Birds of Kohat and Kurrani. 91 



December 1904, and it struck me tliat, as I was likely to be 

 quartered there for some time, a List of the birds of the 

 district might be usefully attempted. I had already made 

 notes on a few of the commoner species, when I had the good 

 fortune to discover in Mr. C. H. T. Whitehead, 56tli Rifles, 

 who had just rejoined his regiment at Kohat, a keen naturalist, 

 anxious to start work at once on the ornithology of the 

 district. We at once agreed to work together, and in spite 

 of military duties which permitted of little leisure for the 

 pursuit of hobbies, we had, by the end of February 1906, 

 acquired at first hand a fair working knowledge of the local 

 avifauna. In March 1906 my regiment moved to the 

 Saraana, a ridge 6500 feet above sea-level and .'50 miles due 

 west of Kohat Station. This ridge forms the northern 

 boundary of the ]\Iiranzai Viilley, and overlooks on the 

 north the Khanki Valley and Tirah, the land of the Afridis. 

 Here a few interesting additions were made to our list — such 

 as Pica rustica, Accentor rufilutus. Accentor himalaijanus, Frin- 

 gillauda sordida, and Su7ja crinigera. Meanwhile, Whitehead 

 was doing good work below, and during the manoeuvres 

 secured, among other birds, an example of Fringilla 

 coelebs, a species new to India. In the end of April 1906 I 

 proceeded home on furlough and, as the sequel will shew, 

 the production of the List was then left entirely in White- 

 head's hands. An interesting discovery made by him shortly 

 after my departure was a nesting colony oi A'edon familiaris 

 in the vicinity of the station. Taking two months' leave in 

 June 1906, he paid a visit to the Kurram Valley lying to 

 the N.W. of Kohat, and followed to their breeding-grounds 

 at the head of the valley many of the birds that winter in 

 the plains around Kohat. During these two months he 

 explored the Safed Koh Range very thoroughly, considering 

 the short time at his disposal, ascending the two peaks of 

 Sikaram (15,600 ft.) and Bodin (14,000 ft.), and by dint oE 

 real hard work, aided by much enthusiasm, added a great 

 deal to our knowledge of the distribution and nesting-habits 

 of many Oriental and Palsearctic species, discovering for the 

 first time the nests and getting the eggs of Saxicola capistrafa 



