132 NOTES. 



This bird was a female ascertained by dissection, and was 

 killed by Capt. Butler at Deesa on the 12th November 1875, 

 at the time he recorded the following note on it : — 



" Length, 5-87; wing, 3-0 ; tail, 2*62; bill at front, 0*44; 

 from gape, 0'75. 



" Irides, very dark brown ; legs and feet, black ; bill, 

 blackish brown, horny at base of lower mandible/' 



In plumage this specimen agrees entirely with the type of 

 macrorhyncha that I possess. This measures ( the skin) : — 



Length, 5*6; wings, 2-9; tail, 2-3; bill at front, 0'5 ; from 

 gape 0*7. 



These birds are not at all like rubicola or indica ; they are 

 altogether larger and paler ; have much longer bills, almost 

 entirely want the white Aving patch. The chin and throat 

 quite white, the breast with merely a very faint fulvous tinge. 

 In fact the lower surface is precisely like that of females of our 

 Indian rubetraoides, Brooks, killed at the same season. 



The upper surface too is very like that of rubetraoides, but 

 paler still, and the striations not so broad. Of course the 

 white tail of rubetraoides, (similar to that of the European 

 rubetra) at once distinguishes it from our present bird. 



It has occurred to me that macrorhyncha is very probably the 

 female of robusta, in which case, the latter name has precedence, 

 and the species having been procured in Mysore, Northern 

 Guzerat, Cutch and in the Himalayas in the valley of the 

 Sutledge has a very wide distribution in India, and possibly may 

 not be very rare, though usually confounded with P. indica. 



Ornithologists, especially in Southern and Western India, 

 should be on the look out for this species next cold season. 



Pratincola insignis, just referred to in a foot note, is a very 

 rare species in collections, and its habitat has been wholly 

 mistaken — Jerdon says, B. of I., II., 127 : — 



"This species has only as yet been found in Nepal, and pro- 

 bably comes from the most northern districts, perhaps, as Mr. 

 Blyth hints, from Thibet." 



This is quite a mistake — Mr. Hodgson distinctly records on 

 his plate that this occurs in the plains only, and both his 

 specimens were obtained (on January 10th) at Segowlee a 

 well-known Cantonment in the plains of the Champarun 

 district, some 16 miles south of the Nepal frontier and on the 

 main road to Khatmandoo. 



The male (I have never seen a female) may be recognized 

 at once, independent of its size, by the amount of white about it. 

 Nearly the whole of the wing coverts (excepting those at the 



