ABOO AND NORTH GUZERAT. 223 



and Kattywar, perhaps I may be excused for mentioning that 

 I found the Grey Plover this year somewhat common at Man- 

 davee on the coast of Cutch. 



873— Rhynchsea bengalensis, Lin. 



Referring to my remarks, ante Vol. IV., p. 15, relative to the 

 separation of the males and females of this species in the cold 

 weather. I may mention that it has since occurred to me that 

 the females may assume the plumage of the males after breeding - , 

 which would account for the number of what I imagined to be 

 males found congregated separately in the cold weather. The 

 young birds of the year are all in the same plumage at first, viz., 

 that of the male, as I flushed several broods last rains aud verified 

 the fact myself. The sentence " I have shot a large number 

 of females without flushing a male" should be expunged, 

 as I find on reference to my game books that all of the birds 

 alluded to were in the garb of the male. This tends to support 

 the suggestion I have now brought forward, and it remains to 

 be decided whether the gaudy dress of the female Painted 

 Snipe is seasonal or not. 



[I have little doubt that the females lose the chestnut collar 

 during the winter. I find specimens shot early in December 

 which have nearly lost it, others that are losing it. Specimens 

 shot early in January that have entirely lost it ; none shot in 

 January that show more than the faintest traces of it. All 

 these specimens, however, differ from the males in having the 

 dark pectoral band still strongly marked, and in having all 

 the wing-coverts visible in the closed wing, green, with 

 very narrow dark transverse bars. One specimen, however, 

 shot in the Dhoon on the 15th of February by Dr. King, and 

 sexed by him a female, is precisely similar in plumage to 

 the male. This may be a bird of the previous year, but it is 

 certainly a female, as its dimensions— (bill at front, 1*9 ; "wing, 

 5*4; tarsus, 1 "9) — show. The males seem never to be quite 

 so large as this. 



The changes of plumage in this bird, beyond what the 

 sexed aud dated specimens in my museum show, are unknown 

 to me, the species only appearing during the rains in those 

 parts of the country which I have chiefly worked. — A. O. H.] 



876.— Terekia cinerea, Gmel. 



After reading Mr. Hume's note, a Vol. IV, p. 16," under the 

 head of this species, I shot a specimen of the bird I referred 

 to, and forwarded it to him for examination. As it proved 



