MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1151 



No. VIII.— GREAT INDIAN FIN WHALE NEAR RATNAGIRI. 



On the 9th of January the Society received information from the Collector 

 of Salt for the Bombay Presidency of a large whale having been washed 

 ashore near Viziadrug in the Ratnagiri district, some miles south of 

 Bombay. Mr. C. Crump, the Society's Mammal Collector, was at once des- 

 patched to Viziadrug, but unfortunately when he arrived there he found 

 the whale had gone to pieces, only a few bones remaining. He, however, 

 secured several blades of baleen, the largest of which measured 14J" broad 

 at the base and 22 inches in length. In colour the baleen was a uniform 

 black. The whale was said to have measured between 68 and 70 feet and 

 probably therefore was an example of the Great Indian Fin Whale 

 (Balcenoptera indica). 



In volume XVII of this Journal the stranding of a large whale — said to 

 be 6-3 feet in length — at Bassein on April 11th, 1906, was recorded. In both 

 cases, owing to the delay in information reaching the Society, chances have 

 been lost of correctly determining the colour of this large whale. Through 

 the kindness of the late Mr. Wood, I. C. S., instructions have been issued to 

 the various officers of the Salt Department near Bombay to immediately 

 report by telegram to the Society any large whale which may be washed 

 ashore. 



Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, N. B. KINNEAR, 



March 1911. 



No. IX.— THE RUFOUS-BACKED SPARROW 

 {PASSER PTRRHONOTUS, BLYTH). 



In the Fauna of British India, Vol. II, p. 238, the distribution of this 

 bird is given as ' Bahawalpur ; the Eastern Nara, Sind." Since then it 

 has been recorded from Lahore [Journal, B. N. H. S., XIX, 259]. It may 

 therefore be of interest to record that on February 19th of this year I met 

 with a flock of small birds, which proved to belong to this species, in some 

 trees on the R. Sutlej side of Ludhiana. The behaviour of the birds 

 reminded me of a flock of Siskins or Redpolls, and I shot one, fully 

 expecting to find it to be one of those birds. But on picking up a male- 

 sparrow that was new to me, I shot a second bird and it too was a male 

 of the same kind. The birds were tame and cared little for the gun, merely 

 flying a few yards and then continuing their busy search for food. Their 

 notes were low and sweet. 



A few days later, on the 2nd of March, I shot a solitary female in a 

 small grove of trees at Phillaur on the other side of the river. 



Rawal Pindi, H. WHISTLER, 



November 29th, 1910. Indian Police. 



