436 Mr. Douglas Carruthers on the 



XX. — On the Birds of the Zarafschan Basin in Russian 

 Turkestan. By Douglas Carruthers, F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U. 



(Plates VII. & VIII.) 



The Russian possessions in Central Asia are very little 

 known to Englishmen, and although a few travellers 

 annually visit the Tian Shan mountains, their object is 

 solely sport. I cannot find that any of them have added 

 to our knowledge of the ornithology, or have made sys- 

 tematic collections of the fauna of that part of Central Asia. 

 The region known, somewhat vaguely, by the name of 

 Russian Turkestan (see Map, PI. VII.), is situated north of 

 Afghanistan and Chinese Turkestan, being bordered on the 

 west by the Oxus and the Sea of Aral and on the east by 

 Dzungaria, or western Mongolia. In this region I include 

 the " protected native-state " of Bokhara, for it is a part of 

 Russian Turkestan in everything but name. 



This immense tract of country has been fairly well 

 worked by Russian naturalists, such as Severtzoff, Prjevalsky, 

 Fedchenko, and Zaruduy. Their labours, however, seem to 

 have been confined chiefly to Central and North-eastern 

 Turkestan, in the regions most wealthy in bird- and animal- 

 life, such as the forest-covered Tian Shan mountains and 

 their outlying ranges. South-western Turkestan seems to have 

 been somewhat neglected. I find a considerable difference 

 between the fauna of North-western Turkestan and of the 

 South-western district. The whole region might, indeed, be 

 divided into two faunistic zones, namely — Turkestan north 

 of the Syr Daria and the Ferghana, and the district lying 

 south of this boundary, which is composed of the Zarafschan 

 Basin and the Khanate of Bokhara. The former has a 

 typical Central-Asiatic fauna, whilst the fauna of the latter 

 belongs rather to Afghanistan. 



As regards the flora the districts are equally distinct. 

 The northern region is remarkable for its luxuriance, its 

 dense forests of conifers, and its heavy rainfall, whilst the 

 southern has a comparatively small rainfall and consequently 

 the vegetation is very poor, except in the oases. Forests 



