NOTES. 161 



The Syrrhaptes, of which we have only one species (S. tibe- 

 tanus) can be at once recognized by its toes densely and com- 

 pletely feathered above. 



As regards our Indian species I will add a few remarks as 

 to distribution iu this country, as I have more information on 

 this subject now than was available to Mr. Elliot. 



1. P. coronalus. — Though comparatively rare, this species is 

 known to occur throughout the more desert and hilly por- 

 tions of Sindh, west of the Indus. It has once been killed in 

 the Dehra Grhazee Khan district. It is believed not to breed 

 within our limits. It is far from uncommon in the Cutchee of 

 Khelat. 



2. P. senegalus — Occurs throughout India west of the 73° 

 E. Long., as far north as the 33° N. Lat. It is ex- 

 tremely abundant in, and is a permanent resident of, the semi- 

 desert portions of Sindh, where it breeds ; elsewhere within 

 the limits above referred to it is only a cold season visitant, 

 and in most places rare or a mere straggler. 



3. P. arenarius, — This species is merely a cold season visi- 

 tant to this Empire, and does not breed within its limits. It 

 is abundant (of course only in open comparatively waste 

 country) throughout Sindh, the Punjaub, and almost the whole 

 of Rnjpootana north and west, of the Aravallis. Through- 

 out the western and central portions of the N.-W. Provinces and 

 the western districts of Oudh it is an occasional straggler to 

 similar localities, and the same may be said in regard to its 

 appearance in Gwalior, Indore, Rajpootana, south of the Ara- 

 vallis, Khandeish, Northern Guzerat, Kattiawar and Cutch, 

 except in the immediate neighbourhood of the Runn where 

 it at times swarms. 



4. P. exustus. — A permanent resident, widely spread through- 

 out the country, and breeding in most places ; excluding the 

 extreme southern portions of the continent, Malabar, Lower 

 Bengal, Assam and Burmah, it occurs almost everywhere in 

 the plains, where the country is open and dry. As a straggler 

 it has occurred, as recorded by Dr. King, even close to Calcutta, 

 but as a rule it absolutely avoids damp soils and densely-wooded 

 or hilly tracts, and is most abnndaut in sparsely cultivated, 

 and unirrigated, but yet not wholly deserts tracts. 



5. P. alcliata. — A cold weather visitant merely, and as such 

 abundant only in the Trans-Indus, portions of the Punjaub and 

 Northern Sindh, and in Western Cashmere, but occurring as 

 a straggler in suitable localities, from time to time., almost 

 throughout Sindh, in "Western Rajpootana as far east as the 

 Sambhur Lake, and in the Punjaub as far east as near 

 Delhi. 



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