on Dr. Jerdon's 'Birds of India.' 13 



Birds, pi. 50) . I doubt if it is ever seen to perch. As noticed on 

 a former occasion, this remarkable bird bears considerable re- 

 semblance in structure to Sialia arctica ; but its habits are 

 gregarious, the flocks, as observed by the late Capt. Speke, 

 keeping to the margin of the snow-line, and seeking their food 

 where the snow melts — a mode of life assuredly most remarkable 

 for a species the males of which exhibit such intense brilliancy 

 of colouring. 



479 and 480. Thamnobia fulicata and T. cambaiensis. 



To judge from skins only, these might well be supposed to be 

 the same species in summer and winter dress ; but such is not 

 the case; each is found at all seasons within its own range of 

 distribution, — that of T. fulicata extending to Ceylon, and that 

 of the other not reaching to Lower Bengal. 



481. Pratincola caprata (Linn.); $ " QLnanthe pyrrho- 

 nota, Vieillot " (Pucheran) ; from Timor. 



I never knew this species to occur wild in Lower Bengal ; but 

 it is kept there as a cage-bird, and known as the Pidha. 



482. Pratincola bicolor (Sykes) ; P. atrata, nobis ; 

 $ Saxicola erythropygia, Sykes. 



483 and 484. Pratincola indica and P. leucura, Gould, 

 B. As. pts. XV., xviii. pis. 



The range of P. caprata extends to Timor, Flores, and Lom- 

 bok, and that of P. indica (Gould, B. Asia, pt. xv. pi.) and P. 

 ferrea to China ; the last occurs also in Arakan and the Tenas- 

 serim provinces. The voice of P. indica is notably different 

 from that of the European P. rubicola. 



485. Pratincola insignis. 



Hitherto this fine species has been known only from a single 

 male. I detected a female in Mr. Gould^s collection, which 

 was sent to him by Dr. Jerdon, who must have somehow over- 

 looked it. The female is a very dingy bird, plain brown, with 

 some white at base of tail and a little at the sides of the breast. 

 The fact of Dr. Jerdon^s procuring a specimen shows that it is 

 not exclusively Tibetan. 



