95 



110. Lonchura Cheet. Lonck. pallide cinnamomeo-brunnea; cor- 



pore subtus uropygioque albis ; remigibus rectricibusque interne 



brunneis. 



Foem. coloribus minus intensis. 



Irides intense rufo-brunneae. Longitudo corporis 5f unc, 

 caudce 2. 

 Tail lanceolate; central feathers longer than the rest, and ending 

 in a point. Sexes alike. These birds live in small families. Co- 

 lonel Sykes has frequently found them in possession of the 

 deserted nests of the Ploceus Philippensis; but their own nest 

 is a hollow ball of grass. Ten white eggs, not much larger 

 than peas, were found in a nest. The cry of the bird is cheet, 

 cheet, cheet, uttered simultaneously by flocks in flight. 



111. Lonchura leuconota. Fringilla leuconota, Temm. Gros-bec leu- 



conote, PI. Col. 500. fig. 1. 

 Found only in the Ghauts. Length 4 T V inches, inclusive of tail 

 ItV inch. Sexes alike. Grass seeds only found in the stomach. 



Genus Passer, Auct. 



112. Passer domesticus, Briss. Fringilla domestica, Linn. 



On submitting the Indian Sparrotu, male and female, to a rigid 

 comparison with Sparrows shot in the Regent's Park, they were 

 found to be absolutely identical. 



Fam. SturnidcB, Vigors. — Genus Pastor, Temm. 



\ 13. Pastor tristis, /Temm. Gracula tristis, Lath. 



The irides are red brown, and remarkable for being studded on 



the external margin with regularly arranged yellowish-white 



specks. Sexes alike : omnivorous: quarrelsome, noisy. Length 



ll-A inches, inclusive of tail of f3-rV« 



1 14?. Pastor Mahrattensis. Past, supra griseo-niger, remigibus 



cauddque saturatioribus ; capite genisque atris ; corpore subtus 



subrirfescenti-griseo ; crisso pallidiori, plumis albo marginatis. 



Rostrum pedesqae flavi. Irides pallide griseae. Longitudo 



*■ corporis 9-f- unc, cauda 2-rV 



Sexes alike. Found only in the Ghauts. Stony fruit in the sto- 

 machs of three birds. Resembles Past, tristis, but is a size 

 less, possesses no crest, and has gray irides. 



115. Pastor roseus, Temm. Turdus roseus, Linn. 



Irides intense red brown. Tongue bifid and fringed ; not quite 

 so much so as Hypsipetes Ganeesa. These birds darken the air 

 | by their numbers at the period pf the ripening of the bread 

 grains, Andropogon Sorghum, and Panicum spicatum, in Dukhun, 

 in December. Colonel Sykes has shot forty or fifty at a shot. 

 They prove a calamity to the husbandman, as they are as de- 

 structive as locusts, and not much less numerous. 



116. Pastor Pagodarum, Temm. Turdus Pagodarum, Gmel. Gra- 

 cula Pagodarum, Shaw, vol. 7. p. 471. Le Martin Brame, Le 



, Vaill., Ois. d'Afr. pi. 95. torn. 2. 



. Jrides greenish white. Length 8 T v inches, inclusive of tail of 2-^ 



