481 



India. Solitary in its habits ; is shy and timid ; cry, loud and harsh. 

 Food, seeds or the buds of Coniferse. Iris white. 



85. Pastor roseus (Linnaeus). 



Very gregarious, and abundant during the harvest months in the 

 Punjab, and destructive in barley fields • whole districts have been 

 devastated by this bird. Not seen on the Himalayas; common 

 around Poonah in the Deccan. It is seen often associating with 

 Acrid, tristis. 



86. PsARAGLOSSA SPILOPTERA (Vigors). 



Not uncommon in the W. Himalayas ; frequents rice-fields or 

 sides of mountain streams. Iris white. Shy and timid in habits. 



87. Ploceus baya, Blyth. 



Gregarious ; abundant in the Deccan, particularly near Poonah, 

 but is less so in Upper Bengal and the Punjab. 



88. Muni a undulata (Latham), 



89. Munia malabarica (Linnaeus). 



90. Estrelda amandava (Linnseus). 



Generally distributed over India. The undulata and amandava 

 are perhaps the most common ; they live in little societies, are tame 

 and easily caught ; they are the common cage-birds of India. 



91. Passer indicus (Jard. & Selby). 



The House Sparrow is more widely distributed than any species 

 found in Hindostan : it is found all over India, and northward 

 even on the steppes of Chinese Tartary. In every village and 

 town of Hindostan it swarms in countless thousands, and is the 

 same dirty noisome bird as we find in the streets of London. During 

 summer evenings in Cashmere they assemble in vast flocks on the 

 chunar trees, accompanied by myriads of Jackdaws and Maina birds 

 (Acridotheres tristis) ; their rough calls, mixed with the chirpings 

 of the sparrows, are anything but pleasant. In the wild and barren 

 Ladakh the Sparrow lives and dies under the roofs of the rude in- 

 habitants of that desolate and dreary land. I recollect, when travel- 

 ling in that country, we came to an assemblage of Tartar huts after 

 a long and fatiguing march of twenty miles ; not a symptom of ani- 

 mated nature was visible : long we waited at the doorway of a 

 miserable little hut ; but no natives made their appearance : at last a 

 chirp was heard, and a Sparrow flew out of the hovel : this little 

 fact was convincing ; for the Sparrow loves man — " The place is in- 

 habited; " and so it was. A short time afterwards a flock of goats 

 and sheep were seen winding down the glen ; and we were soon sur- 

 rounded by crowds of wondering Tartars. 



92. Passer cinnamomeus, Gould. 



On the lower and middle regions of the W. Himalayas. Fre- 

 No. CCCLXXVII. — Proceedings of the Zoological Soc. 



