Contrihutions to the OrnitJiologi/ of India, Sfc. 267 



I have ever seen any other g-rebe do. On two or three occasions 

 I noticed them taking spontaneously flights of fully a quarter 

 of a mile, three or four tog-ether flying- low, and very rapidly ; 

 and at Gwader I noticed a single bird flying pretty high 

 across the strip of sand that divides the eastern and the western 

 bays, and on which the town is built. 



None of my specimens were in full breeding plumage ; the 

 most advanced, a male, though furnished with the long- silky 

 orange red tuft behind the eye, still exhibited a white speckling 

 on the chin and throat, and only bore the faintest trace of 

 the rufous striation which is said to characterize the sides and 

 flanks in summer ; but as my specimens were all procured in 

 February, this was only to be expected. 



Dimensions. — Male, (only one measured); length, ]3; ex- 

 panse, 24'5; wing 5'6 ; foot, length from heel to tip of mid 

 toe, 3" 2; width 4; weight IB; bill at front^ 1; tarsus, 

 1-75. 



Females, (three measured); length, 12'2 to 12-7; ex- 

 panse, 22-5 to 23*5; wing, 5-2 to 5-4; foot, length, 2*9 

 to 3-1 ; width, 3-6 to 3-75 ; weight, 1 lb to 1 lb 3 oz. ; bill at 

 front, 0-9 to 0-94 ; tarsus, 1-6 to 1-7. 



In all, the bills were black; the irides, vermillion; and 

 the legs and feet greenish plumbeous, interiorly, and blackish, 

 exteriorly. My most advanced male has the whole of the top 

 of the head, together with the rest of the upper parts, the chin, 

 throat, and neck all round, blackish brown ; very glossy on the 

 head, back and wings, duller and browner on the neck all round; 

 the chin, and throat almost quite black, but still a good deal 

 speckled with white ; this white speckling extending as a stripe 

 up the sides of the neck behind the ear coverts. There are two 

 short thick tufts on either side of the occiput, which, though 

 scarcely noticeable in the dried skin, are erected at pleasure in 

 the live bird. Immediately behind the eye, extends for about 

 1-4 inches, a broad streak of orange and reddish yellow, silky, 

 glistening feathers. The inner web of the sixth primary 

 and almost the whole of the subsequent primaries and secon- 

 daries, pure white; but this is scarcely seen in the closed 

 wiugs, the tertiaries and all the coverts being unicolorous with 

 the back. The whole breast, abdomen, and vent, satin white; a 

 little tinged with greyish brown about the vent. The tail can 

 scarcely be said to exist, what there is of it is unicolorous with 

 the back, and on either side of it ; and of the tail covei'ts, a 

 good deal of white appears. The sides and flanks are mottled 

 with blackish brown, and there are traces of a rufous, or orange 

 striation. 



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