4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



Pteroclis arenarius. — Sharpe, Hand list, I, p. 50 ; Gates, Cat. 

 Eggs, B. M. i, p. 86. 



Vernacular names. — Bhat-titur Bakht, Bakliy-titur (Hin.) ; 

 Banchiir, Kurmor (Peshatoar)', Burra Bhatta (^Hariana); Siya-sinah 

 (^Persian) ; Katinga (Sind) ; Katarr (^Arabic), 



Description — Adult Male. — Head above, neck and upper back 

 grey, tinged with russet, except roimd the eye where the grey 

 is more pure ; chin, upper throat, sides of" the face and neck 

 chestnut, extending as a collar round the neck except in the 

 centre where it pales into orange and finally merges into the 

 grey ; a triangular patch of black on the lower throat, the base 

 sometimes continued as short lines under the chestnut of the 

 neck ; back, rump and upper tail coverts grey, deepening to 

 blackish grey towards the last, each feather pale buff at the base 

 and with a large drop of rather deeper buff at the end, and the 

 tail coverts margined with yellow. Inner coverts of the wing 

 and scapulars like the back but with the terminal spots still 

 larger and a yellow ochre in colour ; visible portions of secondary 

 and median coverts yellow ochre; bastard-wing gre}^, the outer 

 webs freckled paler ; primaries and their coverts grey, the outer 

 webs of the first primary brownish-black ; secondaries white on 

 the basal half and greyish-brown on the terminal ; in nearly all 

 birds the quills have a few curious streaks of brown on either 

 web, looks as if some of the barbs had decomposed ; shafts and under 

 aspect of the qtiills dark brown, axillaries white. Tail with 

 central rectrices barred grey and buff, the terminal inch a grey- 

 green, tipped with a very narrow line of buff, remaining tail 

 feathers the same but with a broad terminal band of white 

 and each pair of feathers becoming darker towards the outermost, 

 which are deep grey, merely stippled with rufous near the base. 

 Breast a clear grey followed by a black band, which runs up the 

 shoulders in front of the wings ; below the band there is a broad 

 belt of vinous or pinkish grey ; remainder of abdomen, flanks and 

 upper thighs and round vent black or deep chocolate brown, the 

 bases of the feathers rusty and frequently shewing through ; 

 remainder of lower tail coverts, thighs and feathering of tarsi 

 white. 



Iris dark brown, bill bluish grey, or plumbeous grey, darker 

 at the tip and varying much in tone and tint. Legs and feet 

 greyish of bluish plximbeous. Measurements : wing 1- 8" to 9"75", 

 averaging about 9* 35"; bill -44" to 'SS", averaging •5"; 

 tarsus "97" to 1" 10", averaging about 1- 03"; tail between 4" 

 and 5". 



" The feet and the back of the ti-asi are grey, in some an earthy 

 grey, in some pale French grey, or pale plumbeous, or dark grey- 

 ish plumbeous ; the claws darker and horny ; the irides are brown; 



