Letters, Announcements, <SfC. 145 



with an olive green shade ; scapulars, lower back, and rump 

 rufous olivaceous-brown ; quills brown, edged with rufous brown; 

 tail (of twelve feathers) brown faintly rufous, obscurely rayed 

 above — beneath, all but the two middle feathers conspicuously and 

 narrowly tipped with white, and with a broad blackish-brown 

 subterminal band ; lower parts silky fulvous white ; the breast 

 shaded obscurely with dusky, and the flanks, lower abdomen, 

 and tibial feathers distinctly tinged with pale rufous-bufF. 

 Legs and feet pale reddish brown ; bill black ; irides pale orange. 

 A very narrow pale line from the nostrils, over the eye, almost 

 meeting on the forehead, which line, very apparent in the freshly 

 killed bird, is hardly traceable in badly preserved skins. 



The bill in this species is really much smaller and feebler than 

 that of P. socialis, P. flaviventris, P. steivarti, or P. gracilis, and 

 is about the same size as that of P. hodgsoni. 



This species differs conspicuously from P. gracilis in the con- 

 colorous back and head and the generally paler and greener tint 

 of the upper parts. I at one time fancied that this might be Dr. 

 Jerdon^s P. adamsi (B. Ind. ii. p. 170) ; but that has ten, while 

 this has always twelve tail-feathers. 



These little birds are common (climbing and flitting about 

 restlessly in low scrub jungle) throughout the North-west Pro- 

 vinces and the Punjab, in suitable localities. I have never found 

 them in fields or gardens, but always amongst scattered stunted 

 bushes or waste places. The stomachs of all I examined con- 

 tained tiny ants and almost microscopical beetles. 



Yours faithfully, 



Allan Hume. 



Simlah, July 12, 1869. 



Sir, — Little, if anything, has hitherto been known of the 

 breeding of the Indian Blackwinged Stilt, Himantopus Candidas^. 



High and low I have sought for the eggs of this species without 

 success ; the birds always left the localities in which I had ob- 



* Be it understood that I do not of my own authority assert that the 

 Indian race is distinct from the European. Mr. Blyth considered that it 

 was ; and as I have not yet compared the birds, I follow him, until I have 

 opportunities of judging for myself. 



N. S. VOL. VI. L 



