210 THE AVIFAUNA OF MOUNT A 



existence in that locality until Mr. Hume identified the speci- 

 men referred to. — [Vide ante, p. 131. — A. 0. H.] 



593 quat— Budytes flava, Linn. 



I shot a specimen of the Yellow Wagtail at Sidhpore, 30 

 miles S. of Deesa, along" the Ahmedabad road, on the 7th March 

 1876. I saw others at the same time but only secured the 

 one specimen. It is not a common bird and like B. melano- 

 cephala prefers open moist ground to the tanks themselves. 

 All of the birds, I noticed, were upon open grassy maidans in 

 the neighbourhood of tanks. In the month of March the pale 

 lavender head and white supercilium are vei'y conspicuous aud 

 render it distinguishable at a glance from any of the other 

 species. 



594 Us.— Budytes citreola, Pall. 



The Yellow-headed Wagtail is very common throughout 

 the tank country, and in fact wherever there is water. Uu- 

 like^aua and melanocephala it is essentially a tank species, living 

 almost exclusively, I believe, in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of water, along the edges of tanks, rivers, swamps, &c. It 

 always seems to me to be much less terrestrial in its habits 

 than the other members of this group, almost preferring, when 

 flushed to perch upon some low tree or bush, or more often 

 still upon a tall reed or grass stem, to settling on the ground. 

 It is easily distinguished from the other species by its grey 

 back, bright canary-yellow head and the black cowl which 

 separates the grey of the back from the yellow of the head. 



696.— Ploceus bengalensis, Lin. 



Here I must take the opportunity of apologizing for another 

 mistake, as 1 find now that the birds referred to by me, " Vol. 

 Ill, p. 495," were Ploceus bengalensis. Dr. Jerdon says that the 

 "nest of P. bengalensis is non-pensile and has no tubular entrance, 

 or a very short one made of' grass and more slightly inter- 

 woven than either of the others/'' Now the birds which I 

 found breeding in the neighbourhood of Milana, 18 miles south- 

 east of Deesa, last rains swarmed in every tank wherever there 

 were high rushes, and the nests which abounded corresponded 

 exactly with the nests of P. manyar, described in rough draft 

 of " Nests and Eggs," p. 440. If, therefore, Dr. Jerdon's asser- 

 tion is correct these must have been Ploceus manyar. 



At the time I certainly thought they belonged to the same 

 species which proved subsequently to be P. bengalensis, but as 

 I unfortunately preserved no specimens I cannot be sure ; at 

 all events, as both species occur in Siudh, I think it probable 



