STDRNUS. 177 



Length. — 145 inches, wing 7-6, tail 7, culmen 1-4. — {Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. vol. iii. pp. 97, 98.) 



Hah. — Sind, on the hills dividing Sind from Khelat [Hume). Syria 

 and Palestine eastwards into Persia {Sharpe). Mr. Hume, in vol. i. 

 p. 206 of Stray Feathers, states that he satisfied himself from the de- 

 scription given him of this bird, that it occurs on the hills dividing Sind 

 from Khelat. I have no specimen from Sind, nor has Mr. Hume ; but 

 I give the above description of the bird to help its identification if 

 met with. 



Sub-Family, DBNDROCITTINyE,~MAGPij!;s. 



Bill short ; culmen elevated and curved ; nares with velvety plumes ; 

 wings short, rounded ; tail long, graduated ; tarsi short. 



Gen. Dendrocitta. — Gould. 



Base of the culmen unfeathered ; middle tail feathers broad at the 

 ends ; nostrils concealed by incumbent feathers ; 5th and 6th quills 

 longest ; secondai'ies nearly as long as the primaries. 



Dendrocitta rufa, Scop. Bel. Fauna et Flor. Insubr. ii. p. 86; 

 Hartl. Syst. Verz. p. 63 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 314, No. 674 ; Gray, Hand- 

 list, B. B. Mus. ii. p. 8 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. pp. 206, 386 ; Murray, Hdhh., 

 Zool., 8fc., Sind, p. 174. Orypsirrhina pallida, Blyth, J. A. 8. B. xv. 

 p. 30. Dendrocitta palHda, Blyth, Cat. Mus. A. S. B. ^p. Z'6Q ; Jerd. B. 

 Ind. ii. p. 315, No. 675. — The Common Indian Magpie. 



Adult. — Head, neck all round, part of upper back, chin, throat, 

 breast and ear-coverts dark sooty brown, paler on the upper back ; 

 lores blackish brown; back and scapulars orange brown; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts bright orange or yellowish buff; abdomen and 

 under tail and thigh-coverts, like the rump, orange, yellowish buff or 

 dark ferruginous ; primaries and secondaries black ; tertiaries black, 

 greyish white on their outer webs ; wing-coverts white ; edge of the 

 wing and under wing-coverts greyish white ; tail greyish white, or 

 grey, the centre feathers elongated much beyond the rest, and all 

 broadly tipped with black ; bill black ; legs slaty ; irides blood-red. 



Length. — 16 — 17 inches, wing 5'9, tail 10, tarsus 1 '45, bill at front 1 to 

 1"25. The young is much paler throughout, and has the tail feathers 

 tipped whitish buff. 



Hah. — The whole of India, through Assam and Burmah to Tenna- 

 serim and Oashmei-e; Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Bengal, Southern 

 India, Travancore, Central India, Kutch^ Kattiawar, Rajputana, Concan, 

 and Deccan. 



Sub-Family, STURNIN^. 



Bill with the sides compressed, tip rather blunt and flattened ; winga 

 long and pointed ; tail rather short ; tarsi strong, scutate in front ; 

 toes long and strong. 



Gen. Sturnus- 



Bill sharp, straight, and with a conical groove ; nostrils feathered j 

 2nd quill longest. 

 23 z 



