1872.] StoliczJca^ on Kachh Beptiles. 71 



blackish brown, or black (the later, secondaries and tertiaries, more or less 

 tinged slaty) with a few small white spots on the outer webs, and numer- 

 ous broad white bars on the inner webs. The chin, throat and whole lower 

 sm'face, including wing lining, white, some of the feathers of the throat with 

 narrow central brown shaft stripes, and those of the sides and upper 

 abdomen with broad grey brown dashes. Forehead, lores and feathers round 

 the eye, greyish white with dark shafts, rest of the top, back and sides of the 

 head, and upper back, in the onale, pale slatey blue (each feather with a 

 linear dark shaft stripe,) with traces of an albescent nuchal half collar, in 

 the female, rich chestnut, extending in some specimens on to the shoulder of 

 the wing. This extraordinary difference between the males and females 

 puzzles me greatly, but Capt. Fielden has marked the sexes, and I have 

 no reason to doubt his accuracy. 



The legs, feet, cere, gape, are all bright yellow, the bill and claws blackish 

 horny. 



The dimensions taken from the dry skin are : — 



Female. Length from 11 to 12 inches ; wing 5*6 ; tail 5 "5 ; tarsus 1*45. 



Male. Length 10 to 11 ; wing 5'3 ; tail, 5 ; tarsus, 1*3 inch. 



The other species is a Micropternus, distinct, it seems to me from 

 phaioceps, gularis and hadius, but most nearly allied to the former. As 

 compared with phaioceps, the head is less brown, the pale margins of the 

 throat feathers are broader and more conspicuous, the general colour is 

 brighter and the bird is somewhat larger. I am in doubt as to whether 

 this race merits specific separation ; should it be held to do so, it may stand 

 as ]K. JBarmanicus. 



From this same collection I find that Hierococcyx strenuus (Grould) 

 inhabits Thayetmyo, (Gould gives it from Manilla), and that Pious pec- 

 totalis, Blyth, the habitat of which was unknown to Blyth, also belongs to 

 this locality. This latter species is very close to Picus analis, and is 

 stated by Jerdon to be identical with it, (Ibis, 1872, p. 7). 



III. — Notes on the Beptilian and Amphibian Fauna of Kachh, — 

 hy Dr. F. Stoliczka. 

 [Received 27th March, 1872.] 

 A recent official visit to one of the most eastern of our feudatory provinces 

 gave me an opportunity of collecting a few notes on some interesting species of 

 Reptiles. The Province of Kachh lies South-east of Sind, between the eastern 

 branches of the Indus and Kathiwar, being separated from the neighbouring 

 countries by the Run, formerly a branch of the sea, but now mostly covered 

 with a saline efflorescence, being only locally during the rainy season inun- 

 dated. Thus isolated, Kachh, with a few of the Run-islands, forms a small 

 geographical province by itself, but practically its fauna is of the desert 



