Coiitrihutions to the Ornitliology of India, ^"c. 105 



^tk. — Early in the morning' the steamer passed us ag-ain. 

 There was no doing- anything- in her neig'hhourhood, so I pulled 

 up at a thicket on the bank^ and in this shot a Sylvia civcrea, ^ Jj. 

 Burnesia gracilis, Phyllopseiiste neglecta, and a female Ruiicilla,' .'^i- 

 which struck me as too olivaceous for rujiveniris, but which 

 turned out to be merely a freshly-moulted specimen. Just out- 

 side I g-ot a shrike^ L. arenari'us, and two or three Alaudida 

 Adamsi. Starting* an hour later, when the steamer was out of 

 sig-ht and hearing, I saw several grey curlews, and a party of 

 cormorants. I saw numbers of mallard, several grey duck, and 

 a few brace of teal, but the}^ were all so wild that 1 bagged only 

 eighteen altogether. Green shanks very numerous. I saw atlejist 

 a dozen flocks of from twenty to fifty ench, besides innumerable 

 singlebirds and pairs. Six gigantic herons baffled all my endea- 

 vours to g'et within shot. They were fully twice as large as the 

 •common heron, some of which were near them ; 1 twice got within 

 350 yards and examined them closely with binoculars. Once they 

 were near a pair of cranes, and though less bulky and diflJerently 

 built birds, they seemed very nearlj^, if not quite, as tall. They 



• had a great deal of rufous about the neck. Could they have been 

 Ardea golia/i ? They were manifest herons at any rate, and 



• fully twice the size of Ardea cinerea. Since leaving' Mooltau, we 

 have seen very few cranes and until this evening no geese. 



. This is due partly to the weekly steamers, but chiefly to the 

 poverty of the cultivation on both banks. Geese, especially, 

 rarely frequent rivers in India, unless there are good fields for '- 

 them to feed on in the neighbourhood. About 10 p. M., we reached 

 Kujil Meanee, the customs post, about seven miles above the 

 confluence of the Chenab and the Sutlej. 



Itk. — Walked on the banks and worked inland for several 

 miles, the young wheat springing up through huge clods, _ >':; ^ 

 which in other places were festooned with the feathery leaves ' ■' 

 .of the gram, which has not yet begun to put out its peach- 

 coloured and purple blooms. In amongst this Agrodroma canipes- . - 

 tris and Galerita crisfata were plentiful. On the little babool 

 bushes that spring up every here and there, Pratincola indica, ; ;^- 

 (or Tubicola, take your choice !)"^ flitted and fluttered, restless ;"; 

 as usual, while sometimes on the higher clods, and some- \ 

 times on some bush, Saxicola deserti and isabelliria were sun- 

 ning themselves. On the larg-er babool trees Sylvia orjjhea, 

 Phyllopseusfe tristis, CoUyrio, (Lanius apud Auct) erytJironotus, 

 and Coracias indica were noticed ; a single pair of mainas, 

 A. tristis, were all I saw. They seem rare about here. Along 

 the sand dunes, Alaudida Adamsi, as usual, swurmed, here 

 and there in pairs^ hui generally, in little flocks ; upon the 



