitary ; they always form a usually very large and much branched inflorescence. This is either a simple or compound spike, or a richly branched panicle. The branching is racemose and the flowers are often embedded in the fleshy surface of the branches ; for this reason it is customary to call
the inflorescence a spadix. In the Talipot and Metroxylon it is 6
42 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
terminal ; after many years’ growth and the production of a stout woody trunk, the growing point ceases to produce leaves and develops a gigantic inflorescence. This so exhausts the plant that, after fruit- ing, it dies. In most cases, however, the spadix is axillary and withers away after fruiting. It is formed in the sheathed axil of a leaf but often does not develop until after the subtending leaf has fallen, when the spadix is therefore below the leaf-crown, In other cases again, as in the Sabal mauritiwforme the large flower-shoots appear among the green leaves. These relations are constant for every species, sometimes even for a whole genus.
Before the flowers open a sugary sap in considerable quantities flows to the large spadix. The inhabitants of the tropics learned in early times how to obtain that sap, which by fermentation changes into a favourite intoxicating drink, the toddy. Hach spadix is enclosed in an often enormous spathe, or each branch is separately sheathed by smaller spathes. After some time the spathe becomes torn along defi- nite lines by the rapidly growing flower-shoot and either separates com- pletely at the base or remains to sheathe the stalix and lower branches.
The flowers are small and inconspicuous, generally of a white, pale- yellow, or green colour, but, as if to make up for this defect, they are mostly produced in such masses as to present an eminently strik- ing and imposing appearance. A single spathe of the Date-Pailm contains about 12,000 male flowers, and Metrovylon rumphe has been computed to have no less than 208,000 flowers in one spathe, or about 624,000 upon a single tree.
The flowers are sessile or sometimes embedded in the surtace of a fleshy spadix, as in ‘the male inilorescence of the Brab Tree (Borassus), They are arranged in a close or loose spiral, or more rarely are distichous. Asa rule the flowers are unisexual, the male and female often occupying different parts of the same inflorescence, é.g.,a few females occur at the base of the branches, whilst the upper part is thickly crowded with maies, or the branches of the spike bear female flowers in the lower and male in the upper half, In other species, the two sexes may be mixed, usually one female between two males, In this case the two male flowers appear in succession and then the female, so that the spike is for the time being unisexual. The male and female flowers may vastly differ in size, asin the Brab Tree where the enormous female flowers contrast strongly with the minute male.
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 43,
The flowers are regular and follow the very general formula of monocotyledonous plants. We have therefore usually 3. sepals, 3 petals, 6 stamens or a multiple of it, and 3 carpels for the excep- tional hermaphrodite flower, while the stamens are rudimentary (staminodes) in the female and the carpels in the male (pistillode). The sepals and petals are tough and persistent, leathery or fleshy in their structure. The sepals are generally smaller than the other- wise similar petals, and only im rare cases is the corolla entirely covered by the calyx. Sometimes a whorl of stamens is wanting, or there is an indefinite number. The powdery polien is produced in great quantities, escaping in clouds from the large male spikes. The pollination-methods of the palms want investigation. Wind-pollina- tion is probably most general, as e.g., in the Cocoa-nut Palm, though some palms, ¢.g., Sabal and Chameedorea, are said to be entomophi- lous. The sweet smell of the inflorescence and the great mass of flowers which form a conspicuous object, seem to be in favour of insect-pollination. Where the male and female flowers are close together on the same spike, self-pollination is excluded by the well- marked protandry which we have already mentioned.
The ovary consists almost throughout of 3 carpels which are either quite free or completely united. In the latter case the ovary 1s generally trilocular. The style is short and the ovules, one for each earpel, are either anatrapous, hemitropous, or rarely orthotropous.
Fruit and Seed.-When the fruit ripens, two of the carpels with their ovules may become abortive, as eg., in the Cocoa-nut, where we find only one seed, though the three carpels are distinctly indi- cated by three longitudinal sutures and by the constant presence ot three round scars (germ-pores) on the hard endocarp. ‘The fruit is either a berry or a drupe ; in the latter case the endocarp is usually united tothe seed. If the carpels are free, a syncarp of one-seeded fruits results ; if they are united, we shall have a single fruit with one, two or three seeds according to the number of ovules that develop. The fruit in Lepdocaryine (including the Rattans, the Sago-palm, and others) is covered with hard, closely fitting, generally smooth, imbricating scales.
Compared with the size of the plants, the fruits are generally small; some are in this respect like peas, as in the Euterpe of tropical America, The common Cocoa-nut is one of the largest; and the
44. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XX,
Double Cocoa-nut (Lodoicea sechellarum), measuring about four feet in circumference, is probably surpassed by no other fruit hitherto discovered.
In the seeds we observe @ similar variety in size and shape. In fruits which contain only one seed it is generally more or less rounded, asin the Cocoa-nut ; in the Date it is long and narrow. In fruits with three seeds, it often becomes flattened on two sides and rounded on the outer in consequence of mutual compression.
