262 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



No. XIV.— OCCURRENCE OF THE PEEWIT (JANELLDS 

 VULGARIS) IN TIRHUT. 



On several occasions I heard of birds which I took to be this species havin<y 

 been seen by my collectors and can now authenticate the occun-ence of this 

 species in this District. This is an interesting fact as Blanford does not 

 mention it from Bengal at all. 



This morning two birds of this species were seen by one of my men on a 

 chaur some miles from here. He fired at both but only shot one. They were 

 very wild and most difficult to approach. 



In former years this chaur used to teem with bird life of all kinds, especially 



duck and teal, but this year besides these two lapwings, only one or two curlew 



(A'^. arquata), one great Black-headed gull {Larus ichihycctus) and a number of 



Brown-headed gulls ( L. brunneicephahis) nothing else was seen. The ducks and 



storks were most noticeable by their absence. 



CHAS. M. INGLIS. 

 Laheria Serai P. O., 



nth December 1908. 



No. XV.— THE LESSER FLAMINGO (PIKENICOPTERA MINOR) 



IN CUTCH. 



In the book pubhshed this year on the " /?irf8a« Ducla and their Allies,'" I 



find it has been stated, as regards the Lesser Flamingo, in a quotation from 



Vol. vi. of ' Stray Feathers', that, " we have no record of its occurrence in any 



other part of Jodhpore, or in Kutch, or in Kathiawar," It is further observed 



that " it is on the Sambhar Lake alone, perhaps, that it has, as a species by 



tself, been observed in any number in India." In reference to this, I would 



draw attention to the following remarks made l)y the late Major Lester, in the 



hook (The Birds of Kutch) revised hj him: "In May 1894, when on my way 



to England on leave, I crossed the Gulf of Kutch with H. H. the Rao in his 



steam launch, and, on nearing the Kathiawar shore, we saw large flocks of 



these handsome birds (P. ndnor') in very bright rose-coloured plumage, each 



bird being apparently all over of a pink blotting paper sort of colour." On the 



particular occasion here alluded to, my friend the late Major Lester and I were 



both together on board a steam launch when we saw the birds, and I have 



seen fairly large flocks of them on other occasions too in the same locality. 



Although the Lesser Flamingo is not common in Kutch, as the larger one is, 



it is at any rate a regular visitant in fairly large numbers to the inner Gulf of 



Kutch. 



RAO KHENGARJI. 



BhUJ, CUTCII, 



2^th December ) 908. 



No. XVI.— THE WHOOPER SWAN— A CORRECTION. 

 At page 13 of the book on " Indian DucJcs and their Allies " there is a notice, 

 as foUows, of my having shot a Cygnus inusicus (Whooper Swan) on the river 

 Beas in the Hoshiarpur District on the 6th of January 1900 : 



