1922.] the Birds of Siiid. Gil 



of country it likes best is where cultivation tails off into 

 desert, Avliere the ground is rather bare but yet where there 

 are still plenty of bushes; absolute desert it does not care £or, 

 a part inhabited almost exclusively by lahtora — as Blant'ord 

 also noted in the Thar and Parkar district. In the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood ol: Karachi, [irobably the barest part of 

 Sind, it is rather a rare bird except on passage ; but even 

 in the more suitable places in central Sind, where I hav(; 

 seen it most plentifully, 1 should consider a dozen in the 

 day about the number one would notice. 



This Shrike is a winter visitor to Sind, arriving about 

 the beginning of September (earliest .'30 August), and at 

 this time they are more numerous round Karachi than at any 

 other, and it seems likel}^, therefore, that some are on passage 

 for farther south. The first arrivals appear to be young 

 birds. They leave again in March (latest 8 March). 



Its chief food appears to be beetles, but also the large ant, 

 Mijrmecoci/stus hrvis, as Mr. Bell noted. In Lower Sind, 

 in parts where it is not abundant, the few one sees are very 

 often in tamarisks. 



A series of males measure : wing 90-95, tail 82-88 mm. 

 The second primary is equal to, or just longer or shorter 

 than, the fifth. 



Tephrodornis pondicerianus pallidus Ticehurst. 



In the better cultivated parts of the province, especially 

 in the " babool " forests, the Wood-Shrike is tolerably 

 common ; elsewhere it is hardly met with, though anywhere 

 in the desert where " babool " groves occur a few pairs may 

 be found. It is quite resident, and is found throughout Sind 

 right up to the Beluchi boundary, which seems to be the 

 limit of its distribution westwards. The nesting-season 

 extends from the end of March to the end of June. 



So far as I observed, this is a quiet, tame little bird, and as 

 unobtrusive as is its coloration ; though it usually seeks its 

 food in trees, I have at times seen it picking about on the 

 ground under trees; it is generally met with in pairs, some- 

 times in little parties of three or four. 



