410 Staff-Surg. K. H. Jones on Birds observed 



baikalia, a very beautiful country, well wooded and with 

 rapid clear rivers such as are seen in Wales and Scotland, 

 but ou a larger scale. In the forenoon I saw the Eastern 

 House-Martin [Chelidon lagopoda) at a station, but I 

 never noticed this species again. 



To-day Daurian Jackdaws were in great abundance and in 

 the afternoon I noticed with them an occasional example of 

 Corvus neglectus, the eastern form of the Common Jackdaw, 

 according to Dresser. Carrion-Crows were rather scarce. 

 I twice saw Black-eared Kites {Milvus melanotis). Buzzards 

 were fairly plentiful and I saw one or two Moor-hens on the 

 pools by the side of the line. At dusk I saw an example of 

 Bubo maximus on the top of a dead tree. 



June 5th. — In the morning the train had arrived at the 

 southern end of Lake Baikal, the mountains on the eastern 

 side of which were in full view. 



There was much drift-ice, in large blocks, on the shores of 

 the lake, and numerous ice-floes on its surface, at some 

 distance from the land. There were many Herring-Gulls by 

 the shores of the lake or floating on its surface, but whether 

 they were Larus vega or L. cachinnans it was impossible to 

 make out, especially as the mnjority were in immature 

 plumage. Buzzards were fairly plentiful, and of Black-eared 

 Kites I observed one or two. Here I saw the only Haven 

 {Corvus corax) which I noticed throughout the journey and 

 a few Carrion-Crows {C. corone). What I took to be the 

 Baikal White Wagtail [Motacilla baicalensis) was abundant 

 near the lake-side. Common Swallows [Hirundo gutturalis) 

 were fairly numerous near the stations, but the other 

 species (i/. striolata) had disappeared. To-day I saw the last 

 of the Daurian Jackdaws and indeed of the Eastern Jackdaw 

 (Corvus neglectus) also for a time. We got to Irkutsk, the 

 capital of Siberia, about 2 p.m. on this day, and here I noticed 

 Passer montanus and saw what I believed to be P. domesticus. 

 June 6th. — After leaving Irkutsk and until reaching the 

 Ural Mountains, a distance of some thousands of miles, the 

 country is either quite flat or very gently undulating, chiefly 

 the former. June 6th was rather uninteresting; in the fore- 



