of the Calcutta District. 71 



the refuse from the town ; but to the city itself they are 

 annually becoming rarer visitors. 



They are occasionally to be seen soaring about in the air 

 in the company of Vultures on the look-out for food. 



117. DissuRA EPiscopus. (White-necked Stork.) 



Only once seen near Pundua on the E. I. Railway on 

 April 7, 1889. 



118. CicoNiA ALBA. (White Stork.) 



One of a pair was shot on January 20^ 1889, in a jheel 

 near Howrah. 



119. Phalacrocorax pygm^eus. (Little Cormorant.) 

 Common^ universally distributed, and resident. As men- 

 tioned above, I found it breeding, in August 1890, at 

 Kissengunge, in the same tree as Ardeola grayi, but not in 

 any great quantities. The young appeared to be most 

 ravenous, and there was a constant stream of the old birds 

 to and from the nests, carrying food to the young, which 

 were fed on small fishes and frogs. Throughout the rainy 

 season, solitary birds, or perhaps three or four, are to be seen 

 in most of the jheels around Titaghur, but they do not 

 appear to be nesting in the immediate neighbourhood. 



120. Pelecanus, sp. inc.* (Pelican.) 



On October 21, 1890, I saw four Pelicans, white with 

 dark wings, flapping slowly northwards up the course of the 

 river, and on April 30, 1891, two were seen on the sandbank 

 in the river opposite Titaghur. When seated, they were 

 apparently pure white, but on being put to flight by an 

 approaching boat they showed dark primaries. 



121. Nettapus coromandelianus. (Cotton-Teal Goose.) 

 Though such large numbers of this species find their way 



into the markets in the cold season, I have met with it only 



* [This Pelican is probably the Spot-billed Pelican {Felecamis manil- 

 lensis), of which four specimens, obtained by Mr. W. L. Sclater in Calcutta, 

 are now living in the Zoological Society's Gardens. It is a close ally of 

 P. rufescens of Africa, but does not appear ever to get the wholly rufous 

 tack.— P. L. S.] 



