1922.] the Birds of Sind. 657 



It might however occur, as both Mr. Whistler ;ind inyselfc' 

 obtained it in the liower Punjab, 



Emberiza striolata striolata (Licht.). 



The Striatetl Bunting is not uncommon in Lower Sind in 

 winter wherever rocky desert or low hills occur from the 

 Beluchi boundary to Hyderabad, and also in Tliar and 

 Parkar. It is commoner perhaps in the foot-hills of the 

 Khirthar Range, and it is surprising that Hume never met 

 with it there. In the Laki Hills in the Sehvvan district I 

 found it to be the commonest bird, and here fair-sized flocks 

 were to be met with ; at other places I generally found it 

 in little lots of two to five individuals. Apart from rocky 

 desert I only met with it once, and that in some sandy 

 cotton-fields near the Jamrao Canal. Unlike its Sahai-an 

 representative, this bird is by no means "eminently a House- 

 Bunting^'; I never saw it anywhere near habitations. 



Whether this bird breeds in Sind is not known for certain, 

 but I think it probably does so in the higher hills of the 

 Khirthar; it certainly breeds in Kelat, which is really part 

 of the same hills. 



It arrives in Lower ISind in the third week of September, 

 and the latest I have seen it is 11 A[)ril. A few, I think, 

 are also passage migrants, as I have seen some in places 

 where they do not occur in winter, during the passan^e of 

 other Buntings, and it was interesting to note that these 

 birds kept to an artificial stone embankment during their 

 visit, in lieu of a rocky hill-side — so strong is the instinct of 

 a particular habitat. Like the Desert- Bullfinch this species is 

 always flying io water, and the surest method of ascertaining 

 its presence in the vicinity is to sit by a water-hole. Its 

 food consists of the seeds of desert grasses and of one of the 

 Composite connnon in the hills. 



The males differ from the females in having the chin, 

 throat, and crown more streaked black and white ; the 

 juvenile is much like the female and its moult includes the 

 body-feathers, minor wing-coverts, tertials, and central tail- 

 feathers. My series measure : 'cJ : wing 73"5-Sl. tail 



