birds' nesting on the "eastern narra." 375 



which had their testes as highly developed as they could possibly 

 ■ be, being fully aa inch long and i inch wide each. Again on the 

 15th May out of seven that I shot in a flock, six were males, the 

 generative _ organs fully developed, the seventh was a young 

 female in immature plumage, the ovaries being quite unde"^ 

 veloped ; the birds were feeding in the bed of a dried up swamp, 

 along with flocks of Sturnus minor, and were constantly flyino- 

 in flocks, backwards and forwards^ in one direction. Unfortu° 

 nately, important work called me to another part of the dis- 

 trict, and when I returned in a fortnight's time, I could not 

 see one. Where can they have gone ? And they remain away 

 such a short time ! I have seen the old birds return as early 

 as the 7th July accompanied by young birds barely fledged, 

 and I should not be at all surprised if these birds are fotiud 

 to breed in some of the native states on the east of Sind. That 

 they could find time to migrate to the Caspian iSea and Central 

 Asia to breed and return again by the middle of July I cannot 

 believe, especiallv after having found them so thorouo-hly in 

 breeding trim, while still in the east of Sind. ° 



Another suspicious circumstance is the absence of females in 

 the flocks I met with. Perhaps some of my readers may have 

 an opportunity of finding out whether Pastor roseiis occurs in 

 the districts lying to the east of Sind, in the month of June, 

 as there is no doubt that the breeding time lies between the 

 20th May and the commencement of July. 



(5). 842.— Glareola orientalis.* 

 (6). 842 52S.— Glareola pratincola. 



On the 4th May I came across a lot of birds which were 

 new to me, and so I shot some to identify ; from the persistent 

 way in which the others kept flying round and round I con- 

 cluded that they must be breeding, and on searching for their 

 nests I found some half dozen all empty, and so thought that 

 they were beginning to lay. I accordingly left the place, and 

 returned on the 7th, when I found after searching about that 

 what I had taken for new nests were really old ones, the place 

 round about being covered with the broken egg shells, however 

 by patient searching I collected over fifty eggs. The breeding 

 ground was about 15 acres in extent, (the actual portion where 

 most of the nests were placed, was only about an acre) and was 

 a salt plain with patches of coarse sedge here and there on it 

 the whole being surrounded by dense tamarisk and rush jungle' 

 and was situated about half a mile from the bank of the ''Nar^a.'-" 



* See also Mr. Gates' account of the nidincation of this species, S. E., VII., 49. 



48 



