INDIAN BIRDS
BEING A KEY TO THE COMMON
BIRDS OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA
BY DOUGLAS DEWAR
A COMPANION VOLUME TO
THE BIRD VOLUMES OF “THE
FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA” &
JERDON’S “BIRDS OF INDIA”
LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXX
2nd Edition (Revised)
The Mayflower Press, Plymouth, England. William Brendon & Son, Ltd.
PREFACE
I fear that the patience of those who have been awaiting this little book must be well-nigh exhausted,so long has it been in appearing. I began it two years ago, but had to put it asideduring the last few months spent in India prior to taking furlough, on account of theheavy work the threatening famine entailed; and when one is on furlough one only worksat the rare times when there is nothing better to do!
The object of this book is to enable people interested in our Indian birds to identify atsight those they are likely to meet with in their compounds and during their excursionsinto the jungle.
There are several good systematic works on Indian ornithology, but the descriptions inthese presuppose that the reader has the specimen in his hand and is able to examineit leisurely, feather by feather. To do this it is necessary to kill the bird in question—a[6]procedure which causes pain to many and gives pleasure to very few. Moreover,unless the seeker after knowledge has some notion as to the order to which the bird hehas shot belongs, he will find that seeking it out in the four bird volumes of the Fauna ofBritish India series is a task almost as hopeless as that of looking for the proverbial needle ina haystack.
Eha’s truly admirable book, entitled The Common Birds of Bombay, gives the reader avivid description of our common Indian birds as they appear to the field naturalist; and Iheartily commend this little masterpiece to every Anglo-Indian. But even this does notenable the observer to identify in a few seconds any bird he sees, for it is not writtenin the form of a key. The present book is an attempt at a key to the everyday birds of theplains of India, a dictionary of birds so arranged that the budding ornithologist is able to turnup any particular bird in a few minutes. This book is, I believe, the first of its kindthat has been attempted.
The method I have adopted is to classify birds according to their habits and outwardappearance. Every bird has a colour, and[7]most birds possess some anatomical peculiarity, such as a crest, a long tail, long legs, etc.Not a few have some easily recognisable habit, such as a peculiar call or manner of flight.Thus most birds will appear in at least two of my classes, and so should be easily identifiedby a process of elimination. When the reader thinks that he has located a bird he shouldturn it up in the descriptive list, which composes Part II of this book, and this will serveto confirm or correct him in his identification. Thus, to take a very easy example, the observerwhile out walking sees a white bird with a long tail, and a black crested head. Lookingthrough the lists of birds under (1) those having long tails; (2) those having a