620 Dr. C. B. Ticehurst on [Ibis. 



one of this race in February whose bill was beginning to turn. 

 This race probably arrives early in November with ihe others, 

 and the latest date on which I have positively identified it, 

 is 9 March. 



Sturnus vulgaris dresseri But. 



I twice oi)tained this race — once, two birds from a mixed 

 flock of this race and nohilior at One Tree Tank near Karachi, 

 and a single bird in cultivation at Malir. They correspond 

 well with dresseri in the Tring Museum. 



Sturnus vulgaris porphyronotus Sharpe. 



A Starling which I obtnined from a flock of j}oltaratskii 

 at Karachi on 18 Febrmiry, 1919 I assign, not without some 

 hesitation, to this race. It is one of those intermediate birds 

 which are most difficult to place. It is more violet on the 

 mantle, not so purple as pnrjtfn/ronottii', and yet it is too green 

 on the head for dres-^eri. S. v. j^orjdii/ronotus must occur in 

 Sind ; it is common in south Punjab, and there is a bird in the 

 Karachi Museum from Sind which I placed as this race. In 

 all these races typical birds are fairly easy to distinguish once 

 the differences are grasped, but in a series there will be found 

 intermediates in the three races, nohilior, po7-ph/ronotus, and 

 dresseri, and I think it is a question whether when, if ever, 

 we see a large series of breeding birds from Afghanistan 

 and Turkestan it will not be found that some supposed 

 races are founded on individual variations. 



Stnr?ius ^\ liumei is recorded for Sind ; there are no 

 specimens thence in the British Museum nor does it occur 

 in south Punjab. 



Sturnus vulgaris minor Hume. 



The Sind Starling is a very local resident bird and we may 

 search long and far before we meet with it. Hume was the first 

 to obtain and recognize this Starling, which he found always 

 in pairs " in the debatable ground between cultivation and 

 desert '^ in the Larkhana district. Later on in 1878 Doig 

 found many breeding along the E. Narra Canal in March. 

 The nests were situated in holes in "kandi '^ trees (Prosopis 

 spicigera) on the banks of the canal and also in the middle of 



