A SECOND COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM THE PROV- 

 INCES OF YUNNAN AND SZECHWAN, CHINA, MADE 

 FOR THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY BY DR. 

 JOSEPH F. ROCK 



By J. H. Riley 



Assistant Curator, Division of Birds 

 United States National Museum 



INTRODUCTION 



After Dr. Joseph F. Rock had rested sufficiently from his explora- 

 tions in Kansii and Tibet for the Arnold Arboretum/ he returned 

 to China to make explorations in the interests of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society. Assembling his outfit and Nashi collectors, he 

 proceeded to Yungning in Yunnan and collected in the vicinity or 

 on near-by mountains early in May, 1928, and then moved north 

 into the semi-independent kingdom of Muli (or Mill) the same 

 month. Doctor Rock had previously visited Muli in 1924,- but this 

 was only a hurried visit and not many birds were collected. Muli 

 is in southwestern Szechwan to the northward of Yungning, Yunnan. 

 The lamasery of Muli is located on the Litang River, but the king- 

 dom is of indefinite extent, and part of it is ruled by native bandits. 

 The country is very mountainous and the mountains very high. To 

 the northwest of Muli lies the unknown snow range of Konka Rison- 

 quemba, which rises to a height of 25,000 feet and on which birds 

 were collected at altitudes of 14,000 to 17,000 feet. Doctor Rock 

 had to obtain permission, through the Muli king, from the local 

 bandit that controlled the region, to visit this mountain, to which 

 he made two trips, one in June and another in August. He started 

 to make a third, but the bandit sent him word not to come again 

 at the peril of his life. The remainder of the collection in Muli 

 territory that year was made to the east or northeast of the Muli 

 lamasery, in the Yalung Valley, the Muti Konka Mountains, or on 

 the journey into the country, and the return into Yunnan for the 



1 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 68, pp. 313-381, pis. 1-5, 1928. 



2 Of. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 70, art. 5, p. 2, 1926. 



No. 2907.-PROCEEDINGS U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. VOL. 80. ART. 7 

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