1922.] the Birds of Sind. 551 



Iris greyish brown ; legs and base of lower mandible flesh- 

 coloured, rest of bill brown. 



Orthotomus sutorius sutorius (Forst.). 



The Tailor-bird is common in the better cultivated parts of 

 the province ; it is, of course, resident. In Karachi and 

 other towns it is a garden bird, and few compounds with a 

 sufficiency of" thick evergreen bushes in them lacks its pair. 

 Though a familiar bird, which may even nest in the pot- 

 plants in the verandah, it is secretive in habits and is more 

 often heard than seen, its rather discordant, strident note, 

 very loud for so small a bird, being quite unmistakable. It 

 breeds at the commencement of the hot weather. 



The type-locality for this species is Calctitta, and on 

 comparing Sind specimens with birds from this region, I 

 cannot detect any difference between them, which fact is 

 interesting though not surprising, as this species does not 

 come under the influence of desert conditions, and its habitat 

 in Sind does not differ remarkably from that of many places 

 in India where it is found. 



Lusciniola melanopogon inimica Mad. 



A common winter visitor to the reed- and rush-covered 

 " dhands." The earliest record of their appearance is 8 Sep- 

 tember, but I think the majority do not appear till October. 

 When they leave Sind I do not know, but I still saw plenty on 

 10 March. Hume describes it as frequenting the "dhands^' 

 in the Larkhana District, such as Guibee Dehra, which are so 

 thickly covered with dense rush as to appear to be one waving 

 field of herbage. I have seen them in similar places, also in 

 reed-beds, and round the edge of " dhands " where tamarisk 

 and rushes intermingle growing in water. As a rule it is 

 rather a skulking bird, and in some circumstances seldom 

 shows itself where cover is very thick ; at times, however, I 

 have found it tame and not at all inconspicuous. Such a time 

 was on the Manchar Lake at Christmas 191D : the lake was 

 very full, and consequently the reeds neither very high nor 

 thick; everywhere where there were any reeds at all, often a 



