95 



110. LoNCHURA Cheet. Lonch. polllde cinnamomeo-brunnea ; cor- 



pore subtus uropi/gioque albis ; remigibiis rectricibu&que inieme 



bru7ineis. 



Fcem. coloribus minus intensis. 



Irides intense rufo-brunneae. Longitude corporis 5f unc, 

 caudce 2. 

 Tail lanceolate; central feathers longer than the rest, and ending 

 in a point. Sexes alike. These birds live in small families. Co- 

 lonel Sykes has frequently found them in possession of the 

 deserted nests of the Ploceus Philippensis ; but their own nest 

 is a hollow ball of grass. Ten wiiite eggs, not much larger 

 than peas, were found in a nest. The cry of the bird is cheet^ 

 cheet, cheet, uttered simultaneously by flocks in flight. 



111. Lonchura leuconota. Fringilla leticonota, Temm. Gros-bec leu- 



conote, PI. Col. 500. fig. 1. 

 Found only in the Ghauts. Length 4tV inches, inclusive of tail 

 lA inch. Sexes alike. Grass seeds only found in the stomach. 



Genus Passer, Auct. 



112. Passer domesticus, ^ris&. Fringilla domestica,'L\x\n. 



On submitting the Indian Sparrow, male and female, to a rigid 

 comparison with Sparrotvs shot in the Regent's Park, they were 

 found to be absolutely identical. 



Fara. Sfurnidce, Vigors. — Genus Pastor, Temm. 



113. Pastor tristis, Temm. Gracida tristis, Lath. 



The irides are red brown, and remarkable for being studded on 

 the external margin with regularly arranged yellowish-white 

 specks. Sexes alike : omnivorous: quarrelsome, noisy. Length 

 ll-t^ inches, inclusive of tail of S-rV- 

 ll^. Pastor Mahrattensis. Past, supra griseo-niger, remigibus 

 cauddque saturatioribus ; capite genisque atris ; corpore subtus 

 subrujescenti-griseo ; crisso pallidiori, plumis albo marginatis. 

 Rostrum pedesqae flavi, Irides pallide griseae. Longitudo 

 corporis 9f unc, caudcB 2tV- 

 Sexes alike. Found only in the Ghauts. Stony fruit in the sto- 

 machs of three birds. Resembles Past, tristis, but is a size 

 less, possesses no crest, and has gray irides. 



115. Pastor roseus, Temm. Turdus roseus, Linn. 



Irides intense red brown. Tongue bifid and fringed ; not quite 

 so much so as Hypsipetes Ganeesa. These birds darken the air 

 by their numbers at the period of the- ripening of the bread 

 grains, Andropogon Sorghum, and Pankum spicatum, in Dukhun, 

 in December. Colonel Sykes has shot forty or fifty at a shot. 

 They prove a calamity to the husbandman, as they are as de- 

 structive as locusts, and not much less numerous. 



116. Pastor Pagodarum, Temm. Turdus Pagodarum, Gmel. Gra- 

 cula Pagodarum, Shaw, vol. 7. p. 471. Le Martin Brame, La 

 Vaill., Ois. d'Afr. pi. 95. torn. 2. 



Irides greenish white Length 8 ^V '•^'^I't'S, inclusive of tail of 2-\ 



