THE PUNJAB, AND SIND. 473 



edgings to the upper plumage of the males is very much redder 

 and darker than in indicus. The usual wiug of indicus ( (J ) 

 is about 2"65, and its tail 1*9. Jerdon gives the wing as 2|, 

 and the tail If. The rich dark tone of the larger bird, and 

 especially its conspicuous difference in autumnal plumage, and 

 its large fine female corresponding in tone to the male, lead me 

 to keep it distinct. 



The bird is, of course, the P. rohustus of Tristram. Undecided 

 examples may be met with, large indicus or small rohustus^ 

 which would be difficult to classify, but such difficulty is no rea- 

 son for ignoring a good species which P. robustus certainly is.* 



Between Sind and Bengal examples of Pratincola indicus 

 there is not the slightest difference, and a Sukhur or Mooltan 

 bird could not be separated from a Muddapur or Saharunpore 

 one. I obtained both P. rohustus and P. indicus near Saharun- 

 pore, but only P. o^ohustus in the Sikhim Terai. I have, how- 

 ever, a decided P. indicus from Daijeeling. 



484. --Pratincola leucurus, Bly. 



I found this bird near Sukhur on the low land near a 

 backwater of the Indus. I found it where a blue vetch was 

 growing, and these vetch fields were studded with small 

 Tamarisk bushes. The ground had partially dried, and was 

 full of large cracks, a few inches wide, and a couple of 

 feet deep or so. Several of the wounded birds got into 

 tliese cracks, and I never recovered them. By dissection of 

 the females I think the eggs would have been laid in little 

 more than a month, and the testes of the male M^ere consider- 

 ably enlarged. I think that it cannot breed later than March, 

 or perhaps in the end of February. Whether it remains in 

 Sind to breed, or migrates to the north, is an interesting ques- 

 tion, which I suppose will never be solved till we have more 

 active ornithologists than India now possesses.! 



486.— Pratincola ferreus, Eodgs. 



I found this about Darjeeling in December, and I also saw it 

 near Saharunpore. Some few appear to migrate to the plains 

 in the cold weather. I have also shot this bird in the Etawah 

 District on the banks of the canal. It is rare in the plains. 



488.— Saxicola opistholeucus, Strickl. 



I obtained it at Mooltan. 



* The whole question has been fully discussed, S. F., V., 242. — A. O. H. 

 f A more active Oologist than Mr. Doig, {vide ante p. 369) working in this very 

 neighbourhood too, it would be difficult to find. — Ed. S. F. 



