THE BIRDS OF KOHAT AND THE KURRAM VALLEY. 975 



The same may be said of this bird as of the last, but it is not quite so 

 common. 



[1488.] Rostratttla capensis. The Painted Snipe. 



Rattray, J. B. N. H. S. xii., p. 347 (Thall in March) ; Ward, op. cit. xvii., 

 p. 947 (a resident in the Kashmir Valley). 



Rare in Kohat. Capt. Keen shot a specimen in April 1904, while 

 Mr. Donald and Major Venour shot several early in July 1907 and saw 

 others. In the Kurram Valley it is a permanent resident, but is not 

 common. 



[1498.] Hydroprogne caspia. The Caspian Tern. 



Rattray, J. B. N. H. S. xii., p. 347 (Thall) : Cumming, op. cit. xvi., p. 696 

 (common in Seistan). 



Colonel Rattray saw a party of seven near Thall on the 22nd of May and 

 shot one. Capt. Keen and Mr. Boyle observed a large solitary Tern on the 

 Toi near Hangu between the 20th and 26th of March, 1906, and from their 

 description it must, I think, have belonged to this species. 



[Major Magrath has also met with Larus ridibundus and L. cachinnans in 

 Bannu, and as they both occur in Kashmir, they probably also do so in the 

 Kurram Valley.] 



[1499.] Sterna anglica. The Gull-billed Tern. 



Rattray, J. B. N. H. S. xii., p. 347 (Thall : common in March) ; Cumming, 

 op. cit. xvi., p. 696 (Seistan : common). 



Small flocks pass through Kohat from the beginning of April till May 

 (last seen on the oth), and are then usually to be met with about the grass 

 farm or feeding in irrigated fields. 



[1504.] Sterna melanogaster. The Black-bellied Tern. 



Cumming, J. B. N. H. S. xvi., p. 696 (Seistan : not common). 



Major Magrath observed this species in some irrigated fields near Doaba 

 on the 18th of May 1907. In Bannu he says that it is common. 



[1526.] Phalacrocorax carbo. The Common Cormorant. 



Marshall, J. B. N. H. S. xv., p. 354 (Quetta : a few seen in March). 



A fairly common bird on the Indus between Khushalgarh and Makhud. 

 It also occurs occasionally up the Kohat Toi ; Capt. Lyall sent me a 

 specimen that he had shot on this stream near Hangu. 



[1527.] Phalacrocorax fttscicollis. The Indian Shag. 



Rattray, J. B. N. H. S. xii., p. 347. 



Colonel Rattray shot an example near Thall in February, 1898, after a 

 heavy storm in the Kurram Valley : it was the only one that he saw. We 

 have never met with this species. 



[1544.] Plegadis palcinellus. The Glossy Ibis. 



1. Juv. Kohat, 1,760 ft., 22nd August. 



The only example that we have seen was a bird of the year which 

 Mr. Donald shot in his garden on the 22nd of August, 1905, and sent to 



