Kashmir’s impressive biodiversity has attracted experts and specialists for a long time. British Indian civil servant and a respected nineteenth-century Scottish naturalist, James Davidson (March 28, 1849 –June 25, 1925) was the second major and ornithologist who spent a quarter in Kashmir and identified more than 150 bird species.
For many years I had been planning a birds’-nesting trip to Kashmir, but difficulties as to leave and other matters always came in the way, and it was not till the close of my Indian service, in March 1896, that I found myself at liberty and able to undertake the trip.
I was fortunate enough to persuade Mr Bell, of the Forest Department, to take three months’ leave and accompany me. Although he had for many years been a devoted collector of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, he had previously not taken any special interest in birds or their eggs; he, however, became even more enthusiastic, if possible, than myself, and the energy and activity which a very considerable advantage in years gave him made him not only most valuable as an assistant but deserving of certainly at least an equal share of the considerable success we had on our expedition.
As his time was strictly limited to three months, and as the long journey to Kashmir from North Kanara and back was bound to take up a large portion of our time, it was necessary to select our date of starting to bring us on to the best ground during the cream of the collecting-season. It was therefore, after a careful perusal of all the authorities to which we had access, decided that we should leave Bombay on the evening of the 13th of April. This season seemed the best, according to the results of the trip of the late Major Cocks and Mr Brooks in 1872, and the notes on birds in Mr Lawrence’s recent work on Kashmir.
Unfortunately, however, we had not taken into account the fact that the seasons in the Himalayas vary from year to year and that 1896 was remarkable for heavy snowfall, with the consequence that flowers, fruits, and birds were nearly a fortnight later than usual. We therefore, on our arrival, found that for the first fortnight, hardly any birds had commenced to build, and we had to leave Sonamurg (the furthest point we reached) at a time that we were taking forty or fifty eggs a day, and when several of the most interesting birds were only building their nests. This was a great disappointment, but notwithstanding we were very successful, and as I can find no previous records about some of the birds found breeding, I think it worthwhile to give a short account of our trip.
In Lahore
Leaving Bombay on the night of the 13th of April, we reached Lahore on the morning of the 16th and spent the day there visiting the Zoological Gardens, which were principally interesting from the number of wildfowl on the sheet of water in the centre. In the station we saw nothing noteworthy except that Palaornis magnirostris, which I had only previously seen as a wary inhabitant of the Satpura Hills, was in pairs, and flying about as devoid of fear of man as the familiar P. torquatus.
We left Lahore in the evening, reached Rawal Pindi at noon the next day, and left again before daybreak on the 18th, reaching Murree in time for a late breakfast. We found Murree intensely cold during the three days we spent there, while our servants and tents were being carried by ekka’ along the Jhelum. Birds were numerous, though the only ones we saw breeding were Stoparola melanops and
the former were busily employed in making nests in holes under the culverts along the roads on the hill, and we saw a pair of the latter carrying feathers in their mouths. We were, however, surprised to see butterflies, and we spent our time most happily capturing many that we had not previously seen alive.
We left Murree in a tonga on the morning of the 22nd, and crossed the Kohala bridge over the Jhelum about mid-day, reaching Garhi in time for dinner, and next day we drove along the Jhelum, reaching Baramula about 4 pm.
We found our boats and servants waiting for us and went a mile or two up the river to escape the numerous merchants beseeching orders for everything from Kashmir silverware and shawls to leather shoes.
Towards Baramulla
Between Murree and Baramula we saw a good many birds and made our first acquaintance with several charming songsters, such as Chimarrhornis leucocephalus and Rhyacornis fuliginosus. We saw also Palaornis schisticeps, with its beautiful yellow tail, in flocks, and occasional pairs all along the Jhelum till about seven or eight miles from Baramula, when it disappeared, and we never saw it on the other side of the Pir Punjal range. The European Cuckoo was heard everywhere along the road, and indeed every day till we left Kashmir.
On the 24th and 25th April, we were towed up the Jhelum between Baramula and Srinugger, we walked along the banks most of the way, carrying butterfly nets and guns. We saw, however, very few birds. Starlings and Jackdaws (Sturnus humii and Corvus monedula) were in large flocks, and occasionally we saw a pair building, Upupa epops and the common Kashmir Thrush (Merula unicolor) were in pairs everywhere, while the banks were full of House Sparrows building in slight holes in the ground. On the way we saw a small flock of Merula atriyularis, one of which I missed; they were passing through, and our general impression of this district was that it was very birdless. There were a good many Kites along the river; we shot one, a fine male of Milvus melanotis, and took two nests of this bird with one and two fresh eggs respectively.
Most, if not all, the Kites along the river seemed to be of this species, while higher up the Sind River the few Kites we saw appeared to be very small and wanted the large conspicuous white patch on the under-wing. We, however, never got a chance to shoot a Kite in the Sind Valley.
