182 Ornithological Notes, chiefly on some birds [No. 8, 



Jerdon omits to mention the white nuchal spot and the white on 

 the outer tail feathers. The black line below is continuous through- 

 out from the beak to the point of the tail. I append the measure- 

 ments of the two races. 



Chanda. Nilgiri. 



Whole length, Barely 5 inches. Nearly 6 inches. 



Wing, 2| 2 T % 



Bill at point, i 0.37 



Tarsus, T V T V 



Tail, 21 2| 



The size of the Nilgiri race, however, is somewhat variable, some 

 specimens are smaller and appear to form a passage into the plains 

 race, so I can see no need for proposing a new name, although the 

 difference appears quite as great as in the case of JPratincola caprata 

 and P. atrata. The bill especially in the Nilgiri variety appears to 

 vary in size. 



P. cinereus is not very rare in the forests on the Pranhita and 

 around Chanda, I found insects in their stomachs. In April the 

 sexes were in pairs, playing about on the trees with a peculiar low 

 whistling note. They could scarcely have been breeding, for many 

 of them, although paired, were moulting, but doubtless they do breed in 

 the plains. I saw them, still in pairs, as late as the middle of May. 



648. MacillolophllS Jerdoni, Blyth. I shot this bird at 

 Jabalpur, and again near Nagpur, and saw it at rare intervals on the 

 Pranhita and G-odavery, everywhere very rare. 



Family Alattdid^j. 

 I cannot see why the Motacillince should form a distinct family, 

 unless the pipits be excluded, for which there is no good reason. In form, 

 plumage and habits there is less difference between Alauda and Cory- 

 dalla or Agrodromq than between Saxicola and Pratincola, or Falco 

 and Accipiter. The bill is extremely variable amongst the typical 

 AlaudidcB, varying from the finch-like form of Pyrrlmlauda to the 

 long bill of Certhilauda, and in flight these two forms differ more from 

 each other than do the skylarks and titlarks. The long hind claw of 

 Budytes can scarcely be an adaptive modification, for the species in 

 which it is most developed is less similar in its habits to the larks 

 than other species which have shorter hind claws. 



