332 PLOTIN^. 



Length. — 24 to 27 inches, wing 11, tail 6, bill at front 2'25. In the 

 breeding plumage the forehead and sides of the head are speckled with 

 white, there is a white tuft of feathers behind the ears, and the chin 

 is white. 



Hah. — Sind, Kutch, Guzerat, Rajputana and the Deccan, also in 

 South India. Breeds in Sind during November. 



Graculus javanica, Homj. -, PL Oul. 434; Oould.B. As. pi.; 

 Jerd. B. Ind. 863, No. 1007. Graculus pygmeeus, Pall. Zoogr. t. 74, pi. — 

 The Little Cormorant. 



In Summer Phimage. — A white triangular patch on the head ; lores 

 and a line through the eyes white ; a few white hair-like feathers on 

 the nape and sides of the neck ; chin black ; whole body glossy black ; 

 head with a short occipital crest ; wing-coverts, scapulars, secondaries 

 and tertiaries glossed silvery, the feathers margined with black ; bill 

 brownish or purplish brown ; gular and orbital skin livid fleshy ; legs 

 dusky. 



Length. — 19 to 20 inches, wing 8'0, tail 5'5, bill at front 1'25, 

 tarsus r3. 



Hah. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Kutch, Guzerat, Rajputana, 

 Concan and the Deccan. Breeds in Sind during November and 

 December. 



Sub-Family, PLOTIN^. 



Bill with edges finely notched ; neck longer than the body. 



Gen. Plotus- — Lin. 



Bill long, straight, slender; second and third quills longest; 

 nostrils basal, covered by a shield ; tail long and rounded. 



Plotus melanogaster, Penn. Lid. Zool. pi. 12; Jerd. B. Ind. 

 iii. p. 865, No. 1008 ; Str. F. vol. i. p. 469 ; Murray, Hdhh., Zool, 

 4-c., Bind., p. 249. (Siii, Sind.) — The Indian Snake Bird. 



Head, nape and neck brown, the feathers edged with pale ferrugin- 

 ous ; back of the neck slightly darker ; chin and throat white, also a 

 line from below the eye to half way down the neck,' and a narrow 

 superciliary streak from the base of the bill; back and entire under 

 surface glossy black ; primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, scapulars and 

 wing-coverts black, very slightly glossed ; some of the inner seconda- 

 ries, all the wing-coverts, scapulars and tertials mesially white; upper 

 tail-coverts and tail black, the central feathers with barred ridges ; 

 under wing-coverts black ; legs and feet black ; bill dusky on the 

 upper mandible, yellowish on the lower ; irides yellow, 



Length.— d2 to 33 inches, wing 13-2 to 14, tail 8-3 to 92, bill at front 

 3-5. 



Bab. — Sind, Bengal, Rajputana, Kutch, Guzerat, Concan and 

 Deccan. 



Common in Sind, breeds from June to December. Eggs white or 

 bluish white, with a chalky coat, 



