James Davidson FZS (28 March 1849 – 25 June 1925) was a Scottish naturalist in colonial India.
He qualified in the Indian Civil Services in 1872 and served in the Bombay Presidency until 1897.
For his work during the famine years around 1876–78,[1] he received a special award from the government.
[2] During his service in India, he wrote extensively about the birds of the regions of present-day Uttara Kannada, Satara and Belgaum, corresponding with Allan Octavian Hume, to whom he gave his bird collection.
Just before his retirement, he made a trip to Kashmir with the lepidopterist and forest officer Thomas Reid Davys Bell.