Book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali
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ME*?* BOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS BY SALIM ALI \Wiih a map, 171 plates in colour (depicting 181 species) 3 in line and 18 in half-tone\ Published by THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 6, Apollo Street, Fort, BOMBAY 1941 Preface A wise old Chinese proverb has it that one picture is worth 10,000 words. This is only too true in India where bird books and the amateur are concerned. The greatest drawback in most of the comparatively small number of books on Indian birds available has been the absence or extreme paucity of good coloured illustrations. A notable advance was made by Whistler's excellent Popular Handbook of Indian liirds which first appeared in 1928 and contained a small number of coloured plates. The response of the public to this long-desired feature was marked and immediate as proved by the fact that the 2nd. enlarged edition of the book lias since been sold out and a 3rd. edition, still further enlarged and with more coloured plates, is now under preparation. In the vear 1928 the Bombay Natural J^istory Society, as a step in their campaign for popularising;i Nature Study and creating a body of public opinion to back their efforts in the cause of the conservation of Indian fauna, issued a set of 5 wall- charts illustrating in colour some 200 species of common Indian birds, primarily for the vise of schools and other educational institutions. It was part of their plan that the plates prepared for these charts should l>c subsequently used to illustrate a book on the common birds of India containing simple descriptions and short life-histories of every species depicted, together with a few general chapters on bird-life calculated to interest the beginner and the lavman, and stimulate a desire for deeper study. Unfortunately, the publication of the book has been delayed beyond expectation. The unforeseen economic depres- sion that intervened obliged nianv institutions to cancel or greatly reduce their orders for the Bird Charts placed prior to publication. This retarded the liquidation of the very consi- derable expenditure the Society had incurred on the charts and held up the publication of the book, since it was beyond their means to undertake this additional liability simultaneously. The issue of this lxiok with its large number of coloured plates at a price that should bring it within the means of the average purse, has now become possible entirely due to the recoupment by the Society of their initial outlay on the preparation of the colour-blocks for the charts, thus minimising the cost of the present illustrations. The number of species illustrated in colour and fully described in this lx>ok is 181. In addition, a few more birds have been cursorily mentioned in their appropriate places. — It is realised that the plates, in many cases, leave much to be desired, and that as life-like portraits some are even definitely bad. Our difficulties in getting them prepared have been great not the least being the fact that our artists were not at the same time naturalists ; indeed, they were entirely unacquainted with the requirements of this highly specialised branch of work. Apart from the question of artistic merit, however, the drawings are on the whole accurate enough to help in the identifications of the birds they represent, and to that extent should serve a useful purpose. They may also claim the merit of being the first, and so faT the only, attempts at illustrating in colour every species of Indian bird to be described in a l>ook. The species selected for illustration and description are amongst the more common birds we have in India, and therefore such as the ordinary citizen is likely to come across at one time or another in the course of his day to day lile. They are princi- pally those found in the plains, and throughout the work more stress has been laid on the continental and peninsular races of a species than on the Himalayan. Distribution beyond the limits of the Indian Empire has only been roughly indicated. Many readers will perhaps deplore the absence of local names. These have been advisedly omitted. The greatest drawback with local names, so far, is their extreme inconstancy. For instance in different parts of India I have found the name Gariicla applied to the Vulture as well as to the Hornbill and the Green Pigeon. The general tendency is to call any large bird Garuda. These names vary from Pro- vince to Province and often also from one locality to another within the same Province. Frequently the same name is applied to two or more totally dilferent birds in adjoining localities, or two or more