778 MR. A. ANDERSON ON THE "RAPTORIAL [Dec. 5, 



I am not aware whether the nestling- and first plumage of P. 

 plumbeus has yet been described. 



*10. Falco sacer, Schl. 



This is probably the least to be expected of all the llaptores I have 

 hitherto recorded from this part of the country. In short, it is the 

 first occurrence of this noble Falcon known to me so far east of the 

 desert country of the Punjab ; and as such it makes an exceedingly 

 interesting addition to my previous lists. 



It was on February 28th last, just three weeks to a day after the 

 capture of P. plumbeus, that the Saker now referred to was obtained. 

 The plain on which this bird was shot extends for miles along the 

 banks of the Mainpuri Canal, commencing at the junction of the 

 Etawah road, at a place called Dhurous. 



There are few localities I have worked more thoroughly than this ; 

 and it offers attractions equally great to the sportsman and natural- 

 ist. The solitary trees that are studded about this open desert- 

 looking country are each occupied by the larger eagles and birds-of- 

 prey generally ; and the marshes offer excellent retreats for water- 

 birds, which in numbers and variety are probably not surpassed in 

 any part of the world. The dense fringe of brush-wood of young 

 Sisso-trees that clothe both banks of the canal, afford shelter to our 

 migratory Thrushes, such as Pitta bengalensis, Petrocossyphus 

 cyaneus, Orcecetes cinclorhynehus, Tardus unicofor and T. atrogularis 

 (the last-mentioned having occurred in considerable numbers last 

 winter) ; while the Babool trees that overlook the water are a sure 

 find for Brooks's new Leaf- Warbler (Reguloides subviridis), as well 

 as for the Phylloscopince generally, of which group my list comprises 

 no less than a dozen species*. The labyrinth of rank high reeds 

 and rushes which grow in patches where the water has oozed 

 through the bank, in many places sufficiently dense to hold pigs, 

 harbours Rails, immense flocks of Passerine birds (including Ploceus 

 bengalensis, a species not recorded by Jerdon from the N.W. P.), 

 and several Reed-Warblers, the most interesting being the skulk- 

 ing Locustella hendersoni, and Sylvia melanopogon, which are 

 amongst the least-persecuted of birds, owing to the impregnable 

 nature of the ground they affect. Should you have exhausted the 

 ornithological treasures of an elysium like this, you have merely to 

 make a detour of a mile or two to fall in with Blackbuck, or, 

 better still, to course Fawns, Hares, or the Desert-Foxf- 



To return to Falco sacer, it was just as we had run a hare to 

 ground^, late on the evening of the afore-mentioned date, and I was 



* A Catalogue of the Birds of the Plains 'proper that I havo recently drawn 

 up for the ' Provincial Gazetteer,' contains 443 species ; but of course this list 

 makes no pretension to completeness. 



t Vulpes leucoptis is not recorded by Jerdon from the N.W. P. ; but it is the 

 Fox of the large sunn'// downs of all the districts to the west of Cawnpore. Not 

 long ago I killed a splendid female of this fine species within a mile of the city 

 of Puttehgurh. 



j Jerdon, it will be observed, on referring to Lis ' Mammals of India,' p. 224, 

 was well aware of the eccentric habit of this common Indian Hare {Lepus rvji- 

 ccmdatus). 