The point on the testa from which well-marked vascular bundles radiate, shows the position of the raphe or chalaza. The inner integument of the ovule is,in some genera, much thickened along the course of these bundles and becoming greatly increased during ripen- ing, grows into the endosperm and produces the characteristic appearance in section known as ruminate. Thiscan be seen in the Betel-nut. Within the thin, fibrous seed-coat there is a copious endosperm which holds embedded in some part of ils circumference the minute cylindrical or conical embryo. The endosperm may be comparatively soft, the cells containing a considerable amount of oil and proteid (Cocoa-nut), or it may be hard (Date), or occasionally mucilaginous.
Geographical Distribution—tThere are about 1,100 known species of palms which are distributed among 181 genera. They form a monocotyledonous order, essentially characteristic of the tropical region (¢f. Map A.). Chamerops humilis is the only native of Europe ; it isa Mediterranean species which occurs in Southern Spain, Italy, and Greece. The monotypic genus Nannorhops which is indigenous on the Himalayas extends through Afghanistan and Baluchistan to south-east Persia. Of the Chinese-Japanese region, only the east-coast, as far as Korea and the south of Japan, shows some representatives of this order. A few small genera are peculiar to the Southern United States and California. The Chilian genus Jubea extends to the 37th parallel, while in the eastern hemisphere the southern limit is 44° 8. Lat. in New Zealand. The great centres are tropical America and tropical Asia. The order is represented in Central America by 7 genera, in the West Indies by 5, and extends southwards as far as Chili. In tropical Asia it covers the Indo- Malayan region, Borneo, New Guinea and Australia, always within the northern and southern limits indicated above. In tropical Africa
SWIVd fO NOIDA GWE AO SLINITT AML SNTIMOUS dVytt
‘y dey 005 "9SI JUN Avquiog ‘usnor
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 45
only 14 species are known to occur. Several genera have been found in the Pacific Islands,
Drude has shown that, with the exception of three genera, all the rest are restricted either to the Old or to the New World. Of those three the Cocoa-nut has a wide distribution on the coasts of tropical America, in India and the South Seas, but all its allies are American. The Oil-palm (Hle@zs guenensis) is indigenous in western tropical Africa, whilst another species of the same genus is a native of equa- torial Africa. One species of Raphia belongs to America, whilst several others have their original home in tropical Africa and Madagascar.
The following table gives all the genera of palms with the number
of species and their distribution, An asterisk indicates thatthe genus is represented by indigenous species in India and Ceylon: two asterisks, that representatives of the respective genus are cultivated im Indian gardens, TRIBE 1.—CorypHIna. 1. Phenicee. 1. * Phoenix, L. Sp. about 12, Sub-tropical Africa ; Tropical Asia. 2. Sabalec.
2.* = Chamerops, L. Sp. 2, Mediterranean region, ps, g
3.” 'Trachycarpus, Wendl. Sp. 3, Northern India, Burma ; Northern China ; Japan.
4, Rhapidophyllum, Wendl, & Dr. Sp. 1, Florida, South Carolina.
5. * ™ Rhapis, L. Sp. 3, Eastern Asia, from China to the Sunda Islands,
6. Acanthorhiza, Wendl. & Dr, Sp. 4, Tropical America,
7. Colpothrinax, Griseb. & Wendl. Sp. 1, Cuba.
8. Trithrinax, Mart, Sp. 4, South America,
9,* * Thrinax, L,Sp.9, Antilles ; Florida.
10. * Corypha, L. Sp. 6, Tropical Asia, Malay-Archipelago.
11. * Namnnorhops, Wendl. & Hook, Sp. 1, India ; Afghanistan ;S. Persia.
12. * hicuala, Wurmb, Sp. about 45, Indo-Malayan region; New Guinea ; North Australia,
13. ™ ILaivistona, R. Br. Sp. about 13, Indo-Malayan region ; New Guinea East Australia,
14. Erythea, Wats. Sp. 2, South California and Guadalupe Island.
15. * * Pritchardia, Seem, & Wendl, Sp. 5, Sandwich Islands.
16. * * Washingtonia, Wendl. Sp. 2, South California and Arizona,
ie Brahea, Mart, Sp. 2, Mexico ; South Texas.
