Contributions to the Ornithology of India, ^c. 107 (i^ 



and with these a few Anastomtis oscitans. JWr 



^Ih. — On the banks, near the junction with the Indus, I pro- 

 cured for the first time Laticilla Burnesi, a rare bird I should i^ 

 say, as I have never before seen a specimen, nor have any of the 

 numerous g-entlemen who have collected for me ever succeeded 

 in procuring- it, although from its size, broad tail, and ferrug-i- 

 nous under-tail coverts, it is a bird not to be overlooked. I 

 suppose it is confined to the deltas of our larg-er rivers ; in the 

 upper portions of their courses, it is certainly not seen. Here 

 the Cbenab is more than a mile wide and the Indus a few miles 

 w^est of us is even larger. The fields abounded with the crested 

 lark, and Pyrrludaitda grisea ; Bnrnesia gracilis, very numer- 

 ous, and also Drymoipus loiigicaurlatus. I got a Saxicola deserti 

 nearly in full summer plumage, which might almost have sat for 

 Gould^s S. mnntana. Several sparrows sliot here, are P. indlcus, 

 but perhaps slightly brighter coloured than those from the North- 

 West. No signs of P. pyrrlionotus yet. I. shot a fine old male F. 

 jiigger, Sylvia curruea ? and a Lanius which is clearly isabellinus 

 with a well marked white wing-spot. Saw huge flocks of spoon- 

 bills, white ibis, and herons, and a great flock of ruddy shell-drakes. 

 Another huge herd of black stork, a fine osprey, and a flock of 

 Tringa cinclus, out of which I killed eight. Then we came across 

 two more ospreys, and as I was stalking one of these, a magnifi- 

 cent female peregrine dashed by, and I dropped her dead. Later on 

 we came up with huge flocks of mallard (I could discover no other 

 duck amongst them) and greylag geese, but all so wild, that there 

 was no getting within fair shot of them, and I only bagged five 

 in all. As for the black stork, I fired at them twice with a rifle, 

 but they would not allow one to come within even 300 yards 

 of them. Grey curlew swarmed, and I knocked over four (out of a 

 vast flock) with No. 8 nJiot, at fully 60 yards. I killed two out of 

 the only three cranes I saw sitting, but several small parties passed 

 us flying (of course out of shot), and we heard them trumpet- 

 ing nearly the whole day. The extraordinary wildness of all 

 the birds hereabouts leads me to conclude that there must be 

 native or European sportsmen who worry them pretty regular- 

 ly. I never in Upper India saw ducks and geese so very wild 

 and wary. 



\OtJi. — (Sunday.) Very early in the morning reached Mithen- 

 kot. On the banks our people found numbers of A. tristis 

 and the crested lark. The common crow was very abundant 

 and struck me as peculiarly white-necked. The raven does not 

 show here, but no doubt further inland; where hamlets and 

 houses are not such rarities as hereabouts, it "occurs. 



llth. — In some grass^ on the banks, I shot a. Zatic ilia Burnesi. 



