20G NOTES ON SOME BIRDS OBSERVED IN THE 



56.— Milvus govinda, Sykes. 



I shot a specimen of this bird of normal appearance at Saki 

 Surwa. Owing to the extreme heat of that most infamous 

 place I failed to preserve it. 



On several occasions I saw a species of Swift (Cypselus) near 

 the highest points, but did not obtain a specimen. On two or 

 three evenings a Caprimulgus {? C. mahrattensis) fluttered past our 

 tents. I frequently saw a large Merops in the plains, and one 

 or two specimens inside the outer margin of low hills. This, I 

 suppose, was M. agyptius. At Dera Ghazi Khan, Coracias indica 

 was common, and 1 think I saw it up to the hills, — but the first 

 morning I entered them as I was riding through the Sine Pass 

 my attention was drawn by an unfamiliar note, and casting my 

 eyes across to the opposite bank I saw three Rollers which I had 

 no hesitation in at once identifying with C. garrula* I did not 

 meet with either species further in the hills. Palceornis torquatus 

 was very abundant, as well as other birds to be subsequently 

 mentioned, in the famous date groves which surround Dera 

 Ghazi Khan, but I saw none in the hills. 



Both Colly Ho lahtora and C. vittatus occurred in the higher 

 regions, but were extremely rare. Buchanga albirictus I 

 saw on several occasions when passing through the low outer 

 ranges, but I do not remember to have seen it on the main 

 range, or even in the valleys to the west. 



Chatarrhcea caudata I saw within the hills, but not at high 

 elevations ; both it and M. terricolor ? were tolerably abundant 

 in the plains betw r een Dera Ghazi and the hills. 



Otocompsa leucofis, Gould, was seen in the lower ranges. 

 Thamnobia Cambaiensis, if that be the true name of the Sindh 

 species, was also observed. Often it occurred at tolerably 

 high elevations. 



489.— Dromolaea picata, Blyth. 



The Pied Stone-shot was perhaps the most abundant bird which 

 I met with in the higher regions. A nest which I found in 

 the rocks on the 10th of July at an elevation of 5,880 feet con- 

 tained three very young quite unfledged nestlings, which were 

 probably not a week old. The nest was a veiy loose structure, 

 the component parts of which (chiefly dried grass) were kept 

 together by their position in a sheltered cleft of rock. 



1 noticed that these birds had very much the habits of 

 Copsychus saularis. Towards evening they used to come 

 about the bungalow, perching on the verandah and singing with 

 a low twittering note. , Occasionally they would pick up insects 

 off the ground, and sometimes capture them while on the wing. 



* For the range of this species in India, vide Vol. I, p. 168. — Ed., S. F. 