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JOURNAL,BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY Vol, XX
Crysophila, Bl, Sp. 1, Mexico. Sabal, Adans, Sp. 7. from Venezuela to the Antilles and the South-Eastern States of North-America. Serenza, Hook. f. Sp. J, Florida. Copernicia, Mart. Sp. 6, America. Teysmannia, Zoll. Sp. 1, Sumatra. TrivE IT,—Borassin”, 3. Borassec. Pholidocarpus, Bl. Sp. 5, Amboina ; Timor, Borneo. Medemia, P, Guil. de Wuertt. & Braun. Sp. about 4, East Africa. Hyphene, Gaertn. Sp. 10, Africa, India. Latania, Comm. Sp. 3, Mascarene Islands and neighbouring coast of Africa, Borassus, L, Sp. 1, Tropical Africa; India, from Ceylon to the Sunda Islands. Lodoicea, Labill. Sp. 1, Sychelle Islands. Tripe IIT.—-LePmocaryinz, 4. Mauritiea. Mauritia, L. f. Sp. 9, Northern Brazil; Guiana ; West Indies, Lepidocaryum, Mart, Sp. 5, Northern Brazil ; Guiana. 5. Metroxylee. Raphia, P. de B. Sp. 6, Tropical Africa ; Madagascar ; Tropical America, Oncocalamus, Wendl. & Mann. Sp. 1, West Africa. Ancistrophyllum, Hook. Sp. 3, West Africa. Eremospatha, Wendl. & Mann. Sp. 3, West Africa. BHugeissona, Griff. Sp. 2, Malay-Archipelago. Metroxylon, Rottb. Sp. 7, Malay-Archipelago ; New Guinea. Pigafetta, Bl. Sp. 3, Malay-Archipelago ; New Guinea. Zalacea, Reinw. Sp. 10, Assam ; Malay-Archipelago. Korthalsia, Bl. Sp. 20, Malay-Archipelago ; New Guinea. Ceratolobus, Bl. Sp. 2, Sumatra ; Java. Plectocomia, Mart. Sp. 6, Khasya Hills; Himalaya; Assam: Malay-Archipelago. Plectocomiopsis, Becc. Sp. 3, Malayan. Calamus, L. Sp. about 170, Tropical and Sub-tropical Asia ; Tropical West- Africa ; Australia. Demonorhops, Bl. Sp. about 80, Tropical and Sub-tropical Asia, Trine [V.—CEROXYLINA. 6. Arecinec. Caryota, L. Sp. about 10, tropical Asia, Malay-Archipelago, Australia.
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON, 47
46. * Arenga, Labill. Sp. about 10, Tropical Asia; Malay-Archipelago ; New Guinea ; Australia, “47, * Didymosperma, W. & Dr. Sp. 8, Hast India ; Malay-Archipelago. 48, * Wallichia, Roxb. Sp. 3, East India.
49, Orania, Sp. 5, Malay-Archipelago ; Papua.
50. Podococecus, Wendl. & Mann. Sp. 1, West-Africa.
51. Sclerosperma, Wendl. & Mann. Sp. 1, West-Africa,
52. * Bentinckia, Berr. Sp. 2, Travancore ; Nicobar Islands,
53. Manicaria, Gaertn. Sp. 1, Tropical America.
54, Leopoldinia, Mart. Sp. 4, Brazil.
55. Calyptronoma, Griseb, Sp. 4, Tropical America.
56. Geonoma, Willd. Sp. about 80, Tropical America.
57. Asterogyne, Wendl. Sp, about 2, Central America,
58. Calyptrogyne, Wendl, Sp. 3, Central America.
59. Welfia, Wendl. & Hook, Sp. 2, Central America.
60. Triartea, R. & Pay. Sp. about 10, Tropical America,
61, Catoblastus, Wendl. Sp. 3, Columbia ; West Brazil ; Peru.
62. Wettinia, Popp. & Endl. Sp. 3, Andes.
63. Ceroxylon, H. B. Kth. Sp. 5, Andes.
64. Juania, Dr. Sp, 1, Juan Fernandez.
65. * * Chamedorea, Willd. Sp. about 60, Tropical America.
66. Morenia, R. & P. Sp. 5, Andes.
67. Kunthia, Humb. & Bonpl. Sp. 1, North-West Brazil ; Columbia
68. * * Hyophorbe, Gaertn. Sp. 3, Mascarene Islands.
69. Gaussia, Wendl. Sp. 1, Cuba.
70. Pseudophoenix, Wendl. & Dr. Sp. 1, South Florida.
71. Synechanthus, Wendl. Sp. 3, Central America ; Columbia.
(G2 Reinhardtia, Liebm. Sp. 8, Central America ; Mexico.
73. * * Dypsis, Noronh, Sp. 6, Madagascar.
74. Phloga, Hook. Sp. 1, Madagascar.
Ms Hyospathe, Mart. Sp. 3, Tropical America,
76, Prestcea, Hook. Sp. 1, Trinidad,
77. = * Oreodoxa, Willd, Sp.6, Tropical America.
78. Gigliclia, Becc. Sp. 2, Borneo.
79. * * Howea, Becc. Sp. about 3, Lord Howe’s Island.
86, Linospadix, Wendl. & Dr. Sp. 6, New Guinea; east coast cf Australia.
