332 PLOTIN^. 



Length. — 24 to 27 inches, wing 11, tail 6, bill at front 2-25. In the 

 breeding plumage the forehead and sides of the head are speckled with 

 white, there is a white tuft of feathers behind the ears, and the chin 

 is white. 



Hah. — Siud, Kutch, Guzerat, Rajputana and the Deccan, also in 

 South India. Breeds in Sind during November. 



GraculuS javanica, Horsf. -, PL Cul. 434 ; Gould. B. As. pi. ; 

 Jerd. B. Ind. 863, No. 1007. Graculus pygmteus. Pall. Zoogr. t. 74, pi. — 

 The Little Cormorant. 



In Summer Plumage. — A white triangular patch on the head ; lores 

 and a liae through the eyes white ; a few white hair-like feathers on 

 the nape and sides of the neck ; chin black ; whole body glossy black ; 

 head with a short occipital crest ; wing-coverts, scapulars, secondaries 

 and tertiaries glossed silvery, the feathers margined with black ; bill 

 brownish or purplish brown ; gular and orbital skin livid fleshy ; legs 

 dusky. 



Length. — 19 to 20 inches, wing 8-5, tail 5*5, bill at front 1*25, 

 tarsus 1"3. 



Eah. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Kutch, Guzerat, Rajputana, 

 Concau and the Deccan. Breeds in Sind during November and 

 December. 



Sub-Family, PLOTIN^E. 



Bill with edges finely notched ; neck longer than the body. 



Gen. Plotus- — Lin. 



Bill long, straight, slender; second and third quills longest; 

 nostrils basal, covered by a shield ; tail long and rounded. 



Plotus melanogaster, Penn. Lid. Zool. pi. 12; Jerd. B. Lid. 

 iii. p. 865, No. 1008 ; 8tr. F. vol. i. p. 469 ; Murray, Hdbh., Zool., 

 4*c., Sind., p. 249, (Sili, Sind.) — The Indian Snake Bird. 



Head, nape and neck brown, the feathers edged with pale ferrugin- 

 ous ; back of the neck slightly darker ; chin and throat white, also a 

 line from below the eye to half way down the neck, and a narrow 

 superciliary streak from the base of the bill ; back and entire under 

 surface glossy black ; primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, scapulars and 

 wing-coverts black, very slightly glossed ; some of the inner seconda- 

 ries, all the wing-coverts, scapulars and tertials mesially white; upper 

 tail-coverts and tail black, the central feathers with barred ridges ; 

 under wing-coverts black ; legs and feet black ; bill dusky on the 

 upper mandible, yellowish on the lower; irides yellow, 



Length.— -o^ to 33 inches, wing 13-2 to 14, tail 8-3 to 9-2, bill at front 

 3-5. 



Kah. — Sind, Bengal, Rajputana, Kutch, Guzerat, Concan and 

 Deccan. 



Common in Sind, breeds from June to December. Eggs white or 

 bluish white, with a chalky coat. 



