Coutrifjutiijns U tic iruitljol^an of %nVm,—Si7idh, No. I. 



Theee is certainly no province in India proper, in regard to 

 the Avifauna of which so httle has hitherto been certainly 

 known, as that which embraces the delta of the Indus, and 

 has from a far distant past borne the name of that mig^hty, but 

 hopelessly mud-laden, river. 



For many successive years I had been toiling- unremittingly 

 on the official tread-mill, on which so many of our best men, 

 year by year, wear out alike mind and body, with alas ! such appa- 

 rently insignificant results, when last year, warned by failing 

 health and energies, I determined to have a holiday for once, 

 and to occupy that respite from red-tape, office boxes, and that 

 horrible, though chronic, state in which we all live of ]>eiug per- 

 petually " directed by His Excellency the Governor General in 

 Council to remark, state, invite, &c.,^'' to a through investigation 

 into the state of Bird Society in Sindh. 



My much-loved master and friend, our late lamented Vice- 

 roy, — whom I should otherwise have accompanied on the ill-fated 

 trip that cost him his life and India more than she yet 

 fully realizes, — with that unfailing kindliness which enhaloed 

 all his dealings "with his fellow-men, made every thing easy 

 for me, and I was enabled to spend my whole leave in Sindh, 

 to run up the Mekran Coast to G wader, and cross over to 

 Muscat, and thus add another important link to the ornitholo- 

 gical chain that binds together Asia, Africa, and Europe. 



In future papers, I propose to give a brief accomit of our trip 

 from Jheelum to Muscat, and a detailed list of all the birds ob- 

 served, with such notes as are likely to prove useful to Indian 

 ornithologists. In this present number I must content myself 

 with a brief notice of the results of the expedition. 



I brought home altogether about 1,200 specimens, represent- 

 ing about 250 species. Of these but few, (Ptionoprogne Palli- 

 da, Saxicola Albonig-er, Blandfordius Striatulus, and Puppi- 

 Nus Persigus,*) are, to the best of my belief, new to science, 

 but no less than 18 other species : 



Alcedo Ispida. Linn. 



Saxicola Monacha. Riipp. fS. Gracilis, LicM.) 



Cettia Sericea. Natt. (Cetti, Marm.) 



BUCANETES GiTHAGINEUS. Licht. 



Columba Livia. Brias. Bp. 



* And possibly two others, of which more hereaftei-. 



