ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 235 



rufula, but only two of striolata. Brooks' diagnosis of these 

 very closely affined species (S. F., I, 360) is excellent, and 

 the spread of foot and length of tarsi are infallible guides, 

 but too much stress must not be laid on the length of the 

 hind claw, for though in richardi this is generally 0-63 to 074, 

 I have one very fine male now before me with the hind claw 

 only 052, or less than it often is in striolata, but then 

 the tarsi in this male are 1*3, and despite the short hind claw 

 the spread of foot is 2-23 — dimensions never approached by 

 striolata. 

 A couple of male richardi measure : — 



Length. Expanse. Tail. Wing. Tarsus, Bill from gape. Weight. 

 $ ... 7-9 12-0 2 95 3-6 1-27 089 0-98 oz. 



„ ... 7-2 11'7 2-9 3-7 12 85 1-05 „ 



Legs and feet pale yellowish fleshy, browner on joints and 

 claws ; bill pale yellowish horny to pale fleshy, brown on 

 nares and more or less of culmen ; irides a lighter or darker 

 brown. 



I met with this all through Central Sylhet and Cachar, 

 and have it from the extreme N.-E. Cachar, also from many 

 places in the Khasi hills, but beyond this I have no knowledge 

 of its occurrence in Assam, Sylhet or Cachar. It occurs^ in 

 all cultivated and open lands throughout British Burmah during 

 the cold season, but is much commoner in some parts than in 

 others. 



[Though not numerically common, this bird is far from rare 

 in Dibrugarh. — J. R. C] 



600.— Corydalla rufula, Vieill. 



This species was common about the rice stubbles in the 

 Kopum Thai and the basin of Manipur, but perhaps most 

 abundant in the damp lands, mostly freshly-ploughed rice 

 fields, between Bishnoopoor and Moirang. 



I enter all my specimens as \nifula, because as a 

 body they are much closest to this, but it has to be 

 noted that they run rather dark, and that some might perhaps 

 be classed by some as 0. malayensis, Eyton, which is very 

 doubtfully specifically separable. The only distinctions that 

 exist between the two forms are pointed out VI, 366. 



I did not somehow notice this in either Sylhet or Cachar. 

 Either it is scarce there, or I overlooked it. Pipits and Wag- 

 tails are not birds I go after or attend to much now-a-days, 

 but I have it from N.-E. Cachar, the Khasi hills and Jonkotollee 

 in Dibrugarh, and this is all I yet know of its distribution in 

 Assam, Sylhet and Cachar. 



