NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF THANDIANI. 299 



autumn, tried to get a shot at a very: large reddish bird seen near the top of the 

 ridge, but was unable to get close enough. From his description of the colour, 

 size, and flight of the bird, it could, I think, only have been the Himalayan 

 Snow Cock. 



(1597). Netiium crecca. — In September last year Capt. Skinner, E.E., shot 

 a Teal in Thandiani from off a tiny pond, not much more than a puddle, just 

 outside the bungalow he was staying in. This is surely a curious occurrence for 

 the hills ! He informed me too that he saw a sandpiper at the same pond in 

 the same month ! 



For a few days at the beginning of July, before I left Thandiani, my attention 

 was attracted on four or five occasions by a peculiarly sweet song uttered by 

 some bird, which always kept to the densest cover. I made three separate 

 attempts involving a good deal of climbing and forcing my way through thick 

 bush to observe the skulking songster, but although I twice got within six or 

 eight feet of him, I never on account of the dense foliage succeeded in getting 

 a sufficiently clear view of him to be able to make out the coloration. All I 

 could see was that it was a small bird. I had most reluctantly to leave the hill 

 without knowing what the bird was. The song always commenced with a long 

 whistle, at first very soft, and gradually increasing in volume of sound, followed 

 by a " titita-tweet ", then the same swelling whistle, but in a higher key, follow- 

 ed by a " tweet tew ." Possibly the bird was Horornis pallidvs, the pale 

 Bush Warbler, but if so then the last part of the song is not as described by 

 Brooks. 



