r 



K 



174 Contributions to the Ornithology of India, ^e. 



234.— Arachnechthra asiatica, L. 



The common honey-sucker seems very abundant all over 

 Sindh. All the specimens obtained up to the middle of February 

 were still in winter plumage. I fully expected from the g-eneral 

 character of the fauna to meet with A. osea ; but thoug-h I shot 

 honey-suckers purposely in every locality, they all turned ou^Tto 

 be nothing- but the cammon Indian bird. 



254.— Upupa epops, L, 



All the hoopoes I saw belonged to the European race; 

 larger in size and everywhere paler in tint than our Indian 

 birds, and with a conspicuous sub-terminal white band on the 

 posterior feathers of the crest. The bird was very common 

 from Kussmore to Kurrachee, and again I saw a single specimen 

 at Gwader. 



256.— Oollyrio lahtora, Syhes, 



This shriko though not numerically anything like so abund- 

 ant as C. erytJironotns or a fortiori Lanms arenarius, was still 

 met with everywhere throughout Sindh. I have not worked 

 up the subject myself, but Mr. Gray restricts Lanins, L., to 

 cristatus, phcenicurus, magnirostris, arenarius, senator, rutila,ns, 

 &c., and assigns most of the other shrikes to Moehr's genus 

 Collyrlo (175a). 



257.— GoUyrio erythronotus, Vigors. 



Very common throughout Sindh; most abundant in the 

 better cultivated portions of the country, but found, though more 

 sparingly, even in the semi-desert tracts. All the Sindh birds 

 are true erytJironotns, with the rufous running up the scapulars ; 

 but as usual they vary very much in tint; in one specimen the 

 grey of the head and upper back is pure and comparatively 

 dark, and runs unchanged on to the black frontal band ; in another 

 it is much paler, and the whole front of the head is a nearly pure 

 white dividing the grey of the occiput and nape from the black 

 frontal band. 



260.— Oollyrio vittatUS, Vum. BardioicUi, Gr. 



Not uncommon in the better cultivated portions of Sindh, 

 but never observed in the more barren localities. 



262.— Lanius arenarius, Blyth. Lanius isaheU 



linus, H. Sf E, ; Strickland, Pro. Zoo, Soc, 1850, p, 

 217, No. 46. 



There is not in ray mind the smallest doubt that Zanins^ 

 arenarius and Lanius isabellinus are one and the same species. 