81. Iguanura, Bl. Sp. 10, from Malacca to Borneo.
825 Calyptrocalyx, Bl. Sp, 2, Moluccas ; Australia.
83, Sommieria, Becc. Sp. 2, Papua-Archipelago,
84. Clinostigma, Wendl, Sp. 3, Samoa ; Lerd Howe’s Island.
85. * * Heterospathe, Scheffer Sp. 1, Amboina.
86. Jes enia Karst,Sp.3, South America.
87. Roscneria, Wendl, Sp, 1: Sey :helles
48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vou. X34.
88. 25
39, 90, oie
93. 94. 95, 96, 97.
rd
ue
™
92. = *
se
aS
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98. fe 8S
99, Se Es
Nephrosperma, Balf. Sp. 1, Seychelles, Verschaffeltia, Wendl. Sp. 1, Seychelles. Phoenicophorium, Wendl. Sp. 1, Seychelles. Deckenia, Wendl, Sp. 1, Seychelles. Acanthophcenix, Wendl. Sp, about 3, Mascarene Island. Oncosperma, Bl. Sp.4, Tropical Asia. Euterpe, Mart. Sp. about 10, Tropical America ; West Indies, (nocarpus, Mart. Sp. 8, Tropical America, Ptychandra, Scheff. Sp. 2, Moluccas. Cyphokentia, Brongn. Sp. 10, New Caledonia. Hydriastele, Wendl. and Dr, Sp. 1, tropical north-coast of Australia, Kentia, Bel. Sp, 10, Moluccas ; New Guinea ; Lord Howe’s Island ; Norfolk Island ; New Zealand ; Chatham Islands. Kentiopsis, Brongn, Sp. 2, New-Caledonia, Veitchia, Wendl. Sp. 4, New Hebrides ; Fiji Islands. Drymophleeus, Zipp. Sp. 12, Malay-Archipelago ; New Guinea ; New-Caledonia ? Australia ? ; Cyrtostachys, Bl, Sp. 2, Malay-Archipelago. Ptychococcus, Becc. Sp. 3, New Guinea ; Moluccas. Ptychosperma, Labill. Sp. 13, Sunda Islands; Papua-Archipe- lago ; Fiji Islands ; North Australia, Loxococcus, Wendl. & Dr., Sp. 1, Ceylon. Actinorhytis, Wendl. & Dr., Sp. 1, Malay-Archipelago. Rhopaloblaste, Scheff. Sp. 2, Moluccas; New Guinea, Ptychoraphis, Bece. Sp. 3, Malayan, Dictyosperma, Wendl. & Dr., Sp. 3, Mascarene Islands. Archontopheenix, Wendl, & Dr., Sp. 3, Tropical and Sub-tropical HKast-Ausiralia, Nenga, Wendl. & Dyr.,Sp, about 11, from Malacca and the Sunda Islands to New Guinea. Cyphophoenix, Wendl. & Hook,, Sp. 2, New Caledonia. Mischophlceus Scheff., Sp. 1, Ternate. Pinanga, Bl. Sp. about 40, India ; Malay-Archipelago. Areca, L. Sp. 14, Tropical Asia; Malay-Archipeiago; New-Guinea; Australia. 7 Cocoinee. Barcella, Trl. Sp. 1, Brazil. Elezis, Jacq. Sp. 2, Tropical Africa and America. Orbignya, Mart. Sp. 6, South America, Attalea, H. B. Kth., Sp. 23, Tropical America. Maximiliana, Karst. Sp. 3, Tropical Brazil ; Guyana ; Trinidad, Cocos, L. Sp, about 30, Tropical and Sub-tropical America,
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 49
bo fm, OD
Diplothemium, Mart. Sp. 5, Brazil. Juba, Gay, Sp. 1, Chile, 31-35° S. Lat, Martinezia, Kth. Sp. 7, Tropical America,
Poca tet
st wo Ww Ww wo a1 6 if hs
or
Acrocomia, Mart. Sp. 7, Tropical America,
_
Astrocaryum, Mey. Sp. 29, Tropical America ; Brazil,
L282 Bactris, Jacq. Sp. 90, Tropical America, 129 Desmoncus, Mart., Sp. about 25 Tropical America, Trige V. PHYTELEPHANTINE. 130. * * Phytelephas, R, & P. Sp. 3, Tropical America, between 9° N. Lat.
and 8° S, Lat. 131, ™* Nipa, Thunb. Sp.1, Tropical Asia ; New Guinea ; Australia.
DISTRIBUTION OF PALMS IN BRITISH INDIA.
Roughly speaking about a hundred species have been described as being indigenous to British India and Ceylon; certainly a small number if compared with many regions in tropical America. Nearly all of them are comparatively unobtrusive, and if a traveller in Jndia meets palms forming a conspicuous feature in the landscape of the plains, he may be sure that the trees are either Wild Date- Palms (Phen sylvestris) or Palmyra-Palms (Borassus flabellifer), or, near the sea, Cocoa-nut Palms (Cocos nucifera). The most majestic palm of India and easily distinguished by its stature, foliage and inflorescence, is the Talipot (Corypia), but it is exceedingly rare and. confined to certain localities.