There were a pair of Haliaetus leucoryplius every two or three miles along the river, and Mr. Bell saved one of these from an untimely end. The bird had in some way got a leg caught between two crooked branches in the extreme top of a mulberry-tree, and must have been there a long time, as it was hanging downwards, apparently dead, and looking in the distance like a piece of cloth. When we got close, however, it made a feeble attempt to flap, and Mr Bell insisted on risking his neck in climbing up, when he managed with difficulty to release it; it then slowly flew away and alighted on a tree a hundred yards off. It is difficult to see how it could have got caught between the branches.
In Srinugger
We reached Srinugger on the night of the 25th, and stayed there till the 30th, making arrangements for our trip.
We saw few birds at Srinugger except those of species observed on the road up the Jlielum. On the Tukht-i-Suliman a few birds were commencing to build, and on the 29th we found there several nests of Sylvia affinis and Emberiza stevjarti just finished, and one nest of the former with four fresh eggs.
We also found a nest of the Himalayan Goldfinch (Carduelis caniceps) nearly finished; this we left in charge of one of the boatmen, with orders to send it on with its contents ten days later.
On the 30th of April, we went to Gandarbal, at the mouth of the Sind River, where we stayed till the morning of the 2nd May, but found there only the birds we had previously met with on the Tukht-i-Suliman. Several of the Sylvia affinis, however, had eggs, as also had some Jackdaws. We left on the 2nd, and made four marches to Sonamurg, seeing some interesting birds by the way, and also large flocks of migrating Pipits passing up the Sind River Valley. The only kind we were able to identify was Anthus rosaceus.
The Sonamarg
Sonamurg itself we found almost covered with snow, and though we saw a couple of nests of Myiuphoneus temmincki finished, the inducements to stay were very small and we marched back again on the 8th. Returning, in the Sind gorge we found a nest of Cinclus asiaficus in the process of formation and were interested in watching from across the stream the bird collect a quantity of moss and then dive through the water to the bank on which it was building. Poor deluded bird! It had chosen a position for its nest which would have been two feet under water when the melting of the snows caused the river to rise.
This species, however, generally seemed to succeed in rearing its young, and does not suffer so terribly as the Wagtails (Motacilla hodgsoni and M. melanope), which habitually breed under stones on the islands, and the nests of which were frequently washed away, often before the full clutches, for which we were waiting, were laid.
We camped at Gund on the 9th of May and remained there till the 31st, finding one or two nests daily till the 20th, by which time nidification was in full swing, and we used to take many clutches of eggs every day. Gund, which is at an elevation of about 6500 feet, is a narrow plateau bounded fair success, by high hills, some of which are well over 12,000 feet. On the right bank (ascending) these are well-wooded almost to the very tops, while on the left bank, except in a few places, the hills are bare and grassy; the lowest 300 feet or so being covered by a quantity of a shrub with bright purplish-red flowers, among which Emberiza stracheyi, Pratincola maura, Sylvia affinis, Horornis jjallidus, and other birds breed in abundance.
Our principal hunting ground, however, was on the wooded side, and there we had very fair success. But we found so many of the birds we specially hoped to obtain either absent or rare that on the 31st we started for Gangadgir, and again reached Sonamurg on the 1st June. We stayed there till the 17th of June, and then left, most reluctantly, as our time was drawing to a close.
Sonamurg, which has been often described, is a broad plateau of some two miles square, containing a few low hills, which are sparingly wooded; it is surrounded by lofty hills, snow-capped on the right bank of the river, but bare on the other side. Its elevation is 8600 feet, and the hills around must be at least 3000 feet higher. On the 1st June, we found birds, as a rule, only completing their nests.
But towards the close of our stay, we obtained ten or fifteen nests daily, mainly on the very steep wooded hills to the right of the river. Oddly enough, we did not find anything of the least value on the right bank of the tributary joining the Sind River on its right bank, though the forest seemed very tempting.
In Ganderbal
Leaving Sonamurg on the 17th of June, we marched back to Gandarbal, giving up a day (the 19th) to visit our old haunts at Gund. We found there, however, that the nesting season was over, and that birds had young, in most cases already flying.
We reached the foot of the Sind River at Gandarbal on the 20th and had a day on the marshes, which we found were full of birds breeding. We then spent a couple of days at Srinugger, one devoted to the Tukht-i-Suliman, and the other to the Dal Lake. The former was not a success, but the morning we spent on the Dal Lake produced some 200 eggs, though we did not molest the common species, such as
Gallinnla chloropus and Podicipes minor. We then returned the way we had come, reaching Bombay on the 6th of July.
In a trip of this description, extending over such a short period, of course, very many birds must have been overlooked, and the notes as to the birds we observed must be very sparse; still during our trip, we worked hard, leaving our tents generally soon after 6 in the morning, and working till 12 or 1, when we returned to breakfast.
Between then and 4 we were generally fully employed blowing eggs (for we blew the rarest ourselves, not trusting them to my skinner), putting insects in papers, and making
After 4, we used to spend the time till dark collecting. On such days as we had not enough to keep us employed at home from 1 to 4 we used to go for a stroll near the tents. We thus managed to get a good many hours hard work every day and noticed the following birds.
