■Contributions to the Ornithology of India ^ ^-e. 207 



starling", and also of Sturnns nitens, nobis, (Lahore to Yarkand 

 pag-e fig". ,) I find myself unable to identify them with either, 

 though they are uudoubtedly nearest to the latter. The gene- 

 ral character of their plumage is like that of the ordinary star- 

 ling, but in the first place whereas in the common starling the re- 

 flections of the head are purple and of the back green, in these 

 birds the head is green and the back purple ; secondly, whereas 

 in the common starling the wing varies from 5 to 5 "35, and 

 the tarsus from 1*1 to 1*2; in these birds the wing is only 4*3 ; 

 and the tarsus barely 1 ; the bills are about the same length, 

 as the common starling, measuring exactly an inch in front; but 

 they are more pointed, have a move decided eulmen ridge and are 

 less broad at the base. One of these is apparently quite an adult, 

 with only a few white spots on the upper back, throat, sides of 

 the neck, upper breast, and vent, the other, the female, is a young 

 bird, profusely and thickly spotted with white as in the com- 

 mon starling. 



I thought these birds might be specimens of nitens in a stage 

 of plumage in which I had not yet seen this species ; but on com- 

 paring the birds, I find that while the wings are decidedly 

 shorter, the bills are decidedly longer, and while in nitens the 

 head, chin, and throat are purple, in these small Sindh birds they 

 are green ; moreover, the primaries want the conspicuous white 

 margins so characteristic of the adult nitens. I have a strong 

 objection to separating mere local races on the strength of trifling 

 variations, very generally found on investigation to be either 

 bridged over by intermediate forms or more or less inconstant, but 

 in the "present case the difference in size, and in the distribution of 

 colors is so marked, that should these prove constant, it will, I 

 believe, be necessary to. separate this form which n ay then stand 

 as 8. minor, nobis; butimtil I obtain more specimen« with which 

 I hope some of my contributors in Sindh will soon furnish me, I 

 suspend my opinion as to the necessity of any such sepairal^ion. 



684.— Acridotheres tristis, L, ^'' yi^-^ 



Pretty common in some of the better cultivated tracts, but no-" 

 where nearly so much so as in the rest of India. In the wilder 

 and more desert districts, rare or absolutely wanting. 



685.— Acridotheres ginginianus, Latli. yj Ljjr^ 



Not at all common in Sindh as a whole, but met with con- 

 stantly on the banks of the Indus and often seen in small de- 

 tached colonies in the better cultivated portions of the pro- 

 vince. 



V- 