A short survey of the botanical regions of India, as laid down by Sir Joseph Hooker, will reveal some interesting facts regarding the distribution of Palms,
We begin with the Burmese region, which is richest in species, not only regarding its whole vegetation, but also as to its palm flora. According to Sir J, Hooker, the region is bounded on the north and north-east by the flanking mountains to the south of the Assam valley and China, on the east by China and Siam, on the west by Bengal and the Indian Ocean, and on the sonth by the State of Khedah in the Malay Peninsula. We include here also the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Up to 70 species have been recorded from this region, of which, according to our present knowledge of the neigh- bouring countries 28 are endemic.
We may divide this botanical region into four sub-regions, North- ern, Western, Eastern, and Central, to which we shall add, in the
q
50 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX
meantime, the two separate sub-regions of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Northern Burma extends for 500 miles in a north-eastern direction from the great bend of the Brahmaputra in Bengal to the Chinese Province of Yunnan. The range of mountains flanking the Assam valley on the south forms its northern boundary. It belongs politically to Assam and comprises the districts known as the Garo, Khasya, Jaintia, Nowgong, Naga, Patkai, and Manipur Hills. They rise, on the average, to 4,000 to 5,000 feet, a few peaks even above 10,00. Blanford’s description of the climate of Shillong
the whole a fair idea of the meteorological condition of this sub-
gives on
region, ‘‘This station is situated ona gently undulating tableland, 4,800 feet above the sea-level, immediately north of the culminating ridge of the Khasi hills, and about midway between the valley of Assam and the plains of Sylhet. . . On the average of the 4 years,
1869-1872, the mean temperature of Shillong was 62°, which is about the same as that of Constantinople, Barcelona, and Oran; in fact of an average Mediterranean climate. In the warmest months,
June to August, it is below 70°, and in April and May intermediate between the two, since in the Khasi Hills rain is so frequent in the
spring months that the temperature does not rise to a maximum in May, and suffers no abatement when the monsoon rains set in in June. The lowest reading recorded was just above the freezing point; the
average minimum of the 4 years 34°, and the mean temperature of December and January 51°. In December and January, the most
serene months of the year, the mean difference of the early morning
and afternoon temperatures is 19° or 20°. While in respect of tem- perature, the climate of | Shillong much resembles that of places in the south of Europe, in the dampness of its atmosphere and its rainfall it is eminently tropical. In the driest month, March, the humidity is indeed only 59 per cent. of saturation, but from July to October
inclusive it ranges between 86 and 89, and from June to September,
on an average, eight-tenths or more of the sky is clouded. In April
it rains on one day in three, in May on two days out of three, and in’ the four succeeding months even more frequently. On the average
of 18 years there have been 150 rainy days in the year. The average
rain-fall of the year hardly exceeds 85 inches.’’?
* Blanford, Climates and Weather of India, p, 112.
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 51
To this sub-region are exclusively confined the following species : Areca nagensis, Pinanga grifithi, P. hookeriana, Didymosperma nana, D. gracilis and Plectocomia khasyana. Of other species we find Pinanga gracilis, Wallichia densiflora, Didymosperma nana, Caryota urens, Caryota obtusa, Pheeniw ruprcola, P. acaulis, P. humilis, Licuala peltata, Livistona jenkinsia, Trachycarpus martiana, Calamus erectus, C. flagellum, C. leptospadix, C. floribundus, C. acanthospa- thus, C. gracilis, Deemonorops jenkinsianus, Zalacca secunda,
Western Burma includes the humid strip of land between the sea and the crests of the Chittagong and Arakan Hills, and separated by the deltas of the Irrawaddy, Sittang, and other rivers, the coast of Tenasserim down to Mergui. The mean temperature of Chittagong is 77°. April and May are about equally hot, wzz., 81° and 82° and it remains nearly uniform from April to the end of September, the night temperature rising in the same measure as the day temperature falls, until the daily range is reduced by one-half, more or less. The highest temperature of the year occurs in April, or, more frequently in May, and varies between 91° and 99°. In the cool season the lowest temperature occurs as a rule in January, sometimes in February, and varies between 45° and 52°. The diurnal range of temperature in the drier seasons of the year does not exceed 23°. The humidity of the air averages 80, and in the driest month, either February or March, is as high as 70. At the height of the rains the humidity averages 87 per cent. and upwards. The rainfall amounts on an average to 106 inches and the number of rainy days to 122. ‘“ The position and configuration of Arakan and Tenasserim on the west coast of the peninsula, with hill ranges running parallel with the coast, expose them to the influence of the south-west monsoon of the Bay of Bengal, in the same manner and as fully as are the Konkan and Malabar to that of the Arabian Sea, and with a similar result, viz., an excessive rainfall from June to September. In Arakan, however, this rainfall is more prolonged than on the west coast of the Konkan in the same latitudes.”’ (Blanford). Dense, evergreen forests cover this tract of country, Dipterocarps, Oaks, Bamboos, Orchids, Palms, and Ferns forming @ conspicuous feature. In Chittagong occur Wallichia densiflora, W. caryotoides, Calamus erectus, C. vimanalis, C. tenuis, C. guruba, C. gracilis, and Demonorops jenkinstannus, in Tenasserim Licuala longipes, L. speciosa, Calamus concinnus, C feanus, C.,
52 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
nitidus, C. platyspathus, C. myrianthus, C, melanacanthus, C. palus- iris, and Plectocomia macrostachya. Spread all over the sub-region, from Chittagong to Tenasserim, we find Areca triandra, Pinanga gra- cilis, Caryota urens, Nipa fruticans and Calamus latifolia. In Pegu the following species have been found :— Pmanga hewasticha (endemic in Pegu), P. hymenospatha (endemic), Wallickia disticha, Arenga saccharifera, Livistona spectosa, Calamus arborescens (endemic), C. longisetus, Zalacca beccart, Plectocomiopsis paradowus, and others.
