Letters, Announcements, ^c. 355 



Agra, April 2, 1869. 



SiR^ — I recently sent to M. Jules Verreaux, for examination, 

 a small box of bird -skins, in regard to which I shall address 

 you later more in detail, as they include, I think, nearly twenty 

 species new to our Indian avifauna ; but I wish to put on record 

 the names of some few of them about which I am pretty sure: — 



Pratincola rubetra, from several parts of the Punjaub. 



Sylvia delicatula, from AVestern Rajpootana. 



Aedon galactodes, from Jodhpoor in Western Rajpootana. 

 This I owe to Dr. King. 



Anthus jjratensis, from near Fcrozpoor. 



Anthus aquaticus ? from the Punjaub, west of the Sutledge. 



Alauda arvensis, from near Lahore. This I owe to Captain 

 Marshall. 



Eniberiza striolata, from the Taragurh hill, Ajmere, where it 

 is said to breed. Mr. Brooks has since obtained this bird in 

 Etawah. 



Emberiza schoeniclus, from dry reedy jheels, near Badlee, thirty 

 miles south of Delhi. 



I may also note that I have obtained several specimens of what 

 both Dr. Jerdon and I believe to be Larus argentatus, at a jheel 

 twenty miles south of Delhi, and that I have a specimen of what 

 is undoubtedly, I believe (and in this Dr. Jerdon concurs), Phos- 

 nicopterus minor, kindly sent me from the Delhi Museum, and 

 brought from the Sambhur Lake, Jodhpoor. I ought to men- 

 tion that this is, I think, the P. rubidus of Capt. Feilden * 

 (Ibis, 1868, p. 496) ; but that our bird is P. minor, Temm. 

 (PI. Col. 49), I have (after examining a good copy of that plate 

 in Dr. Jerdon's possession) no doubt ; the shape of the bill 

 alone suffices to separate this species from P. roseus. Dr. Jer- 

 don first made this identification ; and I may also mention here 



* [Since Dr. Jerdon's letter (supra, pp. 230-232) was published, Capt. 

 Feilden lias been so good as to send us his type-specimen, which we have 

 submitted to Mr. G. R. Gray, who has kindly pointed out to us some im- 

 portant characters wherein it differs from the African P. minor, Temm., 

 which we believe he will shortly make public. Meanwhile we venture to 

 express our opinion that P. rubidus will be found to be a very good spe- 

 cies. — Ed.] 



