266 Major J. Biddulph on the Birds of Gil ff it. 



XX. — On the Birds ofGilgit. By Major J. Biddulph. 



(Plates VIII., IX.) 



Since the publication of my former paper on the Birds of 

 Gilgit I have been again resident, from May 1880 till March 

 1881, in that place, during which time I procured several 

 species not previously obtained, either by Dr. Scully or myself. 

 The summer of 1880 was marked by an unusual amount of bad 

 weather — the monsoon, which, as a rule, is never felt so far 

 from the plains of India, having made its influence apparent. 

 The end of July and the beginning of August, which, in 

 ordinary years, is the hottest season in Gilgit, was marked 

 by ten days continuous rain and stormy weather. In con- 

 sequence of this the autumn migration commenced a fort- 

 night earlier than usual, and on the first two days in August 

 a number of water-birds and waders, such as Ihidorhynchus 

 struthersi, Machetes pvynax, Tringa temmincki, Totamis gla- 

 reola, Totanus calidris, &c., appeared : amongst them a special 

 prize, in Tringa acuminata, was secured. I also saw several 

 Kites {JMilvus melanotis or M. govinda). 



In July and August I sent native collectors to the Darel 

 valley, to the Deosai plain, and to the Shandur plateau, which 

 divides the Gilgit-Yassin valley from the Chitral valley. The 

 jealousy of the Darelis caused them to regard my men as 

 spies who had come to study the nakedness of their land, for 

 which purpose ornithology was but a transparent veil ; and 

 my men were obliged to return after four days^ stay in the 

 valley. They brought back forty-six specimens, representing 

 eighteen species. Of these, three do not appear in the Gilgit 

 list, viz. Garrulus lanceolatus, Otocorys longirostris. and Hy- 

 drobata leucogaster, the last-named being hitherto unrecorded 

 south of the Himalayas. Orcecetes cinclorhynclius, which only 

 appears as an occasional straggler in Gilgit, seems to be ex- 

 ceedingly common in Darel, together with Garrulus lanceo- 

 latus, which appears to be equally abundant. The vegetation 

 of Darel, which valley has remained till now unvisited by any 

 European, probably approaches in character more nearly to 

 that of Cashmere than to that of the Gilgit and Astor valleys. 