The sub-regions Hastern and Central Burma are little known, and no materials are at our disposal.
Of the Andaman Islands, only a few points have been explored by botanists, of which the chief is Port Blair. Barren Island, Narcondam and the Coco have been visited by Major Prain. The climate of these islands is almost equatorial in its uniformity, and in many respects similar to that of Tenasserim. ‘They are hilly, the hills being for the most part only a few hundred feet in height, and covered with forests, which are typically Burmese. The vegetation of the interior hills, which reach 2,400 feet in height, is not known at all. The mean temperature of Port Blair is 80°. There is but little variation during the year ; March and April are the warmest months, with a mean temperature of 82°, and a mean daily maximum of 92°. The average extreme range of temperature in the course of the year is only 26°. The diurnal range of temperature isas much as 14° or 15° in the driest months, February, March, and April. The mean humidity is 83 per cent. of saturation. The monsoon sets in in May and the rainfall of that month is little less than that of June. The number of rainy days amounts to nearly half the days in the year, and during the summer monsoon there are only 5 or 6 rainless days in the month. A compuratively considerable number of palms have been recorded from the Andaman Islands. Areca triandra, Pmanga mani, Pinanga kuhlii, Caryota mitis, Phenix paludosa, Corypha umbraculifera, Licuala peltata, LL. spinosa, Calamus longisetus, C. viminalis, C. andamanicus, C. palustris, Damonorops mani (endemic), D. kurzianus (endemic), Korthalsia laczniosa.
The ilora of the Nicobar Islands is even less known than that of the Andaman Islands. Climatically there is not a great difference between the two groups of Islands, andas to the vegetation of the Nicobars, we cannot decide at present whether it belongs to the
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 53
Burmese or to the Malay Peninsular flora. Four species of palms are endemic in these Islands, wiz., Ptychoraphis augusta, Bentinckia nicobariea, Calamus nicobaricus and C. unifarius; two species are endemic in the Nicobar and Andaman Islands; Pinanga mani and
Calamus andamanicus.
Of the Eastern Himalayan region, only Sikkim is botanically well known. Its proximity to the Bay of Bengal and the direct exposure to the effects of the south-west monsoon make the district the most humid part of the whole range of the Himalayas. The total number of species of flowering plants is estimated to be about 4,000, of which only 20 are palms. Of these, only 2 inhabit the temperate zone (from 6,500-11,500 feet): a scandent Rattan (Plectocomea himalazca) and a Fan-Palm ( Trachycarpus martiana). The rest belong to the tropical zone (1,000-6,500 feet). At the lowest elevations we find Phenix rupicola; Pinanga gracilis and Wallichia densiflora reach as high as 3,000 feet, Calamus erectus, C. flagellum up to 4,000, Caryota urens up to 5,000, Calamus acanthospadix up to 6,000. Other palms belonging to the same zone are Wallichia disticha, Licuala peltata, Calamus leptospadix and Deemonorops jenkinsianus.
The Western Himalayan region, which extends from Kumaon to Chitral has a much cooler and drier climate than the Eastern Himalaya. In consequence of it we find that 12 of the eastern species of palms have entirely disappeared in the western region. In the temperate zone there occurs only one species (a Trachycarpus) which is confined to and Jocal to Kumaon and Garhwal. Five others belong to the tropical zone of Kumaon, wiz., Phenix sylvestris, P. acaulis, P. humilis, Wallichia densiflora and Calamus tenuis, all of which have a very wide distribution.
