206 Contrihttionsto tJie Ornithology of India, ^c. 



noticed in my diary that both when they first arrive, in 

 November, and for sometime afterwards, and again jnst before 

 they leave on the approach of the hot weather, great numbers 

 of them die ; half a dozen may sometimes be picked up in a 

 single compound. In Lower Sindh they are less common, but we 

 saw them not only at Hyderabad, but also here and there along 

 the Mekran Coast to Gwader. 



663. — CorvUS impudicus, Hodgson. 



Is as impudicus \M Sindh as elsewhere, though perhaps not quite 

 so numerous. The only thing I have to notice is that the neck, 

 tipper back, and breast of many of the Sindh specimens run paler 

 and more all)eseettfc than I have ever seen them elsewhere in 

 India. The difference in color strikes one even without com- 

 paring specimens, and this led me to shoot and preserve several. 

 As to the specific name I only follow Mr. Gray, splendens of 

 Temminck, from Java and Sumatra, he separates as distinct, 

 while splendeuH of Vieillot, which I always fancied had priority 

 of Temminck's name, he degrades into a synonyme of impudicus, 



? 669 Ms.— Garrulus Melanocephalus, Gene, 



I failed to secure specimens, but I satisfied myself thnt a 

 species of jay, presumably from the description given v!\e,melano- 

 eepJialus, does occur, not uncommonly, in the Hills dividing 

 Sindh and Khelat. 



674.— Dendrocitta rufa, Scop. 



This bird is common almost everywhere in Sindh. The 

 Sindh race is large and comparatively dark like the generality 

 of upper indian birds, but is almost as small-billed as the 

 southern Indian birds. 



681.— Sturnus vulgaris,* L, 



The common starling was everywhere met with in large flocks 

 except in the most barren portions of the country. 



In the debateable ground between desert and cultivation, I 

 occasionally met with isolated pairs of starlings which struck 

 me as smaller and darker than the common bird. Unlike the 

 common birds, I saw them only in pairs, and found them 

 very wary, and partly, owing to this latter cause, and partly 

 through not sufficiently recognizing their distinctness, I only suc- 

 ceeded in procuring and preserving a single pair. On com- 

 paring these latter with numerous specimens of the common 



* I cannot follow Mr. Gray in separating the Indian race as S. splendeus 

 Tem. I have compared Inrge series of Indian and Eiiropean birds, and see 

 no valid ground for specific separation. 



