Capt. R. C. Tytler on the Fauna of Barrackpoore. 369 



is plentiful every where, building in houses and quite tame in 

 their habits. 



I now come to a class of birds, which from their dull colours 

 and obscure appearance seldom engage the attention of collect- 

 ors ; they are the Larks found about this station. I will begin 

 with Alauda gulgula, which is common ; Mirafra affinis and Mi- 

 rafra assamensis are by no means uncommon : the genus Mirafra 

 is easily distinguished from other larks by their thick-set ap- 

 pearance. The little Pyrrhulauda grisea, which is common, fre- 

 quents open fields ; the males have black underneath, but in 

 even,^ other respect so similar is the general colour of these little 

 creatures to the ground they frequent that they are often passed 

 unobserved, besides which they conceal themselves by lying flat 

 on the ground. The Dendronanthus maculatus is not uncommon, 

 and frequents groves of trees ; the habits of this bird are very in- 

 teresting ; they are found amongst diy leaves, and when disturbed 

 fly into the trees and conceal themselves among the branches. 

 T)\eAnthus richardii of England is also met with, but is rather rare; 

 while iheAnthus rufu/us is very plentiful, and is caught by natives 

 and sold for food to Europeans; in fact, all larks are called by 

 them Begarees, by which term Ortolans are supposed to be un- 

 derstood ; however there is scarcely a lark in India that does not 

 possess its own peculiar native name. The most interesting 

 of this group is the pretty Xemoricola indica, which seems to 

 partake both of the habits of the lark and wagtails : it is not 

 common. 



The four species of Water Wagtails as they are termed, are 

 all very common and cold -weather visitors, viz. Motacilla luzu- 

 niensis, M. boarula, Budytes citreola and B. viridis ; as the three 

 latter are yellowish and often cause confusion, I will simply 

 mention that the genus Motacilla is easily distinguished from 

 Budytes by the long lark-like nail on the hallux of Budytes ; 

 B. citreola and B. viridis are easily distinguished by the green 

 hue on the back of the latter. 



We leave these comparatively speaking attractive birds, and 

 come to those of more sombre plumage, such as the Sphe- 

 nura striata ; this is an uncommon bird, found amongst bushes 

 near water; the bristles at the base of the mandibles are cu- 

 riously placed. The Sat Bhya, or as they are frequently called 

 Panch Bhyas, which means " seven or five brothers," the Malaco- 

 cercus bengalensis, are very common, and are found in gardens 

 and jungle, hopping about in search of food ; they are well 

 known ; their colour is of a dirty brown, and they have a pecu- 

 liar white eye, which gives them a most uninteresting appearance. 

 The little Drymoica inomata and Cisticola cursitans are found in 



Ann. ^- Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xiii. 24 



