Information on the Endemic Birds of India are scattered. Ripley (1961) in his 'SYNOPSIS' devoted a chapter on the Endemic bird Taxa of the Indian Subcontinent. He (1961) mentioned 176 species (under 104 genera, 39 families and 16 orders) and 11 genera as Endemic Taxa for the entire Indian Subcontinent. Of the Ripley's list 155 species occur in the Indian Territory, out of which only 44 specie and one genus are exclusively found in India. Of the rest 18 species in Sri Lanka, one in Nepal, and the others share their range in various combination of countries of the subcontinent, namely India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. As the Biogeographical provinces of the Indian subregion often overlap to different political units of the subcontinent, the endemic taxa there in, similarly spill over to different countries. Howver, accordinjg to the revised taxonomic opinions many more are added to the Ripley's (1961) list of endemic of the subcontinent to the extent that 27 species and 13 genera are to be included, of which six species are from India alone. Hence, for all practical purposes, a comprehensive account became necessary to furnish updated information on the Endemic Birds of India. This endevour is an attempt towards that aim.
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