852 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVll. 



O. g. hyrcanus is quite different from 0. g. caspius, but their distribution 

 is very puzzling. We have skins of hyrcanus from Mazanderan shot as high as 

 6,500 ft. by Blandford (Brit. Mus.) and we know it occur? also as low as the 

 shores of the Caspian. Westwards it is common in many parts of Gilan, and 

 I obtained it at Tula Rud, in the Persian Tahsh ; Satunin (1912) recorded this 

 sub-species from the Russian Tahsh ; now the Russian and Persian Tahsh forms 

 one forest, continuous with the forests of Gilan and Mazanderan. 



Satunin states that G. g. caspius and G. g. hyrcanus have "different distri- 

 bution in altitude in the Russian Talish " ; but d')e'j not state which occurs 

 above the other. However we know from my specimen that G. g. hyrcanus 

 occurs at sea level in the Persian Talish, so we must presume that G. g. caspius 

 is a bird of the high-lying forests of the interior. This is curious if it is the 

 case, for as I have said G. g. hyrcanus occurs ai high as 6,500 ft. in Mazanderan. • 

 G. g. caspius is unknown in Persia except fcr Zarudny's vague statement that 

 it is a "rare resident" in the region South of the Caspian, or apparently 

 from anywhere except " Lenkoran ", the type locahty. The only skins of G. g. 

 caspius I have been able to examine (one at Tring, two at Brit. Mus.) were 

 obtained from the dealer Tancre many years ago, and are labelled " Lenkoran." 

 They may of course have come from almost any distance up country. 



Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax — (L.) Common Chough. 

 1 5 , Menjil— 22nd March. 

 The Common or Red-billed Chough is apparently resident in places where 

 there are high crags ; Kermanshah and Menjil (P. A. B.) and Bisatun, 28th 

 May (R. E. C). The wing of this female measured 288 mm., the culman 49. mm. 

 The Alpine or Yellow-billed Chough was never seen. 



Pastor roseus (L.) — Rosy Pastor. 



Id, 25. Enzeli.— 2nd May, 



1 J , Enzeli. — 14th June. 



2d, Qazvin— 19-20 June (R. E. C.) 

 Rosy Pastors appeared at Enzeli on 2nd May 1919 in flocks which consisted 

 of adult males and females. These small mixed flocks remained about until 

 18th June. The testes of the males shot on 2nd May and 14th June were very 

 large, and the ovaries of the females (2nd May) slightly enlarged. Presumably 

 the birds bred locally, but I entirely failed to find any evidence of their doing so. 

 Cheesman's males from Qazvin also had greatly enlarged testes though they were 

 shot from flocks consisting of adult males and females, which were eating the 

 white mulberries. At the end of July I saw large flocks of old and young birds 

 in gardens at Qazvin. It is surely ^ ery unusual for males and females of any 

 bird to be in flocks, at the actual breeding season. Mr. Stuart Baker informs 

 me that males and females of the common Indian Mynah (Acridothere.s irisiis) 

 flock in the early morning and late evening, even in the breeding season, and 

 that the Bank Mynah (A. ginginianus) does the same. 



Sturnus vulgaris caucasicus, — Lorenz. Starling. 



2 J J 2 5 . Resht — January February. 

 2 d , Enzeli— 15th March. 



1 2 , 1 imm. Kangavar — 28th May (R. E. C). 



12, Qazvin— 20th June (R. E. C). 

 S. V. poltaratshyi, Finsch. 



1 $ , Enzeli — 15th March. 

 All my Starlings have been submitted to Dr. Hartert, who has determined 

 them as above. In winter Starlings are common in flocks at Qazvin --ind 

 fairly common at Resht and Enzeli : the last date on which I saw them in the 

 latter places was 20th March. They were entirely absent until 25th June when 

 flocks of adults and young appeared. Cheesman found 8. v. caucasicus breeding 

 at Qasr-i-Shirin, and feeding fledged young at Kangavar on 28th May. He 



