Conhihutions to the Ornithology of India, 8)C. 169 



suleraLle number of these birds ; most of tliem I measured in the 

 tieslij but it will suffice to subjoin the dimensions of a dozen. 



Length. Expanse. Wing. Bill at Front. "Weight. 



Males (1) 7-6 inch. Ill inch. 2-91 inch. 1-45 inch 1-25 oz. 



(2) 7-0 „ 10-3 „ 2-87 „ 1-57 „ 1-05 „ 



(3) 7-2 „ 10-5 „ 2-85 „ 142 „ 1-18 



(4) 7-4 „ 11-0 „ 3 „ 1-55 „ 1-1 „ 

 „ (5) 7-5 „ 10-7 „ 2^9 „ 1-63 „ 1-25 „ 



(6) 7-2 „ 10-5 „ 2^9 „ 1-43 „ 1-25 „ 



„ (7) 7-2 „ 10-5 „ 2^9 „ 1-5 „ 1-1 „ 



„ (8) 7-2 „ 10 „ 2^9 „ 1-5 „ 1-15 



„ (9) 7^0 „ 10-5 „ 2-85 „ 1-5 „ — 



Pemales(lO) 7-2 „ 10-5 „ 2"83 „ 1-4 „ — 



„ (11) 7^0 „ 10-9 „ 2-92 „ 1-5 „ - 



„ (12) 7-3 „ 11-0 „ 2^9 „ 1-53 „ - 



Mr. Sharp's elaborate table of the comparative dimensions' 

 of A. hengalemh and A, isjylda may be epitomized as follows : — 



Length. Bill. Wing. 



JspifZa.— England ... 6-8 to 7'5 1-6 to 17 2-95 to 3 



Green and Palestine... 67 „ 7 1-5 2'95 „ 31 



Sengalensis. — (JeyloU ...'^ 



India, Java Malacca, Japan ..J g ^^ g.g pgs to 175 2-6 to 2-85 

 Labuan, Gilloolo, Hainan, Amoy, I 

 Formosa ... ...J 



JBengalensis. — Oelitral Asia and 



Phillippines ... 6 to 6-5 PG to 17 2-9 



Bengalensis. — Cairo ... 6'6 2 2'8 



It will, I think, be seen that as regards leng-th, our Sindli 

 birds average fully as large as English ispida. The wings which 

 in two birds out of three, measured 2*9 and upwards, average 

 much larger than hengalemis, while the bills which in two out 

 of three birds vary between 1"4 and 1*5, average much shorter 

 than either species. 



The peculiar western character of the Avifauna of Sindli 

 venders th« occurrence of this close approximation to isjuda, all 

 the more interesting. Some ornithologists will doubtless be 

 disposed to consider the brevity of bill coupled with the greater 

 length and bulk of body as entitling the Sindh race to specific 

 separation, and those who do so, may call it A. Sindlana ; for 

 my part I look upon it merely as an outlying race of ispida. 



I found this species everywhere in Smdh from Kussmore, the 

 •extreme north-east point to the Hubb river at its south- 

 western extremity. It is impossible to exaggerate the num- 

 bers in which this species is found along some of the small rush- 

 fringed canals of Upper Sindh. In the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Jacobabad, along perhaps, three or four miles of such a 

 canal, I shot in a hour seven or eight, and saw at least twenty 

 of these birds. In the large rivers,, and large inland pieces of 