In the Indus Plain region, including the Punjab, Sind, and Rajputana, west of the Arayalli range and Jumna river, Cutch, and Northern Gujarat, the only indigenous palms are Phenix sylvestris and Nannorhops ritchieana. The latter finds its north-eastern limit in the Salt range, and the south-western limit in Sind and Baluchistan.
The Gangetic Plain region stretcnes from the Aravalli hills and Jumna river to Bengal, including the Sundarbans, the plains of Assam and Sylhet, and the low country of Orissa north of the Mahanadi river. Hooker has divided this region into three sub-reg- ions : an upper dry, a lower humid, and the Sundarbans. In the upper
54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
Gangetic plain, extending from Hastern Rajputana to a little above the bend of the Ganges at Rajmahal, we have a vegetation character- istic of a dry country. The trees are, for the most part, leafless during the hot season, and the herbaceous flora is burnt up. Two palms are cultivated in many parts (Pheenix and Borassus), and in thickets we find two species of Rattan (Calamus). The lower Gangetic plain or Bengal proper of the old maps is distinguished from the upper valley by its humidity and luxuriant evergreen vegetation. The Betel-nut palm, Phenix, Palmyra, and Cocoanut are generally cultivated. Of indigenous palms, the following are found, Corypha elata, C. talliera, Calamus viminalis, C. tenws, C. guruba, Doemonorops jenkinsianus. The Sundarbans consist of a great number of islets which, in great part, are covered with a dense evergreen forest of trees and shrubs with a rich undergrowth of climbers and herbaceous plants. WV7pa fruticans is gregarious in the swamps and on river banks, whilst Phoenix paludosa is found in drier localities. There occur, also two Rattans, a Calamus and a Demonorops, both common to Bengal.
The Malabar region (including Southern Gujarat, the southern half of Kathiawar, the Konkan, Kanara, Malabar Proper, Cochin, Travancore, and the Laccadive Islands) is for the greatest part a hilly or mountainous country and “is (except in the north) of excessive humidity, the mountains often rising abruptly from the flat coast of the Arabian Sea. Its abrupt western face is clothed with a luxuriant forest vegetation of Malayan type, except towards the north where, with the drier climate, the elements of the Deccan and Indus Plain Floras compete with that of Malabar. The eastern face slopes gradually-into the elevated plateau of the Deccan, but it is varied by many spurs being thrown off which extend far to the east- ward, often enclosing valleys with a Malabar Flora. One great break occurs in the chain in lat. 11°N., where a transverse valley separates Travancore from the mountains north of it, and carries species characteristic of the Malabar Flora almost across the Peninsula.” (Hooker).
To this region, including the Nilgiri Hills, belong over 20 species of palms. Pinanga dicksonii, Bentinckia coddapanna, Calamus rheedu, C. huegelianus, C. brandisti, C. gamblet are endemic. Of other palms we mention: Phenix sylvestris, P. robusta, P. acaulis
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 55
P. humilis, Caryota urens, Calamus pseudotenuis, C. thvattes’, Corypha umbraculijera, Areca catechu, Borassus flabellifer and Cocos nucifera
are widely cultivated.
The Deccan region comprises the whole comparatively dry elevated tableland of the Peninsula east of Malabar and south of the Gangetic and Indus Plains. The Coromandel coast, extending from Orissa to Tinnevelly may be considered as a sub-region. Deciduous forests form the most conspicuous feature of the Deccan plateau. Compara- tively evergreen ones are found onthe coasts and slopes with an eastern aspect. Of palms, there occur Pheniw sylvestris, P. robusta, P, acaulis, P. humilis, Calamus viminalis, C. pseudotenuis, C. rotang, Borassus flabellijer. Phenix pusilla forms impenetrable thickets in sandy soils near the sea.
The Ceylon region presents, on the one hand, a close affinity to the vegetation of Malabar and the Deccan, on the other it differs trom the Malabar flora in having many more Malayan types. Of endemic species 780 have been reported, and of these eleven are palms: Areca concnna, Loxococcus ruptcola, Oncosperma fasciculata, Phoenia zeylanica, Calamus rivalis, C. pachystemonus, C. digittatus, C. radiatus, C. zeylanicus, C. ovoideus. The most conspicuous palm in Ceylon is Corypha umbraculifera ; Nipa fruticans is rare. Other indigenous palms are Phenix pusilla, C. thwattesu, C. pseudotenuis, C. delicatulus, C. rotang.
LIST OF AUTHORS,
Adanson (Adans.), 1727-1806. - Aiton (Ait.) 1766-1849, Anderson (T. Anders.)
Baker (Bak.). Balfour (Balf.), 1808-1884,
Beauvais (Beauv.), 1755-1820.
Beceari (Becc.).
Bentham (Benth, ), 1800-1884.
Berry.
Blanco, 1780-1845,
Blume (B1.), 1796-1862. Bonpland (Bpld.), 1773-1858. Bory (1780-1845).
Brandis.
