MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 197 



form of any butterfly ; on the contrary, it is generally larger than the other. 

 I feel sure that experiments on this line, carried out with the perseverance 

 and care of Col. Manders, would yield valuable results. 



E. H. AITKEN. 

 The Red Sea, 22nd May, 1907. 



No. XV.— OCCURRENCE OF THE SIBERIAN BLUE CHAT 

 (LARVIVORA CYANEA) IN THE HAZARA DISTRICT. 



On the 20th of June, when searching for the nests of Larvivora brunnea 

 (The Indian Blue Chat), a common bird up here, I came across, under the 

 following circumstances and much to my astonishment, a pair of Larvivora 

 cyanea (The Siberian Blue Chat). I was seated among thick bushes on the side 

 of a rocky and precipitous hill, when I became aware of a small brown bird 

 perched on a twig in front of me. At first I thought it was a female L. brim- 

 nea, but the smaller size, the whiteness of the throat and breast, and the 

 amount of rufous on the tail puzzled me considerably. While I was looking 

 at her, she gave a call note and presently hearing a rustle on my right, I turned 

 slowly round and saw not more than 8 or 10 feet from me what I have little 

 doubt was a male L. cyanea. It differed from brunnea iu the absence of 

 the white supercilium and rufous breast, the throat being white and the 

 breast a dirty buffish white. It also appeared smaller. In other respects 

 it resembled brunnea. I had a good look at. the bird through glasses, as well 

 as with the naked eye, before it was lost to sight in the thick cover below. 

 For a week following I haunted the vicinity of the spot where I had chanced 

 on these rare birds, but unfortunately without again seeing them. The pair 

 must have nested somewhere on the hill. 



H. A. F. MAGRATH, Major. 



Thandiani, Hazara Dist., 21th June, 1907. 



No. XVI.— THE ENEMIES OF SNAKES. 



The following was communicated to me yesterday by an officer stationed 

 here, and, as the incident strikes one as out of the common, I am sending you 

 the description for record in the Society's Journal : — 



" Our full grown Buff Orpington fowl was reported to me by my sweeper to 

 be ill. I went and looked at it and found, to all outward appearances, the 

 fowl was perfectly fit, but it seemed to have something wrong with its throat 

 as it kept on coughing and I felt a hard substance in its crop. In the course 

 of 28 hours it died, and I had it cut open and found in it a snake eighteen 

 inches long." 



M. B. ROBERTS, Major, 



l-39</t Garhvxd Rifles. 



Lansdowne, Garhwal, U.P., 24th June, 1907. 



