the koel, the pleasing double note
of the European cuckoo meets the ear. For the eternal _coo-coo-coo-coo_
of the little brown dove, the melodious _kokla-kokla_ of the hill
green-pigeon is substituted. The harsh cries of the rose-ringed
paroquets give place to the softer call of the slaty-headed species.
The monotonous _tonk-tonk-tonk_ of the coppersmith and the
_kutur-kutur-kutur_ of the green barbet are no more heard; in their
stead the curious calls of the great Himalayan barbet resound among
the hills. The dissonant voices of the seven sisters no longer issue
from the thicket; their place is taken by the weird but less unpleasant
calls of the Himalayan streaked laughing-thrushes. Even the sounds of
the night are different. The chuckles and cackles of the spotted owlets
no longer fill the welkin; the silence of the darkness is broken in the
mountains by the low monotonous whistle of the pigmy-collared owlet.

The eye equally with the ear testifies to the traveller that when
he has reached an altitude of 5000 feet he has entered another avian
realm. The golden-backed woodpecker, the green bee-eater, the "blue
jay" or roller, the paddy bird, the Indian and the magpie-robin, most
familiar birds of the plains, are no longer seen. Their places are
taken by the blue-magpies, the beautiful verditer flycatcher, the
Himalayan and the black-headed jays, the black bulbul, and tits of
several species.

All the birds, it is true, are not new. Some of our familiar friends
of the plains are still with us. There are the kite, the scavenger
vulture, the common myna, and a number of others, but these are the
exceptions which prove the rule.

Scientific ornithologists recognise this great difference between
the two faunas, and include the Himalayas in the Palaearctic region,
while the plains form part of the Oriental region.

The chief things which affect the distribution of birds appear to
be food-supply and temperature. Hence it is evident that in the
Himalayas the avifauna along the snow-line differs greatly from that
of the low, warm valleys. The range of temperature in all parts of
the hills varies greatly with the season. At the ordinary hill
stations the minimum temperature in the summer is sometimes as high
as 70 degrees, while in the winter it may drop to 23 degrees F. Thus
in midwinter many of the birds which normally live near the snow-line
at 12,000 feet descend to 7000 or 6000 feet, and not a few hill birds
leave the