Birds of the Indian Hills

Douglas Dewar spent his career in the Indian Civil Service and his free hours watching birds, and this 1915 book collects what he learned in the hill stations. He kept the scope small, leaving out any Himalayan species not likely to be seen daily in summer between 5,000 and 7,000 feet, and separating the birds of the western range from those of the eastern so a beginner is not overwhelmed. Separate parts cover the birds of the Nilgiris and the Palni Hills in the south, closing with appendices of vernacular names. Much of it first ran in The Pioneer, the Madras Mail and other Anglo-Indian papers, and the tone stays light: tits at work, black bulbuls, the spotted forktail, the great Himalayan barbet. Dewar offered the book as a companion to the bird volumes of The Fauna of British India.