: Indian Birds: Being a Key to the Common Birds of the Plains of India by Dewar Douglas - Birds India

@FreeBooksWed 07 Jun, 2023

Posted in: #FreeBooks #FreeBooksIndia #FreeBooksApp #gg

Vote Up Vote Down

PAGE Preface 5 Preface to Second Edition 14

PART II Descriptive List of the Common Birds of the Plains of India 89 Index to Descriptive List 229

PART I

A. HINDUSTANI NAMES OF COMMON BIRDS

In all cases the number in brackets which follows the name of a bird is the number of the bird in the Descriptive List that composes Part II of this book.

The following words are used by Indians as equivalent to the English word "nest."

B. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES

C. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO COLOUR

Colour affords the easiest means of identifying the great majority of birds, but in many cases the colours displayed, although conspicuous and easily recognised, are not of a nature to admit of strict classification. Take, for example, the blues--various species display almost every known shade from slaty grey to turquoise, from purple to ultramarine and indigo. To attempt to distinguish in the lists between the many shades of blue would have led to inevitable confusion. I have, therefore, divided my blues into bright blue, dark blue, and slaty blue. My method is probably inartistic, but it will, I hope, facilitate the task of identification.

Again, it is no easy matter to draw the line between greyish and brownish birds, hence I have included some species under both heads. The reader should bear in mind that, while nothing is easier than to identify some birds by their colour, in the case of others colour is at the best a rough guide--one, but only one, of the clues which have to be followed up before the identity of the species can be established. In the case of Raptorial birds colour is of very little assistance, since the great majority of them are of the same colour, moreover, individuals vary greatly in colouration at different stages of their existence.

The Rose-coloured Starling .

The Rose-coloured Starling .

Free books android app tbrJar TBR JAR Read Free books online gutenberg

Login to post a comment!