BIRDS FROM NEPAL AUSTIN L. RAND ROBERT L. FLEMING FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1 Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OCTOBER 11, 1957 BIRDS FROM NEPAL AUSTIN L. RAND Chief Curator, Department of Zoology ROBERT L. FLEMING Field Associate, Department of Zoology FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1 Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OCTOBER 11, 1957 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 57-12810 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS Contents PAGB List of text figures 5 Introduction 7 Summary of the field work 9 First expedition: west Nepal, 1949-50 9 Second expedition: west Nepal, 1951-52 14 Description of collecting stations of first and second expeditions .... 17 Third expedition: far west Nepal, 1952-53 27 Description of collecting stations 28 Fourth expedition: east Nepal, 1953-54 34 Description of collecting stations 38 Visits to Nepal (Kathmandu Valley and vicinity) 42 Collecting areas in Kathmandu Valley and Chitwan District 43 Collecting in the central lowlands of Chitwan District 46 Systematic list of species collected 48 List of families 217 List of Text Figures PAGE 1. Map of Nepal, showing areas in which collections were made, with key to detailed sketch maps shown in figures 2, 4-6 11 2. The area covered by the first and second expeditions to west Nepal .... 13 3. Graph showing altitudes reached by Fleming party in west Nepal .... 15 4. Far west Nepal: the area visited by the third expedition in 1952-53 ... 29 5. East Nepal: the area visited by the fourth expedition in 1953-54 .... 37 6. Map of Kathmandu Valley and vicinity, showing areas visited in 1953-54 44 Introduction Ripley (1950a, p. 355) has summarized the brief history of ornithology in Nepal, from the pioneer work of Brian Hodgson to his own 1947-49 collecting trips. The present report deals with the collections made by the junior author in Nepal on a series of trips between 1949 and 1954. During this time he was with the Board of World Missions of the Methodist Church, first as Supervisor of Woodstock High School at Mussoorie, United Provinces, India (1949-53), and then as superintendent of the Medical Mission to Nepal, in Kathmandu (1958-54). The collections comprise about 2,500 specimens, representing some 490 species and subspecies. ^ We wish to express to the following individuals our appreciation of the kindness and help they gave the parties working in Nepal: General Rudra Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana, Field Marshall, Colonel Ishwar Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana, Governor Dhairya Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana, and Sri. Bhakti Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana. We also wish to thank the fellow members of the expedition for their co-operation: Dr. Carl E. Taylor, Ludhiana Medical School; Harold Bergsma, Grand Rapids, Michigan; T. Robert Bergsaker, Norwegian missionary, artist and handy man; Dr. Carl W. Fried- ericks. United Medical Mission, Tansen, west Nepal, who accom- panied us on our second and fourth expeditions; Robert L. Fleming II, Richard B. Parker, and Ray C. Smith, who collected numbers of birds new to our list; and Dr. Bethel H. Fleming, who took over Dr. Taylor's hospital for three months during our first expedition and who accompanied us on our second expedition and took care of many Nepali patients. / For the loan of specimens and for information, we wish to ac- knowledge the help of Dr. Dillon Ripley of Peabody Museum, 1 Since this report was written Dr. Fleming has returned to Nepal where, as opportunity presents, he is continuing to collect birds. A recent letter tells us that he has added several more species to the list of those he had collected. Chicago Natural History Museum has also received another Nepal collection, made by Dr. Walter N. Koelz in the Kathmandu area in 1947. These collections will be reported on later. 8 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 41 Yale University; Mr. H. Deignan, of the United States National Museum; and Dr. Ernst Mayr and Dr. Charles Vaurie, of the American Museum of Natural History. Summary of the Field Work By Robert L. Fleming A brief account of each of the trips is given, each followed by a description of the collecting localities, FIRST EXPEDITION: WEST NEPAL (October 26, 1949 to January 31, 1950) For ten years I had been sending birds of India to Chicago Natural History Museum. During this time the late H. Boardman Conover encouraged the collection of game birds and when I had a chance to visit little-known Nepal, Mr. Conover generously financed the expedition. It took all summer to complete our plans. We finally decided to visit the Kali Gandak