656 Dr. C. B. Ticehiirst on [Ibis, 



where many breed ; one branch route at all events passes 

 alono- the Jebel Hanirin Range and leads to the summer 

 quarters in upper Mesopotamia, Syria, and south-east Europe. 

 As it is unknown in Egypt and the Sudan the migration is 

 much more E.-W. than IS.-N., as also in the case o£ the 

 Pastor, and like the latter, too, it returns to its winter 

 quarters in worn broeding-dress and then moults, contrary to 

 the rule in most Passeres. 



On spring passage vast clouds of these birds may be seen 

 in the ripening crops ; on being Hushed they fly to the 

 nearest acacia, making the whole tree a yellow mass. Out of 

 hundreds seen in such flocks 1)8 per cent, are males ; maybe 

 the females pass through later and quicker and so tend to 

 escape notice, but it is quite certain that the males pass 

 through first and in almost pure flocks. In the autumn I 

 did not .find them so common as in spring : this is pro])ably 

 due to lack of corn crops ; they frequent scrub-jungle and 

 cultivation alike, and are mostly young birds in juvenile dress. 

 Gengler (Orn. Monatsb. xxii. 1914, p. 159) has described 

 a race orientalis from E. Sarpa steppes, Astrakhan, While T 

 think it extremely unlikely that a recognizable race inhabits 

 that region, I may remark that all the characters he relies 

 on are utterly variable, and I consider orientalis to be a 

 synon3''m ; birds from the Volga, Greece, Palestine, CJyprus, 

 Turkey, Persia, and India are all precisely the same : some 

 are paler, some I'icher in the yellow parts ; some show a 

 vellow neck-collar, others do not. 



My Sinil specimens measure : <$ : wing 92*5-100, tail 

 72-78, bill (base) 16-18 mm. ? : wing 85-92,. tail 65-71, 

 bill (base) 16-17 mm. 



Hardly any two spring males are precisely alike ; some 

 males have no chestnut-red on the rump, others have it entirely 

 of this colour, while in the female this part may be yellowish, 

 reddish, or grey ! and there is much other variation. The 

 juvenile plumage is much more compact (less "fluffy^') than 

 in most juvenile Passeres. 



Emheriza calandra, recorded by Murray from Daulatpur, 

 in reality was sent to him by Mr. Gumming from Bushire, 



