82 SECOND YAEKAND MISSION. 



No. 940, c? . Saiiju, November 1, 1873.— Length 8 inches, wing 2-7, tail 4*2, tarsus I'l ; 



expanse 8*3 ; bill from front 0*5, from gape 0*73. Iris brown ; bill horny brown, lower 



mandible pale ; feet fleshy grey. 

 No. 947. Sanju, November 1, 1873. 

 Nos. 940, 958. Oi-tograk, November 4, 1873. 

 Nos. 1243, 1244, 1253. Maralbashi, January 1874. 

 . No. 1368. Aioksogon, February 19, 1874. 



In all these specimens the white supercilium and the black moustache are, the former 

 almost wholly, the latter to a great extent, obsolete. The whole colouring is more sandy 

 than in the type, and the marking of the surface wanting. Colonel Biddulph's note is as 

 follows : — ''This species I only saw at Sanju at one place, but between Sanju and Karo^halik 

 and again at Maralbashi it was very common. In all these localities it was found amono'st 

 long grass." 



Dr. Stoliczka in his ' Diary ' remarks that on leaving Oi-tograk on the 4th of November 

 he obtained several Suya alhosuperciliaris ; they were, as usual, very difficult to shoot. At 

 Aioksogon, on the 19th of February, this species was common among the hio>h 2:rass. 

 Colonel Biddulph procured specimens at Sanju on the 1st of November, and several at Maral- 

 bashi in January. 



Dr. Henderson writes : — " A single specimen of this remarkable bird was obtained on the 

 10th of September on the Yarkand plains at Khushtagh, an oasis in the desert, where a few 

 fields of peas, barley, and wheat fringe for a breadth of a few hundred yards a small stream 

 that further on loses itself in the desert. For a distance of from twelve to twenty miles in 

 either direction an absolute desert of shifting sand and gravel stretches away to the horizon. 

 Numerous small birds frequented these isolated fields, where the Common Swallow, too, was 

 particularly numerous, but of the species now under consideration only a single individual, a 

 female, was procured." 



''This species," writes Dr. Scully, ^4s tolerably common in the plains of Eastern 

 Turkestan, where it is said to be a permanent resident. It has a sweet plaintive note, and 

 frequents long grass and bushes growing near rivers and streams. It breeds in May and June : 

 some young birds were obtained about the middle of the latter month. The Turki name 

 for the species is ' Suram.' " 



Family TUEDID^. 



Subfamily SAXICOLINJE. 



Genus PRATINCOLA. 



168. Peatincola capbata. 



Pratincola caprata (L.) ; C. Swinh. Ibis, 1882, p. 106; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iv. p. 195 (1879, pt.) ; 

 id. Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. p. 70 (1889) ; Gates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 59 (1890). 

 No. 141, $ ad. Hatti, July 21, 1873. 



169. Pratincola maura. 



Pratincola rubicola (nee Linn.) ; Hume & Henders. Lahore to Yark. p. 204 (1873). 



Pratincola indica, Blyth; Prjev. in Rowley^s Grn. Misc. ii. p. 185 (1877); Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. 54; 



