Page:Stray feathers. Journal of ornithology for India and its dependencies (IA strayfeathersjou11873hume).pdf/45

The Wagtails of India. 29 There remain first the coloration of the back, second the amount of white on the wing. Undoubtedly, taken as a body, the backs in Alba are a darker, and those of Dukhunensis, a paler grey; and again taken as a body the coverts, secondaries, and tertiaries in Dukhanensis are much more conspicuously and broadly margined with white than in Alba. Bnt, per contrá, I have first a typical Alba absolutely identical in every respect with the European specimens. This is from Bhawulpoor, and is the only unmistakable Alba which I have yet seen in India secondly, I have several Dukhunensis with the characteristic whiter wing, the backs of which are as dark as in any Alba vera; and thirdly, others with the light backs characteristic of Dukhunensis; but with no more white on the wing than in Alba. Under these circumstances it must, I think, remain an open question whether we ought to consider Dukhunensis a dis- tinct species or merely a local race. I myself retain the name for convenience, but greatly doubt the value of the distinction, and having explained wherein the typical Alba differs from the typical Dukhunensis, shall say nothing further of Alba, but confine myself to Dukhunensis and Personala.

All my black-back wagtails have been exclusively procured in the Himalayas, from Cashmere to Sikhim. Dukhunensis and Personala on the other hand are widely distributed throughout the plains of India. My specimens of Dakhunensis are from various localities in Sindh, Jodhpoor, Bhawulpoor, Dehra Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Sirsa, Ferozepore, Rohtnek, Goorgaon, Simla, Saharun- poor, Etawah, Jhansie, Sangor, Chumparun, Saruu, and Dacca. Personata I have from Murdan, Caslinere, Lahore, Goorgaon, Simla, Kotegurh, Saharunpoor, Kumaon, and Etawah; and I have seen specimens of both I believe from almost every locality in the Punjab, the North-West Provinces, Oudh, and the Cen- tral Provinces, and of Dukhunensis from at least a dozen loca- lities in Bengal.

In full breeding plumage, these two species are very readily distinguishable. Dukhunensis then has the whole front of the head, lores, orbital region, checks, car-coverts, and a stripe down the side of the neck pure white. The posterior half of the crown, occiput, and nape, the chin, throat, and breast pure black. In Personata, on the other hand, the white is confined to a broad frontal band extending as far as the front of the eye, and stretch- ing as a narrow supercilinm backwards over the eye and part of the ear-coverts. Again in Personala, the whole visible por- tions of the wing coverts of the closed wing are pure white, whereas in Dukhunensis they are brown, broadly edged, it is true, with white, but not sufficiently so to enable the edgings to