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



it comes down as low as 500 ft. in winter, leaving us again about the 15th 

 of March. It is fairly common in suitable localities such as ravines, the 

 thick brushwood on whose sides afford it ample cover. In habits it some- 

 what resembles the Slaty-bellied Short-wing, Tesia cyaniventris, but is slight- 

 ly more active than that bird in hopping about and flying from bush to bush. 

 Its loud and piercing note " seek" usually repeated twice in succession is 

 not altogether unmusical. The following are the measurements and notes 

 on the soft parts of a male specimen I secured : length 3'-6" ; wing l'-9" ; 

 tarsus -92"; tail 1"; bill "S." Iris dark-brown, upper mandible black, lower 

 yellow. Legs pale reddish-brown. 



H. V. O'DONEL. 



Hasinara, T. E., Bhutan Duaes, 

 19,th. February 1913. 



No. VIII.— MIS SLE THRUSH NEAR LAHORE. 



Early in the year Captain C. A. Rocke sent in for identification the skin 

 of a Missle Thrush which had been shot in the beginning of January by 

 Mr. Joseph, i.c.s., at a place called Gugera on the banks of the Ravi, 

 about 60 miles from Lahore. This Missle Thrush was an example of the 

 large Eastern race Titrdus viscivortis bojicq^artei which inhabits Transcaspia, 

 Turkestan, Central Asia, Afghanistan and the Himalayas. In India this 

 species breeds in the Himalayas and Kashmir, and is also found in the 

 Kurram Valley and near Quetta but seldom visiting the jDlains. 



Bombay. N. B. KINNEAR. 



No. IX.— THE RUFOUS-BACKED SPARROW, PASSER DOMESTICA 

 FYRRIIONOTA, Blyte. 



In continuation of my note in the Society's Journal (Vol. XX, p. 1151), I 

 have now to add that this species is abundant at Ferozepore, Punjab. 

 About 5 miles from Ferozepore Cantonments, the main line of the railway 

 crosses the River Sutlej into the Kasur Subdivision of the Lahore District. 

 On both sides of the river large bunds have been constructed, and about 

 them is a variety of swamp and grass jungle, broken by large Shisham and 

 Kikur trees which grow in patches or along the bunds. This is the chosen 

 haunt of the Rufous-backed Sparrow, which is found in fair numbers, 

 usually in fl.ocks, which perching among and feeding on the seeds of the tall 

 pampas grass. They roost in parties in the thorn bushes on the bunds. I 

 did not remain at Ferozepore long enough to ascertain whether the birds 

 are residents, but I obtained several specimens in November and January. 



HUGH WHISTLER, 



Jheltjm, Indian Police. 



lUh May 1913. 



No. X.— THE OCCURRENCE OF THE HIMALAYAN YELLOW- 

 BACKED SUN-BIRD, ^THOPYGA SEHERIJE IN THE 

 CENTRAL PROVINCES AND EXTENSION OF ITS HABITAT. 



In the "Fauna of British India " Birds, Vol. II, page 348, the range of 

 this species is given as follows : — 



" The Himalayas from Gurhwal to Dibrugarh in Assam up to 7,000 feet in 

 summer, Cachar ; Sylhet ; the Khasi hills ; Manipur. This species is also 



