_Babul._ _Acacia arabica._ A thorny tree.
_Bhabar._ The waterless tract of forest-clad land between the Himalayas and the _Terai_. It is from ten to fifteen miles in breadth and higher than the general level of the plains.
_Chaprassi._ Lit. a badgeman. A servant who runs messages, an orderly.
_Chik._ A number of thin pieces of bamboo strung together to form a curtain. Thin chiks are usually hung in front of doors in India with the object of keeping out flies but not air. Chiks of stouter make are hung from the verandah in order to keep out the sun.
_Chit._ Short for _Chitti_, a letter or testimonial.
_Dhak._ _Butea frondosa._ A common tree in low jungle.
_Jhil._ A lake, broad tank, or any natural depression which is filled with rain water at certain seasons or permanently.
_Kankar, or Kunkar._ Lumps of limestone with which roads are metalled in Northern India.
_Neem._ _Azadirachta melia_, a common tree in India.
_Sal._ The iron-wood tree (_Shorea robusta_).
_Sahib._ Master, sir, gentleman; a term used to denote a European.
_Shikari._ (1) The man who goes hunting or shooting. (2) The native who accompanies him and directs the beat.
_Terai._ Lit. “Moist land.” A marshy tract of land about twelve miles broad, between the _Bhabar_ and the plains proper. It is low-lying.
With the exception of _British Birds in the Plains of India_, which appeared in _The Civil and Military Gazette_, and _The Indian Corby, Birds in the Rain_, and _Do Animals Think?_ which came out in _The Times of India_, the articles which compose this book made their _debût_ in one or other of the following papers: _The Madras Mail_, _The Indian Field_, _The Englishman_.
The author takes this opportunity of thanking the editors of the above-named newspapers for permission to reproduce these essays.
A _Acridotheres tristis_, 94 Adjutant, 29-35 Aitken, Mr. Benjamin, 165 Aitken, Mr. E. H., 100, 164 _Alauda arvensis_, 5 _Alauda gulgula_, 5 _Alcedo ispida_, 5 Amadavat, 17, 20, 46-51, 52, 165 Anderson, Mr. A., 126 _Aquila chrysætus_, 175 _Aquila vindhiana_, 175 _Arachnechthra asiatica_, 79, 80 _Arachnechthra lotenia_, 79 _Arachnechthra zeylonica_, 80 _Ardea cinerea_, 6 _Ardeola grayii_, 115 _Argya caudata_, 127 _Athene brama_, 24, 142 Automata, birds as, 104-110 Avicultural Society’s Magazine, 74