1834.] Catalogue of Birds in the Dukhun. 649 



Genus Plotus, Linn. Darter. 

 22S. Plotus melanogaster, Gmel. 1, 5S0. Anhinga noir dxt Senegal, Buff., Ois. 8. 453. 

 PI. Enl. 960 & 107. Black-billed Darter, called the Snake-bird in Dukhun. 

 Irides bright yellow. Length, inclusive of tail 37$ inches; tail 9$ inches. 

 Solitary. Rare in Dukhun, but frequently met with below the Ghauts. 

 This bird has the singular faculty of being enabled to swim with the whole of 

 its body under water, the long neck and head alone being visible, looking like a 

 snake. Colonel Sykes' limits do not permit him to enlarge on the very pecu- 

 liar formation of the stomach, more resembling that of a ruminant than a bird. 

 Seven small carp and much deep-green vegetable fibre were found in the stomach 

 of a female. 



Fam. Laridcv, Leach. — Genus Sterna, Linn. Tern. 



229. Sterna acuticauda, Gray, Illust. Ind. Zool., part 6. fig. 3. Small yellow-billed 

 Tern. Sterna melanogaster, Temra., PI. Col. 434 ? 



Irides reddish deep brown. Length, inclusive of tail, 13$ to 14$ inches ; tail 6| 

 to 7 inches, very forked and acute ; the lateral feathers being subulate. Fish 

 found in the stomach. Although the wings are so long, the flight is slow and 

 ■with a good deal of flapping. Take their prey while on the wing by darting 

 obliquely upon it. Do not dip under water, nor dart perpendicularly, like 

 Alcedo rudis. This elegant and slender species Colonel Sykes shot 160 miles 

 inland, and at an elevation of 1800 feet above the sea. Gregarious. Common in 

 Dukhun. 



230. Sterna similis, Gray, Illust. Ind. Zool., part 6. plate 8. fig. 2. Tern, with a 

 fuscous lake-coloured bill. 



Length, inclusive of tail, 1 l$to 12 inches ; tail 3.3 to 3.5 inches ; slightly forked, and 

 without the lateral, elongated, and subulate feathers of Sterna acutkauda. Fish 

 only found in the stomach. Geagarious. Habits and locality of the last species. 

 Colonel Sykes states it as curious, that all his specimens, seven in number, of 

 Sterna acuticauda and Sterna similis proved to be females. Common in Dukhun. 



231. Sterna Skena. Sterna supra cinerea; fronte, vertice, cerviceque saturate nitide 



atris ; corpore infra albo, hypochondriis parum cinereo tinctis ; rectricibus latera- 

 libus albis. 

 Irides saturate rufescenti-brunneac. Rostrum forte, flavum. Pedes rubri. Longi- 



tudo (cauda inclusa) 17 — 17$unc, caudce 8 — 8^, rictds 2.5. 

 This species differs from Sterna affinis of Ruppell, tab. 14. p. 23, inits smaller size, 

 and having red instead of black legs ; iu the white not being so brilliant, and 

 in a stronger bill. Ruppell's Sterna velox appears to correspond in size with 

 it. In the numerous species in the British Museum there is not one with which 

 it can be identified. Proportionably to the shortness of the legs the claws are 

 long, much arched, slender and sharp, and turn outwards. Hind claw never 

 touches the ground. Same locality and habits as the preceding species, although 

 rare in Dukhun. In the stomach and oesophagus of one bird were found the 

 extraordinary number of thirteen Cyprini, one of them 2$ inches long. Tail 

 very much forked ; lateral tail-feathers subulate, white, 8 inches long. Wings 

 very narrow and long, reaching nearly to the end of the tail. 

 ' Genus Viralva, Leach. 



232. Viralva Anglica, Steph., 13. 174. Sterna Anglica, Mont., Orn. Diet. Sterna 

 aranea, Wils., Amer. Orn. 8. 143. pi. 72. fig. 6? Marsh Tern, Lath. Gull-bill' 

 ed Viralve. 

 Colonel Sykes' specimens correspond exactly with specimens of this rare British 

 bird in the British Museum, both in their winter and summer plumage. Irides 

 deep red brown. Length, inclusive of tail, 14$ to 16$ inches ; tail 4$ to 5^f 

 inches. Sexes alike in plumage, but the female somewhat smaller than the 

 male. Numerous fish found in the stomach of many birds. With the aspect, 

 length of wing, lazy flights and habits of the Tern, this bird has a bill approxi- 

 mating to that of the Gull, not quite identical with the bill of the Viralve. 

 Colonel Sykes states, that the domestic Duck (Anas BoschasJ is extensively bred by 

 the Portuguese in the Western India, and that it is subject to a kind of apoplexy, 

 which carries it off in a few minutes, although previously in apparent health. 

 He has known a trader lose a flock of more than thirty in the course of one day ; 

 and he has himself had ten ducks struck simultaneously, stagger about for a 

 short time as if drunk, run round in circles, fall on their backs, and die. 

 He has not been able to discover any morbid appearances in the brain. 

 In no instance, in the stomachs of the Anatidte, were animal matters met 

 with ; the contents consisted of grains, seeds, vegetables, and gravel. 

 Colonel Sykes, in closing his Catalogue of the birds of Dukhun, mentioned that 

 the details he had given resulted from personal observation of the specimens, in a 

 living or recent state. With few exceptions, the whole were shot by himself; and 

 to guard against false impressions, he accumulated several individuals of the same 

 species and of both sexes, and was rarely confined to a solitary bird. 