totally dilferent names are applied to the same bird in the same locality which in turn may again be loosely applied to two or more different species in an adjoining locality ! On account of this likely confusion it has been thought best to leave out local names altogether and let the reader discover and note down for himself those in use in his particular locality. I have departed from the common practice of indicating the size of a bird in inches in favour of the system of using certain common and familiar species as standards for comparison. Earlier experience has convinced me that the old method conveys precious little to the layman and is hopelessly misleading in cases where abnormally long necks, bills or tails have to be reckoned with. Length in inches by itself, moreover, gives no idea whatsoever of the massiveness or otherwise of the bird described. To me it seems that describing the Spotted Dove, for example, as " Between the Myna and the Pigeon " gives a far clearer idea of the size .than " Length 12 inches." The standards employed for comparison, of size in the following pages are : A Sparrow Length 6 G Crow Length 17" B (Juail 7-8 H Kite ,, 24" C Bulbul 8 D Myna I Duck „ 24" Village 18-30* E Pigeon 13 J hen ,, F Partridge 13 K Vulture „ 36" It is hoped that the keys to identification, on pages xxiii to xxxv will be of further help to beginners in tracing down and recognising the birds they see. To the many friends who have been good enough to make helpful suggestions from time to time 1 wish to express my grateful thanks. 1 am particularly beholden to Mr. H. If. N. I.owther for allowing the use of some of his charming bird photo- graphs and to Major R. S. P. Hates for the one on page 393 showing his " hide " camouflaged for action. .. — CONTENTS I'AC.E PREFACE m Introduction ix terminology ok a bird's parts and plumagGE xix I low TO RKCOGN1SE BlRDS IN THE FIELD : 1. Minis with prominent Tails xxiii XXIV 2. Birds with prominent Bills XXV xxvii :i. Birds with prominent Crests . xxviii 4. Bright coloured birds xxix--XXX 5. Sober coloured birds XXX XXXV Descriptions and coloured plates . .. I- -90 Some Nests and Nesting Behaviour . 92- 104 Descriptions and coloukkd plates . 105-188 Bird Migration . 190 -200 Descriptions and coloured plates . 201 288 The Usefulness oe Birds .. 289- 296 Descriptions and coloured plates . ..297 388 Bird Watching .. 390--394 Index of Species xxxvii—xxxix List of Black & White Plates Nest and Eggs of the Yellow-wattled Lapwing 91 Painted Storks, White Ibises and Cormorantss usually nest in Company 93 Colony of Mud Nests of the Cliff Swallow. 95 The Hammock Nest of the Black-headed Oriole 191 Baya Weaver- Bird and Nest 99 Nukta or Comb-Duck at Nest 101 Male Paradise Flycatcher at Nest 103 Cattle Egrets attending on grazing buffalo 147 White Ibises on Nests 151 Large Parakeet at Nest-hole • • • • 185 Pack Swallows collecting before migration 189 A Flight of Rosy Pastors 193 A ringed Sparrow-Hawk ready to be released . 197 Jungle Babbler on Coral Blossoms 221 The Kestrel 241 A Scrimmage of Vultures at a Carcase 291 Thick-billed Flowerpecker eating f.oranlhus berriess 295 A liaised ' Hide ' Platform 3S9 ' A Camouflaged Ground ' Hide 393 Diagrams Illustration of names of a bird's parts Sc plumage xviii Types of I SiHs XX Types of Feet xxi Map Europe-Asia showing most important recoveries of ringed birds in and from India, to date 195 viii Introduction What is a Bird? A Bird has been described as a ' Feathered Biped.' This description is apt and precise, and can apply to no other animal. Birds are vertebrate warm-blooded animals, i.e., whose temperature remains more or less constant and independent of the surrounding temperature. This is in contradistinction to Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes which are cold-blooded, i.e., of temperature that changes with the hotness or coldness of its surroundings. To assist in maintaining an even temperature, the body of a bird is covered with non-conducting feathers- -its chief characteristic—which in details of structure and arrangement reflect the mode of life of the group to which the bird belongs. Compare for example the thick, soft, well-greased covering on the underside of an aquatic bird like a Duck or Grebe with the peculiar, narrow, hairlike, ' double ' feathers of the Cassowary to be seen in any Zoo. Kxcept in the Flightless Birds such as the last named, the Ostrich and the Penguin {Uatitce and Sphenici) whose feathers grow more or less evenly over the entire surface of the body, the growth of feathers is restricted only to well- defined patches or tracts known as plerylce in various parts of the body, whence they fall over and evenly cover the adjoining naked interspaces or apteria.