172 



white not being so brilliant, and in a stronger bill. Ruppell's 

 Sterna velox appears to correspond in size with it. In the 

 numerous species in the British Museum there is not one with 

 which it can be identified. Proportionably to the shortness of 

 the legs the claws are long, much arched, slender and sharp, 

 and turn outwards. Hind claw never touches the ground. 

 Same locality and habits as the preceding species, although 

 rare in Dukhun. In the stomach and oesophagus of one bird 

 were found the extraordinary number of thirteen Cyprini, one 

 of them 2§ inches long. Tail very much forked ; iateral tail- 

 feathers subulate, white, 8 inches long. Wings very narrow 

 and long, reaching nearly to the end of the tail. 



Genus Viralva, Leach. 



232. Viralva Anglica, Steph., 13. 174. Sterna Anglica, Mont., 

 Orn. Diet. Sterna aranea, Wils., Amer. Orn. 8. 143. pi. 72. 

 fig. 6? Marsh Tern, Lath. Gull -billed Virahe. 

 Colonel Sykes's specimens correspond exactly with specimens of 

 this rare British bird in the British Museum, both in their win- 

 ter and summer plumage. Irides deep red brown. Length, 

 inclusive of tail, 14J to 16J inches j tail 4^ to 5} inches. Sexes 

 alike in plumage, but the female somewhat smaller than the 

 male. Numerous fish found in the stomach of many birds. 

 With the aspect, length of wing, lazy flight, and habits of the 

 Tern, this bird has a bill approximating to that of the Gull, 

 not quite identical with the bill of the Viralve. 

 Colonel Sykes states, that the domestic Duck (Anas Boschas)h ex- 

 tensively bred by the Portuguese in Western India, and that it 

 is subject to a kind of apoplexy, which carries it off in a few 

 minutes, although previously in apparent health. He has 

 known a trader lose a flock of more than thirty in the course 

 of one day; and he has himself had ten ducks struck simulta- 

 neously, stagger about for a short time as if drunk, run round 

 in circles, fall on their backs, and die. He has not been able 

 to discover any morbid appearances in the brain. In no in- 

 stance, in the stomachs of the Anatidtz, were animal matters 

 met with ; the contents consisted of grains, seeds, vegetables, 

 and gravel. 

 Colonel Sykes, in closing his Catalogue of the birds of Dukhun, 

 mentioned that the details he had given resulted from personal 

 observation of the specimens, in a living or recent state. With 

 few exceptions, the whole were shot by himself; and, to guard 

 against false impressions, he accumulated several individuals of the 

 same species and of both sexes, and was rarely confined to a soli- 

 tary bird. 



