Capt. R. C. Tytler on the Fauna of Barrackpoore. 373 



ing Nectarinia zeylonica is called, is very common, and forms a 

 beautiful addition to the fauna of Barrackpoore ; early in the 

 morning are these busy little creatures seen sucking the nectar 

 from flowers : I had several of their nests ; they are elegantly con- 

 structed, and are suspended to the branch of a creeper or other 

 bush ; I found a very pretty one suspended to some creepers 

 inside of a bower over my bed-room window. The eggs vary in 

 size and colour as well as in number. The little Dicaum cruen- 

 latum with its scarlet back, and the little sombre D. minimum 

 are very abundant, but at all times difficult to obtain owing to 

 their extreme minuteness, besides which they keep often in the 

 upper branches of high trees. The Pigeons are limited to very 

 few ; the most beautiful found here is the Toria nipalensis, a very 

 rare bird ; but the Treron phoenicoptera and T. bicincta are pretty 

 common : all three of these species are called Green Pigeons. 



The Doves : Turtur risorius and T. suratensis are both very 

 common, as well as the lovely Green Dove, Chalcophaps indicus ; 

 these latter are found in dense jungle and in retired places. The 

 only other species of this order 1 have seen at Barrackpoore is a 

 half-domesticated and evidently hybrid of Columba livia; they 

 are very common and live in old temples and houses; they are 

 often caught and shot for eating. 



The only species of Basores I have found here is the Turnix 

 bengalensis, which is the small pale variety of T. ocellatus ; the 

 eggs of this species were brought to me. It is very singular that 

 I did not obtain a single quail or partridge at this station. 



I now close my list of land birds, and shall proceed to enume- 

 rate the so-called water birds, of which there is a large and exten- 

 sive variety : my own collection, I regret to say, is very limited ; 

 but they were all I could procure during my residence, after 

 every effort that could be bestowed in search of them. I shall 

 begin by mentioning that the Sarciophorus bilobv^ is common, 

 as well as Lobivanellus goensis ; this is the true Teetaree of the 

 natives ; L. cinereus is also met with ; all these three species are 

 obtained in open fields or near water. The Charadrius virginiacv^, 

 a closely allied species to our English Golden Plover, is also 

 found in great numbers ; so is the little Hiaticula philippina. The 

 Tetanus fuscus, the Spotted Redshank of Europe, is not com- 

 mon, but the Actitis glareola (the English Wood Sandpiper), 

 the A. ochropus (the English Green Sandpiper), the A. hypo- 

 ieucus (the English common Sandpiper), as well as Tringa mi- 

 nut a and T. temminckii of England, are all very common spe- 

 cies at Barrackpoore ; there is scarcely a puddle of water that 

 is not more or less resorted to by some of these birds. 



Of the true Snipes of the sporting world, the first is the 

 English species, Gallinago scolopacinus ; tliey are very common, 



