122 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vor XVile 
were exceptionally fat. We watched large flocks of the Black- 
tailed Godwit and other species continually grubbing in the mud 
where we ourselves found no living thing. An examination of 
their stomach-contents proved that they were feeding on the seeds 
of water-plants, which were doubtless lying ready to sprout when 
the flood-season began. 
Water-birds, especially the Coot and the Gray Lag Goose (of 
which no specimens were preserved) play an important part in the 
economy of the Saiyad or Hunters, a peculiar almost outcaste 
tribe, who live on the shores of the Hamun in primitive reed-huts 
and navigate its reed-beds in skiff-like rafts (tution) of bulrush 
leaves. 
In winter the most abundant and conspicuous birds in Seistan 
peculiar neither to the desert nor to the lake is the Rook. Enor- 
mous flocks, so large that we frequently mistook them for clouds 
in the distance, fly about the country at this season and settle 
on the ground in open spaces, often among tamarisk bushes 
round small pools in the desert. What they get to eat is a mys- 
tery. We were told that these flocks arrived about October and 
were popularly believed to eat up the “‘Hamun fly,” a blood- 
sucking fly (2? Tabanus or Haematopota) that spreads surra among 
camels and horses. It is quite possible that the birds do devour 
these insects, but it is also probable that their arrival coincides 
with the close of the flies’ season of aerial life. N.A.] 
1, Corvus cornix sharpii Oates. (6). 
1905. Corvus cornix, Cumming, of. cit., p. 686. 
Oo. No. 24685; Rudbar, R. Helmand, Feb. 03. 
9. ,, 25492; Lab-i-Baring, ca. 1600 ft., 15.12.18. 
2. Corvus frugilegus tschusii Hartert. (5). 
1905. Corvus frugilegus, Cumming, op. cit., p. 686. 
9. No. 24707; Nad-i-Ali on the Helmand, 13.3.05. 
Or 178 2488 Er) Kulak 920. 2405¢ 
@. ,, 25469; Lab-i-Baring, ca. 1600 ft., 15.12.18. 
om th 2547016 * af Ej oL2.LOe 
Of these Rooks the first two specimens have nearly completed 
their facial moult but still have all the nareal bristles present ; 
No. 3 has the face quite bare whilst the fourth is a young bird 
with the face fully feathered. [See notes at end of introduction. 
N,A.] 
3. Argya caudata huttoni (Blyth). (105). 
1905. Argya caudata, Cumming, op. cit., p. 686. 
o. No. 24880; Kuhak, 26.4.05. 
This is a typical huttont in appearance but is a very small 
bird with a wing of only 83 mm. ‘The striae on the breast are 
almost obsolete. 
