PBATTHCOLA. 63 



611. Pratincola leucura. The White-tailed Bush-Ghat. 



Pratincola leucura, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 474 (1817) ; id. Cat. 

 p. 170; Jerd. B.I. ii, p. 126; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, 

 pt. ii, p. 270 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 183, iii, p. 135, v, p. 241 ; id. 

 Cat. no. 484 ; Brooks, S. F. viii, p. 473 ; S/tarpe, Cat. B. M. iv, 

 p. 194: Oates, B. B. i, p. 280; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 200; 

 Hume, 8. F. xi, p. 191. 



Khar-pidda, Hind, at Monghyr. 



Coloration. Resembles P. maura very closely. The male P. 

 leucura differs from the male P. maura in having the inner webs 

 and the basal half of the outer webs of all the tail-feathers, except 

 the middle pair, white, and the abdomen, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts also white. 



The females, although undistinguishable from each other by mere 

 description, may perhaps be separable by actual comparison of spe- 

 cimens if the plumage be in good order. In P. leucura the rufous 

 of the upper tail-coverts and the lower plumage is much paler, in 

 P. maura much darker ; P. leucura is also somewhat greyer and less 

 rufous on the back. 



Legs and feet black ; bill black ; iris brown (Hume). 



Length about 5; tail 1"9 ; wing 2-6; tarsus *7; bill from 

 gape -7. 



Hume draws attention to the great difference in plumage 

 between birds of this species from Sind and from Manipur. Con- 

 sidering, however, how very irregular the changes and tiuts of the 

 plumage of these birds are, I do not think that there are any 

 grounds for separating the Manipur from the Sind race. 



Distribution. Sind ; the Terai and lower hills of Nepal and 

 Sikhim ; Eastern Bengal ; Dacca; Tipperah ; Mymensing; Mani- 

 pur; Thayetmyo and the valley of the Irrawaddy immediately 

 below this town ; Toungngoo ; Pahpoon in Tenasserim. There is 

 little doubt that this species is a permanent resident in those 

 places. 



Habits, <§r„ This Bush-Chat is found invariably in or near 

 swamps where there are reeds and grass. 



612. Pratincola inacrorhyncha. Stoliczka's Bush-Chat. 



Saxicola rubetroides, Jameson, Jerd. B. I. ii, App. p. 872 (1864, 



descr. null.). 

 Pratincola inacrorhyncha, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. ii, p. 238 



(1872); Hume, 6'. F. iv, p. 40, vii, p. 55; id. Cat. no. 485 bis; 



Sharpe, Cut. B. M. iv, pp. 182, 473 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 201. 

 Pratincola jamesoni, Hume, 8. F. v, p. 239 (1877). 



Coloration. Upper plumage sandy buff streaked with dark 

 brown ; upper tail-coverts pale rufous ; middle pair of tail-feathers 

 dark brown, narrowly margined with fulvous-white ; the nest pair 

 with the basal third of the outer, and three quarters of the inner, 

 web white, the remainder black; the others progressively more 

 white and less black ; the outermost almost entirely white ; wing- 

 coverts blackish with broad sandy margins, the last of each series 