Brongniart (Brgt.), 1801-1876, Brown (R. Br.’, 1773-1858. Burmann (Burm.), 1706-1780.
Cavanilles (Cav.), 1745-1804, Chapmann (Chapm.).
Commerson (Commers.), 1727-1773. Crueger (Crueg.), 1818-1864. Cunningham (A, Cunn.), 1791-1839.
Delile, 1778-1850.
Desfontaines (Desf.), 1750-1833. Dillenius (Dill.), 1687-1747 Drude.
Dunean (Dunc.),
56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX.
Elliot (BIL), 1820. Endlicher (Endl.), 1805-1849.
Fenzl. (Fzl.), 1808-1879. Forskal (Forsk.), 1722-1763, Forster (Forst.), 1729-1798. Fraser (Fras.), 1750-1811.
Gertner (Gertn.), 1732-1791, Giseke (Gis.), 1741-1796, Gmelin (J. Gmel.), 1748-1804. Graham (Grah.), 1805-1839, - Griffith (Griff,), 1810-1845, Grisebach (Griseb,), 1814-1879. Guersent (Guers.), 1796-1848.
Hamilton (Ham.)
Heritier (Herit.), 1746-1800. Hildebrandt (Hildebr.), 1847-1881, Hooker (Hook.) 1785-1865. Hooker, J. D, (Hook. f.). Humboldt (Humb.), 1768-1859,
Jack, 1795-1822. Jacquin (Jacq,), 1727-1817, Jussieu (Juss.), 1748-1836,
Karsten (Karst.),
Kerchove (Kerch.), 1819-1881. Klotzsch (K1,.), 1805-1860. Koch (C Kch.), 1805-1879, Koenig (Koen,), 1728-1785, Kunth (Knth,), 1788-1850. Kunze (Kze,), 1793-1851. Kurz, 1834-1878.
Labillardiére (Labill.), 1755-1834. Lamarck (Lam.), 1744-1629. Lemaire (Lem.), 1801-1871. Leschenault (Lesch,), 1773-1826, Linden (Lind.).
Lindley (Lindl,) 1799-1865. Linné (L.), 1707-1778,
Linné fil. (LL. fil.), 1741-1783, Loddiges (Lodd.), 1776-1849, Loudon (Loud.), 1783-1843, Loureiro (our. ), 1715-1796.
Luersson (Luers,).
Mann, 1868.
Martius (Mart,), 1794-1868. Masters (Mast.),
Meissner (Meissn ), f 1875. Michaux (Mchx,), 1746-1802. Miller (Mill.), 1691-1771. Miquel (Migq.), 1811-1871. Moore (C. Moore. ),
Mueller (F. Muell.),
Murray (Murr.), 1704-1751.
Necker (Neck.), 1729-1793, Nees, 1776-1858. Noronha, > 1787. Nuttall (Nutt.), 1785-1859.
Orbigny (D’Orb.), 1802-1857. Otto (O. & Dietr,), 1783-1856.
Pancher (Panch.)
Pavon (Pav,) 1754-1840. Persoon (Pers.), 1770-1836. Plumier (Plum.), 1646-1796. Poiret (Poir.), 1745-1834,
Reichenbach fil. (Rehbch. f.) Reinwardt (Reinw.), 1773-1854. Richard (Rich. ), 1754-1824. Rodriguez (B. Rodr.)
Roemer (Roem. & Schult.), 1765-1819. Rollisson (Rollis,), 1792-1875.
Roxburgh (Roxb.), 1759-1815,
Royle, 1799-1855. Rumphius (Rumph.), 1627-1702,
Scheffer (Scheff.), 1545-1880. Schlechtendal (Schlchdl.), 1794-1866. Schultes (Roem. & Schult.) 1773-1831. Seemann (Seem.), 1825-1871.
Siebold (Sieb.), 1796-1866,
Smith (Sm.), 1785-1816.
Solander (Soland.), 1736-1782. Sprengel (Spreng,or Sprgl,). 1766-1833. Spruce.
Steudel (Steud. ), 1784-1256.
THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 57
Swartz (Sw.), 1760-1818. Wallace.
Wallich (Wall,), 1787-1854. Walpers (Walp), 1816-1853. Walter (Walt.) 1740-1821. Wendland ( Wend.)
Wight, 1796-1872,
Tejsman (Tejsm.)
Thunberg(Thbg. or Thunb.),1743-1822 Thwaites (Thwait.), — 1882, Tournefort (Tourn.), 1656-1708,
Trimen, : = Wildenow (W.), 1765-1812. Vahl, 1749-1804. Wurmb, Van Houtte, 1810-1876, Wuerttemberg (Prinz G. v. Wuertt.). Veitch (J. Veitch), + 1869. Verschaffelt, (Versch, ), 1825-1886. Zippelius (Zipp.), 1796-1828.
Zollinger (Zoll, ), 1818-1859.
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