River valley in west Nepal, directly north of Gorakhpur, India, and to go as far as Tukche. We were successful in securing a medical doctor to go with us only after my wife, Dr. Bethel H. Fleming, agreed to take over Dr. Carl Taylor's 150 bed hospital at Fatehgarh, United Provinces, while he was away. His Presbyterian Mission gave him extra medicines and some equipment in case he met patients along the way. Rev. T. R. Bergsaker, of the Norwegian Mission, joined our party. Three days before our departure, Mr. Harold Bergsma, a Woodstock High School student, arrived from the United States with all my American equipment and he also went with us. Our guns included a .22 rifle and dust shot cartridges, two 12 gauge shotguns with an auxiliary barrel for .32 and .410 car- tridges and a heavier rifle. We ourselves skinned the specimens. Only half of our personnel was available for ornithological work most of the time because the demands of many Nepali patients took the attention of Dr. Taylor and one of us who assisted him. However, we were glad to do something for the people of Nepal in return for their hospitality. 9 10 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 41 On October 25, 1949, Harold Bergsma and I and a Garhwali cook who knew a little Nepali left Mussoorie and on October 26 were in Lucknow, where Dr. Taylor and Mr. Bergsaker met us. The whole party then went by rail (the Oudh and Tirhat Railway) via Gorakhpur to Nautanwa, within six miles of the Nepal border. There our party was delayed for four rainy days, waiting for our shipment of food. The boxes finally came, the weather cleared, and we crossed the Nepal border and went on to Butwal where we spent the night, and then proceeded to Marek (November 1) and Tansen (November 2-5). We pitched our tent on the Tansen parade ground, a spot never free of the noise of thousands of fruit bats hanging in trees around a large temple. Next day we were granted an audience with His Excellency the Governor of west Nepal, General Rudra Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana. We were met at the palace door by a son of His Excellency, Colonel Ishwar Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana, who spoke English and was most interested in bird collecting. When His Excellency arrived he greeted us in Hindustani. I opened the interview, but India-born Dr. Taylor carried on with the lan- guage. We made a small presentation gift of the book Look at America, and in return His Excellency pointed to the skin of a rare Himalayan bear on the floor of the reception room and said he would like to give it to Chicago Natural History Museum. His Excellency also provided the party with a police official and two assistants to accompany us. The cordial reception and the generosity of His Excellency were characteristic of all the officials we met. At Tansen Dr. Taylor began his medical service, and from then on our camp was never without a stream of patients. These included the village headman and about half the population of Tansen. Here the police official attached to our party, Kaman Singh, hired coolies for the next stage, and this practice of hiring coolies by the day continued until we reached Dana. We left Tansen November 5 and started west. At dusk we came to a pass from which we looked down on the broad expanse of the Kali Gandak River, on which Riri Bazaar is situated. We followed the river northward from there to a point about 30 miles south of the Tibetan border. We collected specimens at Riri Bazaar, No- vember 6-8; Lumpek, November 8-11; Phurti Ghat, November 12; Belawa, November 14; and Baglung, November 15-18. North of Baglung the river became narrower and swifter and there was an ascent of 2,000 feet to the village of Dana, where we stayed No- vember 21-23. ?* <v 13 OS a, o 12 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 41 From Dana north to Jomosom and back again we used pack animals to carry our baggage. The roads were narrow and rough and our boxes banged against the rocks on the side of the path. About three miles above Dana the route lay up hundreds of narrow stone steps hewn out of solid rock overhanging the river. Here we left Hindu Nepal behind and entered Buddhist Nepal. People, animals, birds, vegetation, and architecture changed. At 9,000 feet the river valley widened to a two-mile stretch. We collected birds on November 23 and 24 at Ghasa and from November 24 to December 6 at Tukche, where the Burra Subha Sahib provided spacious quarters for us. Just before we reached Tukche the trail crossed the river five times. Above Tukche we made a high altitude camp at 12,000 feet. Three local hunters volunteered to act as guides. They led Dr. Taylor and me to a small rock lean-to—scant shelter from the falling rain.