LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 507 
Colonel Dunsterville proceeds to take the shine out feo this 
eloquent passage by remarking that he has known the “ Bir” 
in Sindh ever since he has been there ; that it is nothing 
but Ploceus manyar (and certainly the specimens he sent to me 
belonged to that species), and that the ‘‘ Wahio” is not Huspiza 
melanocephala at all, but Pastor roseus ! 
It is much to be regretted that Government does not insist 
upon all Settlement and Revenue Officers passing in ornithology 
and subscribing to “ Stray Fratuers.” 
Wetters to the Editor, 
“ Glareola pratincola” and “ Cotyle riparia” in Sindh. 
Sir, 
I am indebted to Mr. F. Fedden of the Geological 
Survey for two skins of the true, Collared Pratincole, shot by ° 
himself in Lower Sindh, south-west of Kotree. Mr. Fedden 
had already identified these birds with G. pratincola, 
and noticed the distinction between them and G. orientalis. 
Both have the deeply-forked tail of the European species, but 
it is worthy of notice, with reference to the distinctions between 
the two forms mentioned by Mr. Hume (Stray Fratuers, Vol. 
II., p. 284), that whereas in one of the skins there is a well-mark- 
ed white terminal fringe to the secondary quills, this is almost 
entirely wanting in the other specimens. 
The occurrence of G. pratincola in India has been announced 
previously by Mr. Blyth (Zbis 1867, p. 163), who stated that this 
bird had been received by Mr. Gould from both the Bombay 
and Madras Presidencies. As, however, it was not known by 
whom the specimens were collected, some doubt necessarily at- 
tached to the locality, especially as a closely-allied species, G. 
orientalis is common in many parts of India. Even now the 
occurrence of G. pratincola, in any part of India, east of the de- 
sert region, requires confirmation. It should be remembered 
that another Sindh bird, Pyrrhulauda melanauchen (P. affinis, 
Blyth), was received by Mr. Gould labelled as from Madras, 
though the occurrence of this speciesin the Indian Peninsula 
is extremely improbable. 
J have obtained three specimens of Cotyle riparia in Sindh— 
two shot by myself on the Manchhar Lake, the third near Rohri. 
This tends to confirm Captain Butler’s opinion (S.F., Vol. IIL., p. 
452) that he found the bird in Deesa. I have compared both the 
Pratincole and Bank Martin with European specimens, and Mr. 
Hume, who has examined them also, agrees with the identifi- 
cation. 
