Ornithology of Asia Minor. 29 



singular, as it is recorded by Tchihatcheff ^ and other observers 

 as common in certain places, and is mentioned by Major 

 St. John as being found all over Andarbigan in the north of 

 Persia f. 



I have further been assured by Mr. Wilkin, the English 

 consul at Adalia, that he has shot plenty of the common 

 English Partridge near Isbarta, in the lake-district. 



I may take this opportunity of remarking that it is ex- 

 tremely improbable that the specimen of Lagopus in the 

 British Museum could have come from such a locality as the 

 isolated mountain of Argseus, near Kaisariyeh. The Turkish 

 name " Quisel " simply means " pretty," and was very pro- 

 bably applied to the bird, but only as an adjective. To re- 

 peated inquiries as to the existence of a white. Partridge in 

 the Taurus, negative answers were always received, excepting 

 in one instance, and this may, if it existed, have been an 

 albino of C. chukar. 



166. Tetraogallus caspius, Gm.| IJr keklik. 



Tetraogallus tauricus^ Dresser, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 675. 



The range of this species, though already known to be pretty 

 wide, is not yet fully determined. Its probable western limits 

 are the Gok, or Geyee, Mountains of Southern Asia Minor §. 

 Thence it extends eastward through the rest of the Taurus 

 into Armenia, Kurdistan, and Northern Persia, as far as the 

 south-east corner of the Caspian ||. It is also reported to 

 occur in the Dinar Mountains, in the south-west of Persia^. 



Though by no means uncommon in the rocky ranges of 

 Cilicia, the Snow-Partridge is, owing to its extreme wariness, 

 and the difficult character of the ground it frequents, a very 

 hard bird to obtain. So shy is it that the natives say it 

 takes the wind of a man like an ibex. The coveys in sum- 

 mer time are doubtless more easy of approach than the adult 

 birds. 



This species frequents in winter the regions just above the 



* TcHhatcheff, vol. ii. p. 764. f Eastern Persia, vol. ii. p. 273. 



X See letter in Ibis, 1877, p. 253. § Kotschy, Cil. Taur. p. 95. 



II Layard, Desc. Ruins Nineveh and Babylon. 

 fl Blanford, Eastern Persia, vol. ii. p. 277. 



