on the Trans-Siberian Railway Line. 409 



"Wheatears were very numerous, sitting on the telegraph- 

 wires along the route, but whether of the Common or the 

 Isabelline form, it was impossible to say. I think, however, 

 of the latter, I saw also many Thick-billed Shrikes [Lunius 

 tigrinus), which likewise seemed very partial to the telegraph- 

 wires. Marsh- Harriers were numerous. Here I first observed 

 a few Lapwings ( Vanellus vulgaris), which evidently had eggs 

 or young, for I saw one bird fiercely chasing a Carrion-Crow 

 away from the vicinity of its piece of territory. Skylarks 

 were fairly numerous. Kestrels were unusually abundant. 



About noon we began to traverse a rather more sandy 

 country and at the same time the landscape became quite 

 flat. Here Skylarks were abundant and I saw also Pallas's 

 Short-toed Lark {Calatidrella pispoletta), a bird I knew 

 very well in Shantung. At 2.30 p m. we reached Khailar, 

 which stands in a sandy plain on the edge of an arm of the 

 great Gobi Desert. 



After leaving this place I saw many Mongolian Larks 

 {Melanocorypha mongolica), while Pallas's Short-toed Larks 

 became more numerous. Here also Kestrels and the 

 Eastern Red-footed Falcon {Falco amurensis) became very 

 abundant : the latter frequents similar localities in Shantung. 

 I saw one Ringed Plover, but of which species I am 

 not sure. The country, it must be understood, is not an 

 absolute desert, for though sandy it is covered with 

 abundance of wiry grass. 



About an hour after leaving Khailar we came to a curious 

 region in which the desert seems to be either advancing or 

 receding, for, although it retained its usual character, the 

 landscape was studded with numbers of fir trees, standing 

 at considerable distances from one another, with here and 

 there two or three together in a sort of clump. This region 

 was characterized by the presence of large numbers of 

 Hoopoes {Upupa epops), though after we left it I did not see 

 any more of these birds until we had crossed the Urals into 

 Europe. At 7 p.m. we reached Manchuria Station, which is 

 the last in Chinese Territory. 



June ith. — In the morning we found ourselves in Trans- 



