448 Ornithological Notes from Afghanistan. 



when I secured a male^ that I discovered to what species the 

 bird belonged. What puzzled me more was^ that the bird, 

 which I observed for some time before shooting it, had more 

 the habits of a Flycatcher than a Redstart. The plumage is 

 of a greyish olive-brown above, rufescent on the lower back 

 and rump, passing into deep cinnamon-chestnut on the upper 

 tail-covcrts. Tail dark brown, edged with pale rufous. The 

 throat and breast and flanks greyish brown, belly and vent 

 white. The tips of the tertiaries white, forming a conspicuous 

 white band. Breeding about the 25th of May. 



Motacilla melanope, Pall., is nearly in full summer plu- 

 mage, and found in pairs about the streams. M. alba is also 

 common, but still in small flocks. The Parida have been 

 alluded to elsewhere ; but I may mention that, although a 

 specimen I have referred to Lophophanes beavani agrees other- 

 wise with Jerdon^s description of that bird, there is a decided 

 trace of fulvous, if not rufous, on the white nuchal spot {vide 

 Jerdon, B. of India, ii. 275), 



We next come to the Corvidse, of which only one species is 

 to be seen, viz. Corvus culminatus, Sykes. Corvus corax, Linn., 

 vel lawrencii, Hume, so common throughout the Punjab and 

 Kuram valley, is not found here. The Magpie, Pica rustica 

 (P.6ac/nana,Bonap.), is extremely abundant, and often found 

 in large parties of as many as twenty, sitting in ploughed 

 fields near the villages. 



Acridotheres fuscus, which was very common in the Kuram 

 valley, does not seem to occur on this side of the Kotal. I 

 obtained a pair of Mycerobas carnipes, Hodgs., in the pine- 

 forests, but I have had no opportunity yet of studying their 

 habits. The iris of this species is hair-brown, the maxilla is 

 brownish, and the mandible whitish horn- colour; the legs 

 are pale fleshy brown. Only two species of Pigeon occur, as 

 far as I know, viz. the Blue-Rock, Columba intermedia ?, and 

 Palumbus casiotis, Bonaparte, which has exactly the same 

 habits as our English Wood-Pigeon, and is found in flocks 

 varying from ten to fifty. No Doves have as yet arrived. 



It would appear that the majority of the species above 

 mentioned are birds which have passed the winter here, so that 



