752 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



call " bastard Indigo " in India. From about the Ist April, very few- 

 birds remained here and the last two days 1 looked for them I only put up 

 four birds. They seemed to have paired then, but I found no eggs and I 

 fancy they migrate to the higher ground in the interior, anyway from the 

 middle of April till now, I have neither seen nor heard of any birds in the 

 valley or hills accessible to us. 



From what I heard from the officers of the regiment we relieved, these 

 sandgrouse arrive here in September or October, but J will make a careful 

 search of the whole valley and let you know the result. 



The only other Sandgrouse I have seen here is the pintail — the same 

 bird one gets in India. They were here from early February to about the 

 middle of March — one always saw one or two large flocks of them in the 

 Valley — they left some three weeks before the Close-barred Sandgrouse 

 disappeared. If we are still here when the birds return I will get you a 

 few more specimens of both sexes. The female is very different in plumage 

 to the male. 



Since writing the above I have satisfied myself that there are no Sand- 

 grouse in the limited area available for search here and am convinced they 

 migrate from the Coast of Oman in April. They probably move to the 

 elevated plains in the interior of Oman to breed. 



A. R. BURTON, Major, 

 Muscat, Arabia, 94th Russell's Infantry. 



\Mh July, 1916. 



[We greatly regret to learu of the death of Major A. E. Burton some few 

 months ago. Major Burton helped our Soceity in many ways and sent the museum 

 many interesting' specimens from Muscat and other places.— Eds. 



No. XIIL— THE SPAN OF LARGE BIRDS. 



In reference to the correspondence in the Society's Journal on "■ The 

 Span of Large Birds," the following figures measured by myself from fresh- 

 shot specimens in the flesh may possibly be worth putting on record :— 



Ft. ins. 

 Shoebill, Balotniceps, rex, Bahrel Ghazal, Sudan, March 1900 . . 8 6 

 Marabou Stork, Leptoptilus crumeniferus, Kaka, Sudan, March 



1900.. 8 4 

 Black Vulture, Otor/yps calvus, Kedha, Malay Peninsula, May 



1898.. 7 5 

 Indian White-backed Vulture, Pseudoyyps henyalensis, Kedha, 



Malay Peninsula, May 1898 . . 7 1| 

 Pallas's Fishing Eagle, Haliaetus leucovyphus, Jalhopur, India, 



December 1894. . 6 7 

 Do. do. do. do. Dhorahra, India, 



February 1895.. 6 5 

 White Nile Crane, Balearica cecilice, Abu Zeit, Sudan, March 



■ 1900. 5 8 

 White-necked Stork, Dissura episcojms Harrowah, India, Dec. 



1894.. 5 9 

 Do. do. do. do. . . 5 3 



Hooded Vulture, Neophron monachus, Bahrel Zeraf, Sudan, March 



1900.. 5 6i 

 Smaller White Scavenger Vulture, Neophron yinyinianus, 



Harrowah, India, Dec. 1914. . 5 3 

 Do. do. do. do ..51 



Do. do. do. Chunar India, 



Nov. 1894.. 4 9 



