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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Doubtful results and discussion contain lesser protein and other minerals than their Thisarticleclaimsthat“amongtheplantpartseatenby corresponding values existed in teak bark. Further Gaur, teakbarkwas the most frequent i.e 14% (see p. 240). investigations canconfirm ifthere are otherreasons forthe It,however,isevidentfromthedata inTable 1 thatteakbark Gaurto consume teak bark. was a supplementary for some and the main forage item by The statement “it was easy for the gaur to strip the Gaur in Pench comprised of other plant parts (86%), bark in largequantityand toreachthephloem andcambium specifically leaves (52.7%). layers that are rich in nutrients” (see p. 242) seems to be The authors suggest that teak bark was advantageous illogical. It gives an impression that Gaur also removes to Gauroverotherplantparts as it has high mineral content cortex, endodermis and phloem layers completely in order (seeTable 4, p. 242). However, novalues forbrowsed parts to reachthe hardcambium layers,whichare found between of other plant species have been presented to support the phloem and xylem tissues. For a layman who has some argument. Further,theyfailtoenlightenthereaderifmineral knowledge ofdicotyledon’s stem anatomy, bark is mainly and protein contents in the barks of other available tree composedofdeadphloemcellsandremnants(ifany) ofthe species were analysed, and whether they were found to peridermis. 6. A SIGHT RECORD OF MEW GULLLARUS CANUS IN GOA1 PaulHolt2 'AcceptedFebruary22,2005 2Bracken Dean, Pendleton,Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 1PT,U.K. Email: [email protected] ThemouthofRiverChaporaatMorjim,Pernern,north ridibundus present, yet was significantly smaller and more Goa(15°37'N;73°44'E)isaregularhauntforlargenumbers daintilyproportioned than all the accompanying large gulls ofgulls. Brown-headed GullsLams brunnicephalus usually (bothHeuglin’sGullLamsheugliniandCaspianGullLams form the bulk ofthe birds present, withvariable numbers of cachinnans).Besideamoreneatlyroundedheadandslimmer up to six otherspecies often being encountered. legs,the MewGull alsohadaproportionatelyshorter, neater Asthe leaderofSunbird Tours, 1 have visited Morjim bill,withamuchreducedgonys, when comparedwiththese about30times. Duringonesuchvisit,on December 14, 1996, largerbirds. 1 found a first-winter Mew Gull Lams canas among the The mantle, back, and most ofthe scapulars were a several thousand gulls that were roosting on the beach. The uniformblue-greycolourandwereobviouslydarkerandbluer bird was watched for about 20 minutes, at ranges down to in hue than the upperparts on all the small gulls present. about 40 m by Paul Hyde, six other observers and me. We Several ofthe bird’s lower scapulars were stilljuvenile and usedavarietyofoptical equipmentbetweenus. 1 usedapair retainedthescaly,brownish,palefringedappearancetypical of7 x 42 binoculars, and a telescope with magnification of ofthat age. up to almost 60x. Since many ofthe other observers and I The white forehead and loral area shaded into denser lived in Britain,the MewGull wasa species which we were streakingoverthecrown andear-covertsextendsdown onto very familiar with, and the bird presented no identification thepalernape.Therewasadark,almostblackish spotonthe problems. Nevertheless, I recognized its local rarity, took lores immediatelyin frontofthe eye, whilethe streaking on somenotesandmadeahurriedfieldsketch. Ihadpreviously thelowerhindnecksweptaroundthefronttoformaweakly seen oneotherMewGull in India,a second-winterbirdwith defined breast band oflarger chevron-shaped scaling. The other gulls on the Ganges, at Garhmuktesar, Uttar Pradesh remainderofthebird’sunderpartswerewhitish,althoughthe (28°48'N;78°06'E)onMarch05, 1993.This lattersighting longer, lateral undertail coverts were also marked with has not been published otherthan as a briefreport (Robson conspicuous, rear pointing, brownish chevrons. Rump, 1993). uppertail coverts and most ofthe tail were also white, and therewasaneat,andrathernarrow, darkbrownterminaltail Description band(thelattercoveredapproximatelyonequarterofthetail’s Whenperched,thebirdappearedperhaps5-10%larger total length). than most of the neighbouring Brown-headed Gulls and Thefoldedwingswereessentiallybrown,butoncloser noticeably bigger than all ofthe Black-headed Gulls Lams inspection, all of the smaller coverts were intricately