330 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



did not find the nest in time to procure the eggs, but I hope to 

 be more fortunate next year. — F. Field. 

 Goojrat, Punjab, 29th March 1875. 



Sir, 



On the 8th instant I saw a King Crow (Buchanga 

 albirictus) sittiug on a telegraph wire with a lizard about 6 

 inches long in its claws, pecking away at it, just as you see 

 a hawk eating a large lizard or a mouse. 



The lizard — one of those delicate, fragile, light-colored little 

 fellows which one sees running about in long grass — was not 

 qiiite dead, though he had ceased to struggle violently. The 

 bird appeared to be pulling the lizard's intestines out in a 

 most deliberate manner. — Henry Wender. 



Sholapoor, Deccan, January \lth, 1875. 



Sir, 



While shooting on the low alluvial land of the Ganges, 

 about six miles above Cawnpore, on the 17th of February, 

 we were fortunate enough to secure a specimen of a very 

 large Bush Chat. We came across it in a patch of long grass ; 

 the bird was solitary, in fact we did not see any other Chats 

 during the whole day. As soon as we had handled the speci- 

 men we came to the conclusion that we had obtained a new 

 or very rare species of Pratincola, it being nearly double the 

 size of our common Pratincola indica or rubetra (whichever 

 it may be) . It is unfortunately in a transition state of plumage. 

 In measurement and colouring however it accords sufficiently 

 well with Jerdon's meagre description of Pratincola insignis, 

 to induce us to identify it with that species. Its size alone 

 precludes it from being P. Hemprichii or any other described 

 species of this genus. Dr. Tristram apparently ignores the 

 existence of such a bird as P. insignis, for at page 497 of the 

 Ibis for 1870 he describes a Giant Stone Chat from Mysore and 

 the Sutlej Valley, which he says is very much larger than any 

 known species of Pratincola. The dimensions of this species, 

 which he names P. robusta, are : — Length, 5"95 ; wing, 3 ; tail, 

 2-45; or less than half an inch smaller all round than Hodgson's 

 P. insignis. If the bird that we have is not Hodgson's bird it 

 ought to be called P. robustior, but we do not think there can 

 be any doubt as to its identity, as the description in Jerdon, 

 (the only one we know of,) is scarcely sufficient ; we append 

 full details of the specimens now in our possession. 



Pratincola insignis. — Sex <$ ; head aud back umber brown, 

 darker in the former with the feathers pale edged; rump and upper 



