Contributions to the Ornitliology of India, Sfc. 47 



Franklin ; Bicrurus Caruleus, Mull. (= Cmmlescens, Lath ;) Pi/c- 

 nonotais Pygmoens, Hodgson ; or Chrijsorrhoides, Lafr. {^= Gray says 

 P'usillus, Blytli ;) lora Zeylanica, GmeL; Coj^syckas Saularis, Linn.; 

 Cercomela Fiisca, Blyth ; Prinia Socialis , Sy kes ov 8tewarti, Blytli ; 

 Brymorpus Inornatus, Sykes ; Idtma Caligata, Licht, [=^according 

 to Gray, Phyllopneuste Rama, Sykes j) Motacilla Maderaspatana^ 

 Gmel., Corydalla Rtifula, Yieill.; Corvus Culmenatiis, Sykes ; 

 Sturnopaster Contra, Linn.; Melophts Melanicterus, Lath.; all 

 the Mirafras, all the Alaudas of the Gidgula type ; the green 

 pigeonSj pea, spur, and jungle fowl, and many others of our 

 most familiar forms, should be either wholly wanting-, or met 

 with only as mere strag-glers ; or that, on the other hand, Sylvia 

 Belicatula, Rartlaub, no less than six species of sand grouse, the 

 desert-lark, the desert bulfinch, and Saxicola Monacha should 

 occur, and some of them abound. 



Sindh, however, has another aspect than that which we have 

 been considering. Within what I may call the delta of the 

 Indus — the river-fertilized portions of the province — huge inland 

 broads and lakes (locally called " Bhunds") abound. Again, from 

 the easternmost mouth of the Indus to the Kurrachee Harbour, 

 nearly the whole coast is a net-work of channels, backwaters, 

 and sand and mud banks, more or less laid bare, by each receding 

 tide, and hence, as might have been expected, Sindh, both inland 

 and on the sea coast, is a perfect paradise for aquatic birds. 

 Nowhere in India have I yet seen such multitudes of water-fowl, 

 ducks, pelicans, flamingoes, herons, shore-plovers, scolopacidse, 

 gulls, terns, et id omne genus. You ride for a dozen miles 

 through a bare waste without meeting a single man or beast, or 

 seeing above forty or fifty birds in the whole distance ; a few 

 desert larks, some Isabelline shrikes, a few sand grouse (Senegallus) 

 Saxicola Picata and Isahellina ; and perhaps, as you pass a single 

 lone field of mustard, (that seems to belong to no one, and either 

 to have wandered from civilized life, and lost its way in the de- 

 sert or to have grown promiscuously on its own account) a small 

 flock of desert bulfinch ; and then, suddenly, as you rise some swell- 

 ing sand dune, at your very feet lies a grand rush-studded, more 

 or less tamarisk-fringed and be-islanded sheet of water — two three 

 or even ten thousand acres in extent perhaps — with one or more 

 hamlets overlooking it, teeming from end to end with myriads 

 of aquatic birds, a sight to gladden the heart alike of ornitholo- 

 gist and sportsman. 



The contrasts presented by this small province are most 

 striking. Stick to the central inundation-subject tracts, where 

 broads and cultivation divide with canals and irrigation chan- 

 nels the length and breadth of the land, and, at any rate if your 