J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007 347 . MISCELLANEOUS NOTES patterned, each with a darker brown shaft and pale fringe. Asecond-winterontheGangesatGarhmuktesar,Uttar Therewasanoticeablypalergreatercovertpanel,thetertials Pradesh (28° 48' N; 78° 06' E) on March 05, 1993 (Robson werecontrastinglydarkbrownandneatlyfringedwithwhite, 1993). this fringe being broadest around the tips ofthese feathers. A first-winter visitor seen by Per Underland at the Thefoldedprimarieswereevendarkerbrownthanthetertials Harike LakeWildlife Sanctuary, Punjab(31° 10'N; 74° 57'E) and appeared similar in shade to thetail band. on January 9-15, 1994 (Robson 1994). The legs were dull pink, aswasthe bill base. The distal The RiverChaporaatMorjim, Pemem,Goa(15° 37'N; thirdofthebillwasneatlytippedblack,andtheeyesweredark. 73° 44' E) on December 14, 1996. Thebirdappearedindistinguishablefromthenominate An adult at Pong Wetland, Kangra district, Himachal western Lams canus canus, which we see abundantly in Pradesh (32° 05' N; 76° 00' E) on February 06, 2004 (Jan Britain, but on range is most likely to have been the very WillemdenBesteninlift. December2004Unpublisheddata). similar Lams canus heinei. These two subspecies are not Elsewhereintheregion,thespeciesisconsideredtobe safely distinguishable in the field. avagranttoNepal,whereInskippandInskipp(1985)listthree records, all in January-Februarybetween 1979 and 1983. The Status MewGull israre in Pakistan,where Roberts(1991)notedfive This is perhaps onlythe fourth ofthe five sightings in records,involvingsixbirds,includingaprobablyexceptionally India, and is currently probably the southernmost anywhere sightingas late in theseasonasApril 04, 1984. inAsia. Kazmierczakandvan Perlo(2000)mapfourrecords forIndia,whileGrimmettetal. (1998)mapthethreeearliest ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS sightings, and there is an additional, more recent record. In date orderthese are:- I thank Krys Kazmierczak for helping with the Afirst-wintervisitorontheRiverYamunaatOkhla,Delhi references and proofreading this short note and Jan Willem (28° 34' N; 77° 17' E)onJanuary 19, 1992 (Alstrom 1994). den Besten forproviding informationon his sighting. Alstrom, P. (1994): Common GullLams canus Linnaeusrecorded in the Indian Subcontinent. PicaPress, Sussex. Pp. 130. India.J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 90: 509-510. Olsen, K.M. & H. Larsson (2003): Gulls ofEurope, Asia andNorth Grimmett, R., C. Inskipp & T. Inskipp (1998): Birds ofthe Indian America. Helm,London. Pp. 65-92. Subcontinent. ChristopherHelm, London. Pp. 504. Roberts,T.J.(1991):TheBirdsofPakistan,Vol. 1 Non-passeriformes. Inskipp,C. &T. Inskipp(1985):AGuidetothe BirdsofNepal. 2ndedn. Oxford University Press,Oxford, pp. 375-376. ChristopherHelm, London. Pp. 158. Robson, C. (1993): FromtheField. OrientalBirdClubBull. 17: 51 Kazmierczak,K.& B.vanPerlo(2000):AFieldGuidetotheBirdsof Robson, C. (1994): FromtheField: OrientalBirdClubBull. 20: 57. WINTERING RANGE EXTENSION OF WHITE-THROATED BUSHCHAT 7. SAXICOLA INSIGNISGRAY IN INDIA1 Kulojyoti Lahkar2and Mridu Paban Phukan3 'AcceptedJanuary27,2006 2JETABAN,AryaNagar,P.O. GopinathNagar,Guwahati781 016,Assam,India. Email: [email protected] 'MilanNagar,Naharkatia786610, Dibrugarhdistrict,Assam, India. Email: [email protected] ThewinteringrangeofthegloballyVulnerableWhite- 40'E)andMerbil(27° 19'N;95° 18'E)nearNaharkatia.The throatedBushchatSaxicolainsignisGrayinIndiawasknown White-throatedBushchathasalsobeenobservedinotherareas tobefromHaryanatoJalpaiguri,northWestBengal(Aliand ofAssam otherthan thesetwo places. Ripley 1987) before two records in Assam extended its In the afternoon of January 25, 2004, a male was wintering range further east to Manas National Park (26° observed in Merbil nearNaharkatia, foraging on anAlpinia 40'-50' N; 90° 50'-91° 25' E) (Narayan and Rosalind 1997), allughas grove and calling “tsek ... tsek ... tsek’'. The bird and laterto KazirangaNational Park (26° 30'- 45'N; 93° 5'- was observed at about4 m height fromthe water level. 40'E)(Sarmaetal. 1997). Recentobservation ofthis bird in A female bird was observed on the northern edge of easternAssamhasfurtherextendeditswinteringeasternrange DeeparBeelBirdSanctuary(26°05'N;91°40'E)onFebruary to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (27° 35'-50' N; 95° 10- 02, 2003 by the first author. It was foraging among short 348 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007